I've just returned from Newday 2026, the annual youth festival originally set up to serve young people in New Frontiers churches, and once again I'm blown away by what God has done. I've been going to Newday for 20 years and I'm overwhelmed at the incredible privilege I've had of serving in different areas of the festival. In my first year I served on the taping team, since then I've done kids work, exhibiting, youth working, set-up, seminar speaking and now (for the past few years), I'm involved in the leadership team of the festival.
I can't quite believe how blessed I am for belonging to this family of churches. I'm so deeply thankful that I discovered it, thankful that in my early years as a Christian I received such healthy examples from men and women in it. I'm grateful for so much, and it occurs to me how it all came to me as a result of a happy coincidence. I never went looking for it, I simply stumbled into it and now, some twenty five years on I'm more thankful for it than ever before.
I was 18 and had just moved to Canterbury for university. I chose Canterbury for all the wrong reasons. I was far more interested in nightlife than finding a church. Yet God, in his kindness, used that very decision to bring me into a family that would shape the rest of my life.
During the two years before heading off to university I'd started attending the local Anglican church but the fact that I was still making my life choices based largely on what I hoped the nightlife of the place would be, suggests I was still deeply conflicted about my faith. Internally I'd definitely felt a shift, a longing and a desire for God, but externally I still conformed to the norms around me. I simply couldn't imagine anything better than alcohol, partying and girls!
A few weeks in and my emerging Christian faith raised its head. I sought out an Alpha course on campus and emailed the person running it. Her email was 'crossjosie@...' and it amused me that this person was so incredibly Christian that even her email address reflected it (although it turned out this was simply her name 'Josie Cross'). Meeting Josie and doing Alpha turned out to set my life's trajectory in a way I never could have anticipated. I met Christians my age and began attending the City Church Canterbury, a New Frontiers church that had a bursting student ministry. Every Sunday evening we'd meet for worship, preaching and ministry in a hired school hall in the city centre. Those evenings introduced me to preachers and prophetic gifts from across the New Frontiers family, many of whom I'm still in contact with.
I love New Frontiers. It's emphasis on sound Bible teaching, it's commitment to pursuing New Testament church life, its hunger for the presence of God, and its emphasis on friendship and prayer have made it my spiritual home. At Newday this year I bumped into Josie when she was on her way to serve in the kids ministry. She serves in leadership at King's Church Norwich now, along with her husband Tom Shaw who led the student work with her the year I moved to Canterbury. I also caught up for Geoff Maile, a classmate from uni and I led with Martin Segal in the 12-14s. Martin was a student with me and now leads the City Church. All of them are just as hungry for God now as they were back then. They inspired me then, they inspire me now.
In my first year at The City Church I binged (this was long before Netflix) on the tapes from the Stoneleigh Bible weeks. I listened to all the seminars and became familiar with the preaching of Terry Virgo, David Devenish, Dave Holden and others. It was my first theological education and I'm incredibly grateful for how good it was. There was such a hunger among the students in those days at the church. Hugh Pearce (planted Redeemer Church Colchester) set up a theology study group where I was introduced to Wayne Grudem's Bible Doctrine, a book that laid good foundations in my life. We went on 'road trips' to Kings Church Catford where I remember us discussing theology, charismatic ministry and the restoration of the church I heard Joel Virgo preach on David and Goliath on a weekend's mission in Birmingham and I was encouraged into leadership by a prophetic word from David Stroud (who planted ChristChurch London and assists Philippa Stroud in leading the popular ARC conferences).
The men around me in the church modelled a hunger for prayer and a passion for charismatic gifts. Olly Knight, Rob Shillito, Dafydd Morse, Dan White, Dan Richards, Roger Eaton, Simon Clark, Tom HC, Andy Chev and others all called me out of myself and into a wider world and mission I hadn't known before. Many of them are in leadership in churches, all of them are still pursuing God with fervour.
There was a culture of holiness among those men. We exhorted one another to pursue godliness, avoid drunkenness and treat women with honour. Some of this was said explicitly but much of it was 'caught' by association. I still remember the non-judgement I was met with by one of the older Christians who found me smoking in the nightclub one night. I remember when one of the student workers came to my dorm room one day only to find posters of women on my bedroom walls. I'd always assumed it was normal behaviour to have pin ups on display in one's room, but his feintly concealed surprise was all the nudging I needed to see things differently. Grace disarmed me and made me desire to reach higher.
I soon graduated from Uni and was given the chance to serve as a gap year student in the church. Here I was introduced to Andrew Wilson, who's teaching and character still inspires me to this day. For the next few years I had the honour of receiving a bespoke theological programme from him, something we affectionately called 'AWE' (the Andrew Wilson Experience!). He's been a friend ever since and is still the person I'd travel the furthest to hear preach. Following my gap year I was offered a job at a New Frontiers church in Eastbourne and the Canterbury chapter of my life ended. I met my wife at The City Church and I cannot overstate how grateful I am for the foundations that were laid during those years. Foundations, not only in theology but also in Christian friendships and church culture.
In Eastbourne I met Oli and Wendy Stevens where, along with Andrew and Rachel Wilson, Amy and I formed a collective that met regularly for prayer and study. My faith grew more slowly than the responsibility I was carrying increased and these friendships held me steady during years of confusion and grief. My dad passed away in 2010 just three months after my first son was born, and one month after the church in Seaford I now lead was planted.
In naming all these places and people I'm describing the various ways in which my life has been enriched by this family of churches. I could go on and on naming all the people I love and have become friends with across New Frontiers.
In an age as cynical and as prone to pointing out imperfections as ours it's a rare thing to stop and celebrate. We can forget sometimes how normal dysfunction is, and how human sin ruins everything. In our culture, criticism often passes for wisdom. But spotting flaws takes far less discernment than recognising grace. For that reason I am blown away that I've had the happy coincidence of coming upon New Frontiers.
I love its leaders, love its theology, love its spirit, love its humility, love its emphasis on grace, on the Spirit, on rigor and on relationship. I love the people I get to lead with, the leaders who inspire me, the administrators who astound me, the creatives who push boundaries, the preachers who make my heart burn within me, the church planters and pioneers who won't let me settle and the God who makes it all possible.
Looking back, I realise I didn't simply find a church. I found fathers in the faith. Friends. Teachers. People who prayed for me, corrected me, believed in me and patiently pointed me towards Jesus.
None of that was in my life plan.
I thought I was heading to Canterbury in search of a good night out. Instead, God quietly gave me a spiritual home.
Thank you, Newday, for reminding me what I'm part of.
And above all, glory to God for his wonderfully kind providence—even when, to me, it looked like nothing more than a happy coincidence.