What it’s all about…
Joyfest has two aims - firstly, to connect the church to the city and, secondly, to help equip and release Christians to share the good news.
Many people in the city have no direct connection with the church - they aren’t part of one, they don’t know anyone who is… Joyfest is a way to try and introduce the church to the city.
Through thousands of Acts of Joy we want people in the city to have an interaction with the church - through people just like them - and with something positive, even if it’s a small act that will brighten their day.
Many people in our churches feel that outreach is something the ‘expert’ Christians do. It feels too scary and too beyond them. And anyway, isn’t outreach organised and run by the church leaders – something that has a start and end time and happens in a certain place?
Joyfest encourages Christians to discover Jesus’ invitation to look at the world around them - their neighbourhoods, workplaces, shops, hobbies - and realise God has strategically placed them there to bring God’s light - all the time.
The basis of Joyfest
Jesus trained his disciples across three years, taking them from bewildered ordinary fishermen, tax collectors and wannabe radicals to radical world changers.
If we think of the three years of training like a degree, their graduation assignment was the Great Commission. In their second year he sent out them out in pairs to preach in the local villages.
But he started them with the “Light Commission” - do good deeds that point towards God in your everyday life:
No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.
Matthew 5:15-16
For many people in our churches, who feel intimidated by the Great Commission or the thought of going to preach the gospel, the Light Commission is a great place to start – a place to learn to trust God as they bring their faith into connections with family, friends, colleagues and strangers.
Joyfest is a way to put the Light Commission into action – do a good deed and then join-the-dots between the act and our faith.
We want to help people see we’ve done something nice not (just) because we’re nice people but because we follow a wonderful, generous and joyous God.
Joyfest becomes a tool for people to use to point to their faith as part of something bigger – and together it’s a way for churches to reach the city.
Joyfest is about a grassroots movement of Christians doing an ‘Acts of Joy’ – a good deed – and saying it’s part of Joyfest; the church helping to make the city a brighter place.
Joyfest is an easy excuse to connect the good deed to God. And it’s an opportunity for the church to reach into countless areas of life in creative, fun and small (but often meaningful) ways.
