Every year thousands of teenagers from Newfrontiers churches all across the UK take a week out from their summer holidays to gather together at Norfolk Showground with one common goal: to bring glory to Jesus Christ.
The event started in 2004 after a small group of Christians felt prompted by God to create a time and place where the next generation of Christians could come together to pray, worship and enjoy fellowship, but most importantly, glorify God.
Interestingly enough, when praying for the event, there were prophetic pictures (visual imagery believed to come from God) revolving around water, such as a bathtub being filled and a drain being plugged - which the team found rather fitting after on the first Newday ever held there was a torrential downpour, leaving the campsite flooded and around 3000 teenagers evacuated to nearby leisure centres, hotels, and schools.
The event has continued ever since, with 2024 being its 20th anniversary, which was celebrated in many ways, including an interview with a couple who were part of the founding group and a preach about ‘The Point of Newday.’
The preach delivered by Joe Macnamara made two things very clear to all listeners:
"...Newday is about the glory of God through all the world,” and “The one thing that Newday needs is Jesus.”
This powerful message may explain why thousands of adults take a week out of their busy lives just to camp for 6 probably very sleepless nights and take care of excited teenagers for 6 probably very tiring days—they believe that by helping the event go ahead they are glorifying God by saying that he is more important than other things that are going on in their lives.
Newday equips the next generation of Christians in the UK to be strong and bold in their faith, and every year the event sees thousands commit their lives to Christ as well as hundreds being healed from physical disabilities and pain with often no explanation other than the goodness of God.
The event features two sessions in the morning: 12-14s and 15-18s and an altogether meeting in the evening, all of which involve worship, prayer, and a preach (with 12-14s also getting a little messy sometimes), as well as seminar streams that encourage the teenagers to explore their faith in different areas of life.
Newday may even start to bring doubt to the idea that Christianity in the UK is dying out.
Statistics from the Office for National Statistics tell us that for the first time in a census of England and Wales, less than half of the population described themselves as ‘Christian' - a 13.1% decline from 2011.
So, while the older generations may be losing faith or less likely to be Christian, Newday could possibly signify a new era in the rise of Christianity where Gen-Z play a big role in reintroducing many people in the UK to the Christian faith.
