Wildfires 2026 - encounters in the youth venue!
Some of our community went to the Wildfires festival last weekend and enjoyed a special time in God’s presence, as well as a special time in community with each other. We asked our Families Pastor Kelly to share some insights from her experience serving in the youth venue, where the numbers of young people giving their lives to Jesus over the weekend was in the hundreds! Read on to be encouraged, and please continue to pray for the young people who attended as they grow in faith - and of course, all our young people!
The quiet revival is getting louder! We heard whispers about the quiet revival and then the realisation that the statistics weren’t accurate, and yet, in reality, we are still seeing and hearing about how God is moving in amazing ways in our younger generation, and I had the privilege of witnessing it at Wildfires Festival last week!
Around 70 of our Kerith youth joined in the brilliant Youth Festival which ran alongside the usual Wildfires Festival. I don’t really have words to capture what was stirred in me seeing 1500 young people jumping up and down, arms open and surrendered in worship, some on their knees in awe of God’s awesomeness, others praying for a friend, and many praying for strangers who became friends over the 4 days. They laughed, they played, they cried, they danced, they sang at the top of their lungs, and they encountered God in beautiful ways. It was an honour and privilege to be alongside them as they experienced God’s presence and were filled with His Spirit.
While I got to witness it, here is a testimony from Toby, one of our youth, who experienced first hand God moving… “On the 3rd evening during worship I was on my knees praising God and one of my friends I made the day before started praying for me, and then I had quite a few people praying for me. I then prayed for my friend and I just couldn’t stop so I was just praying for people - some were friends and some who I had never met before. The words I was praying didn’t even feel like they were coming from me, the Holy Spirt was just filling me up with words and using me to pray for all these different people. It felt so amazing! The session ended and in the middle of the empty arena a big group of us were just praying for each other, sharing things about our lives, and the ways God had been working through us.”
Youth worshipping in their venue!
There are so many heart stirring testimonies from young people leaning into relationship with Jesus and having ‘that moment’ when they realised God’s realness personally. I have returned from Wildfires feeling overwhelmed with joy at how God is moving among our younger generation and fuelled to be His hands and feet in this incredible ministry I get to be a part of!
Kelly, Kerith Farnborough Families Pastor