From power house, to kitchen, to showground
How New Wine began, in the words of our Founder, David Pytches
John Wimber, Founder of the Vineyard movement, visited us at St Andrews, Chorleywood in 1981. I remember being worried about paying the fares for his team of about 21 people! But John was amazingly generous. “We don’t want any money”, he said, “all we ask is that you give away whatever you have received this weekend.”
A few years later, John gave us £3,000 as seed money to start something that would bless the Church in our country. At that time we held prayer meetings at 7am every day at St Andrew’s (except Sundays). It was the power house for all that happened at our church and further afield. It was at one of these prayer meetings that God gave the vision for a camp for churches to have a holiday together; something for all ages. So we used the seed money, plus £10,000 borrowed from other churches, to start New Wine.
It was a natural progression from our leaders’ conferences and the hope was that leaders would experience the work of the Spirit together with their congregations, and then to take it back to their churches. We made sure we had seminars on ‘How to minister in the power of the Spirit’ and ‘How to use the gifts of the Spirit in ministry’.
When God gives the vision, it’s amazing how everything comes together. We took over a week at the Bath & West Showground from another Christian group that were stopping. Margaret Maynard, who was my PA at the time, organised the event from her kitchen! Her late husband, Bob, thought up the name New Wine, as it rhymed perfectly with ’89! St Andrew’s supported the vision whole heartedly. We took about 250 people and they did all the work on site: the stewards, the ministry team, the toilet cleaners, the cooks — whatever job needed doing. Barry Kissell and I worked together at St Andrews for many years and we did the same at New Wine; it was a God-given partnership. In total we numbered about 2,500 people in that first year.
New Wine has grown each year, with over 22,000 coming in 2017, and we praise God for all he has done and are excited for all he will do next, especially with the move to Peterborough. Shepton Mallet has served us well, but the time has come to move. We look forward to United 18 and, God willing, we will also see you in Peterborough next summer!
David & Mary Pytches started the New Wine summer gatherings in 1989 when David was vicar of St Andrew’s Chorleywood. David is former Bishop of Chile, Bolivia and Peru, and the author of many books including Come Holy Spirit and his autobiography Living at the edge.
