While 20,000 people gather in London to be involved in the Soul in the City mission, another large-scale conference - New Wine 2004 will commence on 31st July at the Royal Bath & West showground Shepton Mallet, Somerset; the same place at which the first New Wine event was held in 1989. At that first gathering there were only 2000 attendants.

During the venture, there will be Morning worships, Bible studies, Seminars and Evening Worshiping. There are streams for children, young adults and families. Its organisers say that they are focusing on equipping local churches so that they can naturally expand themselves.

The Youth programme will be hosted by Ali Campbell, youth leader at St Paul's, Ealing, the youth venue is promoted as "fast-paced and full of action". It offers fantastic teaching, a superb range of workshops focusing on relevant areas such as relationships, school, music, sex, guidance and a whole host of other exciting topics.

Top Christian artists attending the event will include Steve, Delirious?, Nicki Rogers, Andy Flannagan, Superhero, Quench, The Tribe, and Cathy Burton among others that will be showing up.

It was announced that the two week conference was fully booked out over a month ago, and approximately 22,000 Christians will join either one or both weeks of "worship, teaching and ministry."

Week One: 31 July-6 August
Week Two: 8-14 August

Next year it plans to add a third week so that an estimated 10,000 more attendants may enjoy the spiritual atmosphere of the event and celebrations.

Meanwhile, the conferences that will take place during the gathering will be for leaders and 30 seperate network groups who will support key personnel from 840 churches across the denominational spectrum; among them 80 per cent are Anglican.

The roots of both of these highly attractive ventures can be tracked back to the parish church in Chorleywood. New Wine originated from the youth-oriented Soul Survivor. Now, New Wine has grown powerfully interdenominationally, but is still largely Anglican-dominated.

The Conference host, Revd John Coles, is committed to "equipping churches to see Jesus' Kingdom grow". He says, "there is a growing consistency in churches whose leaders are in the New Wine Network."

New Wine Network UK seeks to support and establish a nationwide network of local churches across all denominations, founded on the same values of worship, teaching and ministry in the power of the Holy Spirit. The network currently has 1000 members, of which 75% are church leaders.