Appreciate opinions on festivals

Hi to all,

In my area there is very little in the way of deep holiness or being set apart from the world, as I would understand it. There are some who have a great passion for God, have read books by some of the old revivalists and can pray with fervancy for God to come and move again - yet they go and participate in festivals (as band members and as the crowd) and be apparently very blessed. Few if any get saved and most lead a life which can only be described as 'life with a Christian bolt-on to get to heaven'.

I myself feel grieved with 99% of what is called Christian around me and struggle to get my head around all this. One brother is a really sound fella in all areas of his walk yet sings and rocks about on stages. I can relate to Keith Green's book hit when he wept at the front of a festival with what he saw.

I would appreciated if you dear brothers and sisters could take a quick look at this and give your opinions on these sort of weekend festivals.

http://www.fuelevents.com/

there is a facebook link with more info about it from the above link.

You know at first I didn't really know how to react to this since there are some of those bands that I enjoy listening to. When Christ introduced me to the full gospel however I noticed the same discontent for the half gospel of just getting to go to heaven. There are some of those festivals or concerts that I have been to that really did challenge youth and adult alike to live a life worthy of the gospel. I understand your conviction however many people haven't had the same. I learned really quickly has God began to deal with my critical spirit to not look harshly on people or try and judge the intent of man but rather look at the fruit at which they produce. I found its so much easier to be critical rather than seeking the good in that person. I have been working on taking the higher road which is harder and longer than the slippery sloop of Critism.

If this is a deep concern for you I would talk with the people in Love and make your concerns know or have them listen and read the same books that opened your eyes to the full gospel.

I started with my youth group going over the attributes of God and I started with Holiness they all drew the same conclusion that on Judgment day they had no argument as to why they shouldn't go to hell especially if God is as Holy as I protrayed Him. I also look at things that entertain and ask if they will bring glory to God and some of the songs are very glorify to God people just don't pay attention to the words nor live them out but rather seek to be entertained which is the downfall of the whole thing.

God Bless,
Matthew
*edit I also highly recommend listening to the feature sermon A Beautiful Mind very good stuff and it just may draw you closer to Christ Jesus*

There is definately the case that the musicians are genuine and somtimes write powerful lyrics - it's the people in the crowd that react in different ways - like you say, so many just want to tbe entertained.

Many thanks for the helpful reply and I'll check out the feature sermon.

notmyown: Since you asked for opinions,I guess I have one. I did look at the web-site you referenced.

I have not been to many of the large multi-band festivals. I have been to quite a few concerts and I enjoy them very much. I had the privilege of being at the last Delerious concert ever in the U.S. last fall and I wept for joy as the presence of the Lord was there. I have also been to concerts when I just enjoyed the music. I think it is perfectly legitimate for Christians to just enjoy music as long as it is wholesome and pure. There are a lot of people who attend the festivals for whom God is just a fire insurance policy. There are a lot who attend who don't know God. I am not sure that is any indicator of whether festivals are good or bad.

It is much the same with the artists themselves. Within the christian music industry are people who are radically on fire for God and are doing all they can to reach the lost and encourage the saints with what they do. There are also those who do not know God and see this as a way of making money. There are those who compromise and live very compromising lifestyles as a result. I am not talking about genre differences. There is and has been just as much compromise and debauchery among the ranks of the Southern Gospel as there has among the Christian Rock or Hip Hop, and I enjoy all of these styles. Again, the fact that there are those who are in it for impure motives and do not know God does not invalidate music.

I guess I don't have a problem with the festivals. Some are saved, even if it be few. Many are encouraged. Many are not and leave just like they came. Sounds a bit like a typical Sunday morning in any city in America doesn't it?
It really comes down to individual people making a decision to sell out to the Lord and seek Him with their whole heart.

Thanks for the answers guys.

I too have been to 3 delirious concerts - and would never go back. Guys were messing about in the crowd and hust a girl nearby - it was just entertainment. Delirious were saying it was a special night and that there was a presence, but it was just all hype. I cant see how anyone would get to know jesus better through it to be honest.

