Faith, Friendship, and Fun at Focus 2024!

The weather was kind, God was present, and more than 8,000 people arrived at Newark Showground in July for our annual holiday for churches in the HTB Network. Focus is a space where we come together each summer as a wider church family to encounter God afresh, grow in faith, build friendships and have fun together. 

This year, we hosted the biggest number of young people ever, with more than 1,000 0-10 year olds, and 1,000 11-18 year olds. We were also delighted to have 53 Ukrainians joining us from different churches and a number of Afghan refugee families hosted by Hope Church Hounslow.  

As well as the more established church plants for whom Focus is an annual highlight, some of the newer plants such as Fabric Church in Manchester brought their church families for the first time. Each day in the Big Top the roof was lifted in praise to Jesus, and it was especially wonderful to see so many young people dancing and worshipping before the Lord. There were inspirational talks from guest speakers including Miriam Swanson, David Thomas, and Stephen Foster, and many had deep and profound encounters with God during the times of prayer ministry. Kingdom Come at the end of each day which was packed full of people wanting to lean deeper into the presence of God.  

‘The power and the scale of worship - was heaven on earth.’

Lab highlights included ‘Wake up to the Bible’ with Jonny Gumbel each morning, as well as others covering a wide range of topics such as mental health, relationships, faith and culture, social transformation, and much more. 

‘I feel like this year more than ever the speakers and worship leaders carefully discerned where we are at as a Network… that felt like they had really listened to the Spirit.’

Building community and friendship was a priority for many of those who attended Focus this year, and many churches really invested in their community spaces to create a sense of family and belonging.  

Focus is such a key moment in the year for us as a Network, where we come together in unity to raise our faith and pray for an even greater outpouring of the Holy Spirit across our nation that we might see lives transformed, and churches revitalised - for His glory.