Celebration for the Nations 2013 Report

We did it! A worship intercession completed!
Hundreds of us have responded to the Lord’s command to ‘gather the people together’ and He has given us the water of life! We have worshipped, we have sung His praises, and the well of His Spirit is springing up in us, and I believe in Wales and many other places. So many have testified to the manifest PRESENCE of the Lord as we worshipped together. People have been saved, healed, called, set free! We have tasted of what the Lord is doing and we want more!

We prophetically joined our voices as one and sang the song of the Bride at the wedding feast:

Hallelujah! For the LORD our God the Almighty reigns! (Revelation 19:6)

I do believe that the Lord has received our worship as a pouring out of our love like the woman with the perfume. He says to us as He said to her You ‘ have done a beautiful thing to me’ (Mark 14:6).

It was wonderful to have representatives from around 32 nations, and to worship our Lord in many different tongues. How special to dance and worship with Eritreans and then pray for the suffering church in that land. Spring up O well! How amazing to see an Israeli woman and an Egyptian man proclaiming the gospel on the streets of Llanelli and then leading us in worship together in the tent. Wasn’t it beautiful to hear the praises of God in the pure voices of Welsh worshippers and to join with the compelling strength of Korean joy? What about the inspired talent of the Korean artists? The energy and life of those dancers? I can’t mention everything that happened, but I want to look at some highlights that I believe may have something prophetic about them....

The Jericho March
On the seventh day of our seventh Celebration we felt we should follow the instructions that the Lord gave to Joshua and we marched around the tent seven times:

The seventh time around the priests sounded the trumpet blast, Joshua commanded the people, ‘Shout! ‘ for the Lord has given you the city’ (Joshua 6:16).

Just as the people of Israel marched around Jericho with trumpet blasts, so we marched to the sound of the drums and many shofars. On the seventh time as we returned to the tent we had had a word, that before we shouted we should have a time of complete silence, just humbling ourselves before our Mighty God, recognising that we can do nothing, but that He is everything. It was for me, perhaps the most precious time in the Celebration. There was such a manifest presence of the HOLINESS of God.

Out of the silence we all gave a mighty teruwah, a shout of battle and of joy, for we knew the Lord was giving us the ‘city’. As we did that, the word LORD formed in clouds in the sky above us, you can see the picture on our facebook page. There was a tremendous release of joy and of faith as we shouted of the victory of our King. We shouted His name in all the languages we represented JESUS, IESU, YESHUA, YESUA, JESU etc!! In 2007 as we worshipped, a Cross formed in the sky at the same place. These things may seem strange or perhaps fanciful to some, but I believe it was just a little encouragement from the Lord that heaven is responding to what we were doing on earth, as we in our turn are trying to respond to what was happening in heaven.

Prayer for North Korea
The well of revival in Pyong Yang, the capital of what is now North Korea, has always been closely linked in our hearts and minds with the well springing up again in Wales. At various times during our 10 days, a spirit of intercession came upon people, but one marked time was on Sunday 28 July after Pastor Hong Wonpyo spoke to us. It was a time of deep calling to deep as we wept before the Lord for this suffering and broken nation. It seems so right that next year we hold a Korean Celebration for the Nations on an island overlooking North Korea.

First Nation peoples
It was a privilege to have quite an number of missionaries with us during the Celebration. Among them were John and his wife Yunghwa, parents of two of the young ladies who administrated Celebration for the Nations. They work among the Edopi people of Indonesia who number only about 1500. This couple have given them an alphabet and some Bible stories in their language. They have invested their lives for these few, because they know that representatives from every tribe and people group will be worshipping before the throne. It was so humbling to hear John share that during the Celebration he had a deeper revelation of God’s love, which will help him better serve these people in the future. As they flashed up pictures of this tribe while we worshipped, many of us were deeply touched and offered ourselves for the forgotten peoples of the world.

