‘Pentecost 7:14’ at Parliament Square was opened by the Bishop of London, Richard Chartres, who said:

“The Holy Spirit continually challenges us and surprises us by breaking out of the familiar, leading us into new and unexpected places”. Across London there’ll be nearly one hundred events involving many thousands of people. Churches are the people and we’re bringing the churches out of their buildings and onto the streets.

Andy Frost, Director of SJI [Share Jesus International] and founder of the ‘Biggest Birthday Party Ever’ lead the gathering and, said:

‘It was amazing to gather with so many people representing so many nations as we gathered in Parliament Square to pray for our nations and for key issues like youth unemployment and the current crisis in Syria. There is a time for protest but today was a time for prayer.’

Rend Collective: We are a group of multi-instrumentalist worship leaders from a little coastal town called Bangor in Northern Ireland. We all met as part of a revival-seeking student church group called Rend. Rend was an unpolished and raw approach to God, standing in contrast to the more  “mega-church” expression. We sought to love God and each other in an un-edited and undiluted way. As we began to encounter God, we were inspired to create: all art is a reflection of His original beauty.

PF: What was the inspiration behind the name?

RC: The “Rend” part was inspired by the church gathering we just described- we see our music as a natural extension of that movement. We prefer to describe ourselves as a Collective rather than a band because it captures the collaborative, “family-style” approach we have to one another. We aren’t colleagues; we are brothers and sisters. Experiment evokes the idea that we haven’t got all the right answers and we haven’t fully got a handle on this worship thing yet!

PF: Tell us a bit about your new album Campfire. What’s your favourite worship song to sing round the Campfire?

 RC: Campfire is a live worship project, recorded around a literal campfire in our hometown, Bangor, in Northern Ireland. We used acoustic folk instruments for a rootsy, “homemade” feel. We invited a small group of close friends and a handful of our fans via twitter to emphasise the community focus of our worship. We think that the campfire is a beautiful picture of the church in unpretentious intimacy with one another and with the “Consuming Fire”.

 PF: Pentecost Festival is all about creative mission. With campfire, we’ve noticed that you’re asking people to get creative with the worship by releasing a resource pack with the album – Tell us more.

RC: We want Campfire to be much more of a movement than just an album. The resource pack is an attempt to inspire the Church to think outside of the confines of normal Church experience and to express the gospel in fresh, community-minded and Christ-centred ways. We know that if the Church really acted on the teachings of Jesus that we would be the most vibrant community on earth – a home for the cynical, the outsider and the sceptic. It’s a call to realise the potential we have, when equipped by the Holy Spirit, to bring ourselves and each other into transforming relationship with God and His church.

 PF: You’re taking time out of your tour to perform at our Release the Spirit launch for Pentecost Festival on 11th May which we are extremely excited about – how do you think the Festival could impact the Church?

RC: The Holy Spirit is the most dynamic power in the universe – any time that we spend focusing our attention, education and celebration on Him   we invite resurrection power into our lives and communities. It’s such an exciting festival and an important reminder that God can take the fearful and ordinary and turn them into world shakers for His glory.

PF: How do you want to see the Church 5 years?

RC: The mission is always the same. We want to see greater love for God and others. Let’s keep it simple and get the basics right!

PF: This year we are branding Pentecost Festival as ‘The Biggest Birthday Party Ever’ and we are encouraging churches to put on their own events for their communities. What was your most memorable Birthday Party?

RC: I spent one birthday in a lake in Finland at midnight with just a couple of close friends. It was still daylight and was a surreal and awesome experience!

PF: What do you love about your City?

RC: We love Cathedral Quarter. It’s a developing part of Belfast where the arts scene is really blossoming and it has some of the coolest restaurants and bars in Europe. Which I was there right now!

1. Can you tell us a bit about yourself and when you first started getting into Music?

I am the son of a musical Baptist pastor and grew up to the sound of hymns, choruses and my dad playing the piano and piano accordion. Then in my teens I started listening to pop music broadcast on a transistor radio.

At the same time, the London church scene I was in began using popular music styles to communicate the Christian faith. The church was waking up to the reality that they were not relating to young people, and thought music was one way of doing it. Churches began turning halls into temporary coffee bars, with a Christian band playing.

I formed a band with my brother and sister and a couple of other folk from the church and we began to play, maybe once a week. The important thing for my musical development was that all these bands needed their own original material – because there was a message in the music you couldn’t just do covers. So that prompted me to try writing songs and I discovered I had a talent for it. As soon as I realised I could write songs – I am not claiming they were great – I made my mind up that was what I wanted to do, and my motivation for other things took second place.

2. Your songs are a blessing to so many people, which one of your songs is your ultimate favourite and why?

I’m not very good at choosing favourites, but if push comes to shove it’s The Servant King, because it has many of the elements that I aspire to in writing worship songs: it’s Christ centred, it tells a story and uses poetic imagery, it has a clear message and a strong melody and of course that line: ‘Hands that flung stars into space, to cruel nails surrendered’

3. We hear we’ll be experiencing some ‘Psalm surfing’ at the Pentecost launch event, can you tell us more about what it involves?

