In July 2022 St John’s returned to the FOCUS summer event hosted by Holy Trinity Brompton for churches in the HTB Network. We took 49 church members to the Newark Showground in Nottinghamshire to join with 6,000 other Christians from around the country. Of that 50 there were 31 adults, 10 youth and 8 children a number of whom had not been before and for some it was the first time they had ever camped! Each church is provided with its own pitch and we all camped together, with SJH providing tents and sleeping bags for those who had no equipment.

FOCUS provides worship and teaching sessions in the morning and evening, in the ‘Big Top’, for the adults with separate venues and programmes for the children and youth. There is also a separate smaller and quieter venue for young people with additional needs and a programme of very varied seminars which run in the afternoons. 

St John’s hires a large communal marquee which forms the heart of our camp and in which we can cook (we have a communal meal every evening), eat, make drinks, and sit and chat and get to know each other. FOCUS is a wonderful opportunity to experience worship, be exposed to great teaching and get to develop friendships within St John’s, as well as make friends from other churches across the Network. Here are some comments from those who attended:

“I loved spending time with people and getting to know them more.”

“I felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude to be part of SJH.”

“I felt God's presence powerfully during the final night worship.”

“I didn’t realise it until a couple of days after Focus but God really showed me how far he had brought me over the last few years.”

“Loved our camp, enjoyed youth and the other events like the football tournament.”

“I loved everything about FOCUS and I will attend it every year. The best thing that amazed me was the sense of family among all the Christians there. It was truly one of my best experiences.”

“Loved it. I still have my wristband on to remind me to focus on what's important.

Fiona is a single mum who came with her children to Focus 2022. She writes below:

What can I say… I went to focus as a single parent who had never been camping before so i had lots of questions around the children and the practicalities.

1) Is focus the place for a single mum?

2) will the children enjoy it? Be engaged? Stay motivated? Really get something out of it? BEHAVE? (And not embarrass me 🙈😂)

3) What will we eat? Will the kids like it?

4) Are there ports the charge phones and I pads?

5) How will I put up a tent all on my own when I’ve never done it before? 😱

6) How will we get there and what would the journey look like for me on my own with the boys.. ?

All these questions surrounding the children and practicalities before I even got to think about connecting with our church family and strengthening our relationship with God. Some may have not even given it a second thought, “leave it to when the kids are older” I’ve heard this many times … But after speaking with lots of you, something told me to just do it… It was meant to be. I needed to be at Focus 2022 and so did my children. Looking back at all those doubts I had now has taught me to have more faith in myself, my children all of you.

Was Focus the place for a single mum? Focus is for everybody! In fact being there, my children were welcomed into a family there church family. The children made friends and strengthen their existing friendships. We got to spend so much quality time with everyone and all the parents were really kind, helping out one another so that we all got to have time to worship and enjoy Focus. Rosie and Rob were amazing! It was a blessing to connect with them and they were so kind and helpful to us, I don’t think they actually realise how supportive they were. They really made us feel included. Especially where It was my first time doing something like this. We also got to spend lots of time with Laura and the girls, it was so lovely.

The youth were amazing, even though they were somewhat older then my boys they still tried to include them in there games around the camp site. The boys loved being around them. Everything I questioned was already thought off. Your church family are all on had to help you, I don’t want to start naming names incase I miss someone out but the planning and organising that goes in to focus is amazing. Everyone is looked after and I did get that time I needed to enjoy and indulge in worship. Furthermore, I have never experience worship like I did at Focus. I got to worship with my church family, on my own and something quite amazing was being able to worship in the big tent with hundreds of other Christians holding my children’s hands. Just giving ourself to God. It was perfection, it was joy, it was everything.

“Focus was a true blessing to me and my children, we cherish the time we got to spend together and make life long memories with our church family”.