Louder Than The Music

After its massive debut in 2009, the BigChurchDayOut returns in May 2010 even bigger and better than before. The event was the brain child of Tim Jupp so LouderThanTheMusic asked the Delirious? keyboardist some questions to find out the story behind one of the most exciting Christian events in the UK.

What made you decide to set up the Big Church Day Out event?

Back in the early Cutting Edge days before Delirious really existed we used to take our monthly youth event outdoors on the seafront in Littlehampton once a year. This event made a huge impact in our community, and it has always been in my heart to see something like this again in the part of the UK where I live. Also, with Delirious we have traveled the world and help facilitate huge gatherings of the church in many countries - it has been great but makes me also hungry to see something like this happen in our own country.

Unlike many festivals, you seem to have specifically aimed BigChurchDayOut at the entire family, providing facilities, attractions and entertainment for all ages. Do you think that was something that has previously been missing from Christian events in the UK, and something that makes BigChurchDayOut stand out from the other festivals?

Many other one day 'festival' type events are often very youth focused. Whilst we have a programme and artists that caters for young people as well as all ages, my heart and vision is to see the whole church come together, and celebrate together that we are all part of something much larger than just our own immediate community. I do think that perhaps this has been something that has been missing from one day events - we've certainly seen it catered for more in the week long camps but never quite like this all in one day.

How did your time in Delirious? prepare you for being involved in organising such a massive event like the BigChurchDayOut?

In many ways. Much of what Delirious has been involved in has been helping to facilitate huge gatherings of the church in many countries around the world. This has given me a huge vision for seeing this kind of thing in the UK, where the church can come together to encourage each other and make a 'noise' to those outside it that we are alive and kicking! Also, having been in Delirious I have got to know as friends many of the well known artists and worship leaders in the world today. If I can use these connections to help expose the UK church to some of these people then that is one way in which I feel I can give something back to the church from having been in the band.

Now that Delirious? are finishing, are you dedicating all of your time to the BigChurchDayOut or have you got other projects lined up as well?

Right now the BigChurchDayOut is consuming all of my time. I believe the success of the event will largely depend on the relationship between local churches and the event, and so there is a big job to do of networking and building relationships as we see the event develop across the UK.

The BigChurchDayOut was a sell out with 15,000 people turning up in the very first year. That must have been incredibly satisfying for you?

It was a shock for me and many others - not least of all the police and the traffic problems we had because of it!! I think it was really the result of almost 2 events happening together. We had individuals who wanted to buy tickets to see some of their favorite artists, and we had whole church groups coming for the day together who had bought into the vision of the church coming together in celebration.

It must take months of planning to put on the event, tell us a bit about what is involved and how big the team of organisers and helpers is?

It is a huge job - not least of all because our small team is doing both the job of the promoter and also running the event management side of things. Essentially we have a small promotions team and then a site manager and production manager for each site. One of the differences to many other one day Christian events is that we have a full time team who are focused just on the BigChurchdayOut. I believe part of the reason so many people came in the first year was that we were able to be both focused and devoted to getting the job done.

You've set up BigChurchDayOut as a charity, what was the thinking behind that?

Our vision for the event is to serve the church as best we can. Part of that is by making the event as accessible to as many as people through cheap ticket prices. Even with sell-out crowds our event would not break even and so the charitable status helps us as we have to look to outside sponsorship and donations to make the event sustainable economically.

There are some big names lined up for the BigChurchDayOut 2010: Switchfoot, Hillsong United, Tim Hughes, Israel Houghton, Toby Mac and Brenton Brown. How do you go about creating the lineup and selecting the artists?

The focus and vision of the day is to bring the church together in celebration, and that is why there is an emphasis on artists who can help facilitate corporate worship from the mainstage. However, it's a fun event too and it's impossible to have 8 hours of just corporate 'hymn singing'!! We do have a vision however of creating an event where some of the best artists and worship leaders can all be seen together in one day, so that we do the music 'thing' with excellence, and also create an environment for people to bring friends too who maybe aren't part of church but would still love the event because of the quality of the music.

What lessons did you learn from the first year and what else is new for 2010?

We always knew that we just didn't have enough time to do everything as well as we would have liked. We had some obvious problems with traffic congestion and also not enough food to go around in Sussex in 2009. Both these things (and many of the smaller things) we are working our hardest to fix for 2010. We also had a crowd of people that for many, aren't perhaps used to coming to large events. Because of the rural location it's the sort of thing where you need to plan to arrive a couple of hours before the programme kicks off, and that would also help our traffic issues. In 2010 we are building 2 independent traffic systems at Wiston for traffic approaching from both the east and the west, and believe we can really make this experience a lot better for everyone. It's not everyday that Christian events bring the roads to a standstill!!

What are your future plans for the BigChurchDayOut, do you see it continuing to run and grow over the next few years?

The event already seems to be scratching an itch with the church. We are excited that in 2010 we will have a second site at Stanford Hall in the Midlands. I can imagine that in a few more years time there could be perhaps 4 or 5 BigChurchDayOuts all across the UK over 2 weekends, giving the church nationally the opportunity to access a great event like this.


BigChurchDayOut 2010 takes place on 29th (Stanford Hall, Leicestershire), 30th & 31st May (Wiston House, West Sussex). For tickets and further information, visit: www.bigchurchdayout.co.uk

Recent releases from artists appearing at BigChurchDayOut 2010:
Switchfoot 'Hello Hurricane' - Review | Buy CD
Hillsong United 'Tear Down the Walls' - Review | Buy CD
Tim Hughes 'Happy Day' - Review | Buy CD