Third Day were better but there was still a serious amount of 'band idolatry' going on, even if I myself could worship God to SOME of the songs, alot of it is just treated as entertainment.

Good point about the clothing, Krispy. My experience of past festivals (many years ago)are that they are fairly shallow affairs. People may come home fired up but it burns out a week later.

Thanks again for the opinions. It's been a help to try and get my head around it all.

I tend to agree with all of the posts below. I went to a couple of Christian 'festival' type things here in the UK in my time. Loved them at the time, but in hindsight had similar thoughts about maturity in Christ, the true depth of it (etc etc. you've all said the same things).

The difficulty for me is this: If someone had warned me or stopped me going when I did go, even though I'm not keen on them now, it may have left me worse off than going. It is true that you can make of these things what you will, but the type of thing I went to was a multi-day camping type thing, and with that came fellowship etc.

Something I've been struggling with of late with the young people in my church is similar: Do I warn them off music and events that I now see as not the 'best' God has? Or do I let them go the same way I did and let God teach them and bring them up in it at His pace, as He did with me?

The conclusion I've come to so far, is that if I'm going to discourage them from going to certain events because there is a better way, I need to not only tell them what that better way is, but have them see the result of it in ME. If I can't express something of Christ the way I now see Him to them, then my concern is that all will come across is judgement, and it may to lead to them doing everything they do with more doubt.

Does that make sense? I'm concerned I haven't been clear.

Adam

Adam

Couldnt have put it better myself.

Found myself talking to a group of Christians last week and talking about the shortcomings of the church of today when compared to the New testament model. We all agreed that something was missing from the church but they also had never seen anything different.

A group of young people with whom I had a weekly bible study with were similar. We looked at scriptures and it opened their eyes to the shallowness of Christianity around us but then they got disillusioned as they could not see 'the real thing' in anybody and thought it unobtainable.

So it's a case of putting up with whats 'good' just to keep the young people until we can show them whats 'best'?

I look at the church and notice something is missing, instead of looking at the modern church for what is missing I am having to dive into history and the Word of God to see if I can rediscover it and trying and bring it back to life in my own life. I am trying to pull some of my youth group along with me but they haven't quite grasped how incredibly Holy God is, nor do I think that I have attained any higher understanding just the Grace of God giving me a hunger to see REALITY and a thirst to Do what the Bible says. I hope that God places this hunger in them soon because its a weary work but I wouldn't have it any other way :).

I think motive is a very important issue to the life of a young Christian (indeed, any Christian), and the problem is that motive is so hard to discern. How hard I find to even discern my own true motives at times, and how deceptive the human heart can be!

What I mean by this, is that, if you're like me, settling for what's "good" until we can show them what's "best" doesn't feel great, even though it's all we can conclude sometimes. In fact, if you haven't heard it I'd encourage you to listen to Art Katz' sermon on 'The Good and The Perfect'. If we settle for good, maybe we're in danger of never attaining the true 'best' that we speak of.

This at least convinces me that if something is outright wrong, we should probably stand up against it, even if it risks alienating some of our youth. If it's something, like some of these festivals, with a bit of good and bad, it's really a bit more challenging.

My experience is that I could make my experience good or bad, which brings me back to motive. When I listened to Christian music that perhaps wasn't the best, my relationship with God was more shallow and my theology disturbingly incorrect, I was still sincere in my desire to follow after God. And HE brought me out of those things and into more maturity as time went on.

So my current thought is that if a young person is passionately seeking God, but has some things incorrect, to an extent (and within reason and wisdom) let them seek after Him in what might not be the best areas, because HE will guide them, I am sure of that.

"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened."

It may be that at some points he uses us to guide them. With some of my incorrect theology of the past, it took some people having an argument with me for me to see the wrong, but that took time.

The truth is, and my hope is, that when I look back on where I am now in 5 years, I'll be thinking "I was immature and incorrect compared to how I now know God", so I don't want to be too keen to try and force my walk onto others.

In practical terms, I think we have to trust God to guide us on a person by person basis. And also pray that we can end up like Paul and be able to say "imitate me, as I imitate Christ".