International relief and development charity Tearfund is encouraging festival goers to take a leap of faith and practise what they pray at this year's Big Church Festival.
The music festival will bring together around 30,000 Christians from the UK and Europe on the 27th and 28th May.
As well as camping and live music, worshippers will have a chance to test their nerves by jumping from the height of a church steeple.
The Leap of Faith is a reminder that praying to God is an act of faith and aims to raise awareness of Tearfund’s Practise What You Pray campaign.
The campaign focuses on the positive change a church, in a lower-income country, can bring to people’s lives and wellbeing and how Tearfund’s supporters can pray, take action and give.
Recently, independent researchers spoke to thousands of people in Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Tanzania and Zimbabwe. They found that investment in local churches is a highly cost-effective way of helping whole communities lift themselves out of poverty.
Tearfund’s Church and Community Transformation training can help communities use their resources and skills to lift themselves out of poverty.
The report showed that an incredible £28 of social value is created for every £1 invested in churches in lower-income countries. That’s a huge return on investment – especially when we’re talking about the lives of people in some of the poorest parts of the world.
Mother-of-four Beatrice from Rwanda was a landless labourer. After taking part in Tearfund’s programme she now sells food in the market and is able to rent land to raise a cow and goats. She said:
"I was invited to attend training in the church. I started thinking of having a plan for the development of my family. It was hard but I was encouraged by others. We now have enough food to feed our children and pay school fees; I no longer work for others because we have our own business. We can contribute, when there is a need, to support vulnerable people especially disabled and aged people in our community."
Graeme McMeekin, Head of Church and Supporter Engagement at Tearfund, said: “Praying to God is an act of faith - it is action taken based on the promises of God and calling for God’s divine intervention.
“Praying in faith always moves us to take action and carry out deeds that confirm that our faith is truly in God. At the same time the world’s biggest problems are getting bigger and 1 in 10 are still living in extreme poverty. At this year’s Big Church Festival we are calling on our supporters to pray, take action and give.”
ENDS
For further information or interview requests contact Matt Cooper: [email protected] or 07929 353530.
About Tearfund
Tearfund is a Christian charity that partners with churches in more than 50 of the world’s poorest countries. We tackle poverty through sustainable development, responding to disasters and challenging injustice. We believe an end to extreme poverty is possible. Tearfund is also a member of the Disasters Emergency Committee. For more information about the work of Tearfund, please visit www.tearfund.org.
About Big Church Festival
Big Church Festival, previously known as Big Church Day Out, is an annual music festival that brings together more than 30,000 Christians from around the UK and Europe for one of the biggest events on the church calendar. https://www.bigchurchfestival.com/ The festival will take place in West Sussex on the 27th and 28th May. Performers include United, Bethel Music, Kings Kaleidoscope and Leeland.
