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INCREASED NUMBERS, NEW VISITORS: CRE 'DELIVERS ON ITS PROMISE'
10 June 2008
WHILE visitor statistics showed a healthy eight per cent increase at this year’s National Christian Resources Exhibition, they don’t convey the most important fact.
‘The vast majority of exhibitors I spoke to had a successful show – the key issue for the long-term impact of CRE,’ said Event Director Steve Briars. ‘Bookings for next year are already up and there is a general feeling of renewed optimism.
‘I don't believe the success is simply because of an increase in visitors, although we were delighted to see them. My underlying impression is that we delivered on our promise – to create a vibrant show and attract fresh visitors.’
Gary Bond of Normans Musical Instruments said: ‘It was a fantastic week - without question the best event we have attended for some time. It was extremely well organised and the high volume of visitors ensured great exposure for our company. We will definitely be back next year!'
Ian Sadler of Ansvar said: ‘Our stand appeared much busier. We engaged with more visitors and gave out far more promotional items and literature.’
Paul Braddock of CRE exhibitor Wigwam, said: ‘This year’s show offered a good mix of visitors – some just looking for information and several with serious projects needing advice and expertise.’
Wigwam, professional audio suppliers and installers, are regular exhibitors - ‘I'm always thrilled by the way the event brings Christians from all denominations under one roof,’ said Braddock.
Held at Sandown Park in Esher, (May 13-16) CRE hosted a wide range of organisations, contributors and special guests.
The Bishop of Bristol, Rt Rev Mike Hill told visitors that churches ‘need to replace the DNA of the present status quo with the DNA of the Kingdom of God’. Leading a seminar for local church leaders on implementing change, he said: ‘There is a fantastic myth alive in our churches - if we stay as we are, we will stay as we are. If we stay as we are, friends, we will decline.’ He urged Christians to be clear on their vision and follow the example of the early church by having a plan for growth in place.
Laurence Singlehurst, of Cell UK, explained how the huge cultural shift in Britain, from a Christian moral framework to a secular humanist and pagan foundation, demanded a similar shift in evangelistic methods.
‘In many ways the church is still trying to win the nation using the same old methods of 1952 - and we are surprised they don’t work,’ he said. “‘Sin’, ‘repentance’, these are not words and phrases that mean anything in our culture today. It’s like speaking Japanese. We live in a different world.”
Reflecting a similar urgency, Jason Illian of exhibitor GodTube.com, a social networking site where users share videos, audio, blogs, photos and prayers, said: ‘Slow moving, traditional bureaucracies are dead in the water. The church needs to admit it’s not interested in taking the opportunities presented to it through social networking – or make the very most of them.’
In the week that brought heart-breaking news of tens of thousands of deaths in China’s Sichuan Province, Chinese author and evangelist Brother Yun spoke at CRE for the first time. His book, Heavenly Man, a story of faith against adversity, is an internationally acclaimed best-seller.
‘Brother Yun is a man of deep faith and commitment,’ said Steve Briars. ‘Such was the demand to hear him that we had to turn hundreds away from his scheduled seminar and add another straight afterwards.’
Meanwhile the Rev Prof Ian James, the Oxford Diocesan Environment Advisor, stressed to visitors that climate change is at least as serious a problem to the human race as terrorism.
‘There are choices we have to make. Do we just thoughtlessly take the package holiday because it’s cheaper?’ he asked. ‘We need as individuals and churches to get into the habit of auditing our personal carbon emissions.’
Other special guests included former hell-raising Boyzone star Shane Lynch, who launched The Chancer (Canaan Press), his ‘warts and all’
autobiography. In the book Shane reveals how a bunch of Irish no hopers were turned into 'the biggest band on earth'. Soon, however, Shane became obsessed by the occult, his marriage failed and the band split up. At a critical time someone told him about God. Little by little, his new faith helped put the shattered pieces of his life back together.
The next CRE takes place at the Yorkshire Event Centre, Harrogate from Thu 25 - Sat 27 Sept 2008.
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