Thousands gathered at Wiston House in Sussex this bank holiday weekend for another year of music and celebration at the Big Church Day Out.
Now in its sixth year, the event welcomed an estimated 25,000 people over two days to hear 16 bands from the UK, US and Canada.
Saturday's line up included the world's biggest Catholic worship leader Matt Maher, former X Factor finalist Jahmene Douglas, Grammy Award winning Third Day and festival favourite Rend Collective before Worship Central – a collective of London-based worship leaders including Tim Hughes and Luke Hellebronth – closed the evening.
Despite suffering from its wettest and muddiest year yet, the event attracted record numbers of church groups, families and individuals from across the UK. Radio presenter Lizzie Crow and 24/7 Prayer founder Pete Greig hosted the main stage action.
Saturday's torrential downpours gave way to bright sunshine on Sunday as artists including upcoming American duo All Sons & Daughters, energetic rockers Newsboys, gospel music megastar Fred Hammond and writer of 10,000 Reasons Matt Redman took to the stage.
A further 22 artists, including Daughters of Davis, Philippa Hanna and the Watoto Children's Choir, performed over the weekend. Noel Robinson's set on the Sunday evening drew the biggest crowd as the band played a mixture of old and new songs.
The festival has been praised by attendees and worship leaders for its ability to bring together Christians of various backgrounds and denominations. Organiser Tim Jupp (formerly of Delirious?) said, "There's something for everybody, from a nice cup of tea with a Chamber Orchestra, to high energy worship, and some of the best Christian music the world has to offer.
"It's all about being 'church' together. Our vision is to do all we can to make the event as accessible to as many as possible, not only so the wider church can come together, but so that people feel comfortable inviting their friends and family from outside of church."
The event was sponsored by Tearfund who used the weekend to launch their No Child Taken campaign that aims to protect 50,000 vulnerable children across the world from the risk of being trafficked in 2014.
Feedback poured in on Twitter under the #bcdo hashtag both during and after the event. Beth Redman said, "Filling up the night sky with worship. Dancing upon injustice. Thousands loving Jesus" while Chaos Curb Collaboration said, "Thanks @BigChurchDayOut for having our collaboration play again this year. It really is a very special event!"
Many of the artists have stayed on for The Worship Conversation – a new two day conference running at Wiston House. The event promises "a deeper journey in worship, hanging out together in God's presence in a creative environment, with plenty of time to get 'under the skin' of the guest worship leaders."
As well as putting on the summer day out, organisers are planning a Big Church Night In 10 UK date tour in November with Phil Wickham and Rend Collective. Tickets are £15 and can be purchased from BigChurchNightIn.com.