 
Psalm surfing is the name I give to improvised ‘call and response’ singing of scripture and I use for free-flowing worship and sung intercession. In the context of the Pentecost Festival launch I will use it to enable us to worship, pray and sing blessings over London and our nation. It is creative, easy to participate in, and suitable for anyone with a passion to worship and pray, It is not a performance to watch but a communal, participatory event and it doesn’t require special musical skills.

Imagine the sound as Christians with a passion to pray lift up their voices to sing and speak blessings, prayers, promises and proclamations over the locality – directly from the Bible. Worship overflows into intercession, and back into worship and you know are hearing a harmony richer than voices alone can produce – the sound of agreement that God’s Kingdom will come and His will be done here, as it is in heaven.

4. Who inspires you musically?

I am very eclectic in my listening to music, anything from Fleet Foxes to Vaughn Williams, Feist to Paul Simon. I particularly enjoy singer-songwriters whose combination of voice, poetic lyric and musical originality can conjure up images and stories in my imagination and draw me into the way they see the world. Charles Wesley only wrote hymn words, not the melodies, but he has to go down as my all time favourite writer of worship songs.

5. What do you like to do when you’re not performing?

I like to write songs! I have always been very focussed on the creative so I don’t always find it easy to relax in other ways, but I enjoy walks with my wife, spending time with my family, and reading.

6. What’s your favourite Bible passage and why?

 
Again, I am not great at choosing favourites, there are so many options, but this one can be today’s favourite:
 
1 John 3:1-3
    
1. See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. 3. All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure. [New International Version (NIV)]

7. What do you love about your City?

I have lived much of my life in London, a global city that hums with the life and energy, the creativity, hopes and fears of the diverse peoples who live in its crowded space. There are so many layers of fascinating history, from the archaeological to the political, social and religious, and despite all its problems, for me it symbolises the blessings of a free country where riches of a Christian heritage still resonate, and characters like Wesley, Whitfield and Wilberforce cheer us on to complete what they started.

8. How do you think the Pentecost Festival could impact the Church?

For God’s people in the Old Testament Festivals were obligatory; three times a year, so they must be important! They enable us to gather, to see and experience things together that enrich our lives, help us to celebrate who we are as a community of faith and what is important to God, and a time to invite others to join the party whom we might not otherwise have met.

9. What do you like most about being part of a church family?

Being part of such a diverse family of all ages, types and backgrounds, the privilege of sharing in all the journeys of life and faith that are happening as God works in, among and around us. Seeing people come to faith, get baptised and grow in Christ is one of the most wonderful things I know.

10. This year we are branding Pentecost Festival as ‘The Biggest Birthday Party Ever’ and we are encouraging Churches to put on their own events for their communities. What was your most memorable Birthday Party?

When one of my daughters was quite small she asked some time in advance if I would dress up as a clown for her birthday party. It is not something I would necessarily feel that comfortable doing but as a dutiful father I hired a costume and entered the room where she and her friends were partying. Though I had remembered her request, she had clearly forgotten it and added to the fact that behind the mask my identity was not evident the effect was somewhat different to what was intended – more horror movie than circus! Fortunately the initial shock gave way to amusement, probably more at my inability to clown than the clowning…

Pentecost Festival: What are your church looking forward to the most this Pentecost?
Love Calderdale: Ours is a group event so we are looking forward to working together. God has really blessed us the last two years and we are excited to see what He will do this year.

PF: Why did your churches decide to join the Biggest Birthday Party Ever as Party Hosts?
LC: We have run Love Calderdale for 2 years and it has been building momentum. The inspiration started from seeing the churches in London working together on Pentecost in Hammersmith 3 years ago.

PF: What party event will your church be putting on?
LC: It is a massive public event about 30 churches will participate and last year we had 10,000 people come into the Halifax Piece Hall to join us. This year we have sand pits, paddling pools, donkeys, hot dogs, candy floss, sweet cart, jewellery making, face painting, foot washing, a labyrinth, prayer tent, coffee and chill zone and 4 hours of family entertainment including a 100 voice children’s choir. Ending with a Christian celebration, baptisms and breaking of bread…. And loads more.

PF: What is the aim of your party?
LC: To demonstrate God’s amazing free gift of love to us. Everything we are doing is absolutely free. We want our valley to know something of God.

PF: Who is invited?
LC: Everyone is invited.

PF: What sort of guests is the party aimed for?
LC: Ages 0 – 90 and everyone in between.

PF: What are you hoping the Pentecost Party will achieve for your church?
LC: Unity a celebration of working together across denominational divides.
For more information about Love Calderdale and details of their event please visit their website: www.lovecalderdale.com
We are excited about what Love Calderdale are planning for their community. With the registration deadline extended until the 22nd of April, it is not too late to plan a party for your neighbours. Why not register as Party Host and see what event your Church could do to demonstrate God’s love this Pentecost Festival?

Visit the ‘Party Hosts‘ page for more information about The Biggest Birthday Party Ever and how to register.