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Lateral Thoughts

Magnus Smyly’s tale of two New Year’s Eves

Apologies to C. Dickens, but it is a far better article than any article I have done before, probably.

New Year’s Eve. The largely hyped and often flat evening where the new year is wished in tends to have a long and steady build up. Then the actual night arrives. The hours pass by, the drink flows and, then, Clive James or some other television personality declares the start of the new year and all the party poppers are released from their hiding places in a matter of minutes.

Within an hour, if you are lucky, everyone is ready to head off home to feel empty and start another year.

Holland, being a large and flat land, has plenty of building space. Indeed, there are few better prepared countries in Europe to build large conference centres. The size of the NEC complex in Birmingham, where there is a main hall capable of containing 7,000 young, enthusiastic Christian Europeans. The size of complex where there were subsidiary halls capable of having 2,000 sleeping bags covering the floor. A complex where God made His presence felt. A conference where 120,000 bread rolls were eaten and over 1,000 Christians dedicated their lives to cross-cultural Christian Mission work on New Year’s Eve.

Mission 99 was a five day conference based in Zuidlaren in northern Holland, encompassing the largest New Year’s Eve party I have ever seen, and possibly the loudest due to a highly vocal Finnish Gospel Choir, aimed at challenging those present to take up the cross of Christ in 1999 and beyond. Entitled “You are a chosen generation”, the sessions focussed on Christ’s great commission to us as disciples, the implications for us and theological basis for this assertion in 1 Peter.

As a life changing experience, I would recommend that you go when it is next held in three years time and can the reply to the question, “What did you do on New Year’s Eve?”, with “I was with God and 7,000 other European Christians. Where were you?”

Magnus Smyly

Last modified: 25th November 2005