We also were able to hear the drum of the Lakota Indians of North America brought to us from Israel by Valerie, and had Nic and Louise, and Henry and Jean join us from Canada, where they work among the First Nation peoples. The Bible talks of how creation co-operates with the redeemed and the Redeemer. After all, it is longing and waiting for the sons of God to rise into the fullness of who they are (Romans 8:19). Its destiny is inextricably linked with ours. The First Nation peoples, including the Celtic Welsh and the Koreans, often seem to have a special connection to the land. It seems that the land itself joined us in worship. No wonder the heavens above us were declaring the glory of God!

Families restored
There were a couple of touches though the Celebration of the Lord restoring families. An adult daughter recommitted her heart to the Lord and told me that her Mum now wanted to know about Jesus. A young man saved in Celebration last year brought his Mum to church, where she met Jesus. His older brother gave his heart to the Lord in this Celebration . Let’s ask the Lord to continue to work in the families of those newly saved, so that we will see households changing, that can in time cause a community to be transformed.

We would love to have seen more committing their lives to Jesus during this Celebration and we had prepared follow-up for that. However, we are not discouraged with the ten or so we know of, because our God is the God of multiplication!

Churches and organisations working together
It was great to work with Choose Life, who get alongside those who are struggling with addictions. They were serving us burgers etc on the field. Two of their workers gave their hearts to the Lord during the Celebration on the Sunday Richard Taylor was speaking. Richard is from Llanelli and an ex addict. He is now the pastor of Victory Church, Cwmbran, where the ‘Welsh Outpouring’ is happening and over 900 people have made decisions for Christ in a hundred days.
Several local churches were strongly represented in the Celebration this year including Ty Gwyn, the local Apostolic church (this denomination was born as a result of the Welsh Revival), Pillar Community Church who provided many of our stewards and helped in the evangelism, and Antioch, as ever providing care and backup where we needed it.
We also worked with Mission movements World Horizons, Frontline Nations, Celebration Mobile Team, Wildstep, Egypt My People,and Nations who all provided many of the people to hold the Celebration together.
We pray that this spirit of unity and co-operation for the extension of the gospel can continue in Llanelli and beyond.

Richness of word
As usual in Celebration there was a rich release of God’s word. One thing that came through again and again was the Lord’s command to GO into all the nations and preach the gospel. Interestingly the theme of martyrdom reoccurred several times. Our Mizo friends had even brought clothes of some who were martyred proclaiming the gospel in Northern India. In these days we recognise that if we are truly to obey the Lord’s command and go, we must be willing to pay the ultimate price. Many made this commitment. May the Lord help us to follow through.
The vision I had in the Korean Celebration earlier this year was of the River of Life full of light. I saw people of light beginning to rise up from it, and heard the Voice from the Throne say ‘GO!’.

Gareth writes:
2 Kings 13:18-19
Then he said, “Take the arrows,” and the king took them. Elisha told him, “Strike the ground.” He struck it three times and stopped. The man of God was angry with him and said, “You should have struck the ground five or six times; then you would have defeated Aram and completely destroyed it. But now you will defeat it only three times.”
These verses have been with me over the last few years of the Celebration. We have continued to strike the ground with our worship intercession and now we are beginning to see the wells spring up.

Springs in Wales
The springs have begun to break out and we have seen fruit start to spring up across the nation. There is some growth across the church in Wales and the encouragement of the outpouring in Victory Church, Cwmbran

Working in unity
Different churches, missions, groups and nationalities have worked together for the common
vision of the Celebration . This continues on the ground in Wales and other locations.
Celebration has been many tribes and nations working together to see His kingdom come

What's next?
Wales what's next? People have been asking "is that it ? Are we finished in Wales?" I
would love to see some local group and churches pick up the vision and run a local expression of CFTN in the coming years.

Lets continue to strike the ground until we see His full victory His full promise released.

Llanelli Pastor, Ivan Parker writes:
In 2006 I moved to Llanelli to take up the pastorate of Ty Gwyn Community Church. Shorty after my arrival a number of individuals informed me of a vision many people had been having regarding Llanelli. The vision was one of a huge tidal wave sweeping over the town. Those that had seen this were warning of the destruction of our community. This wasn't going to be a natural disaster but a God instigated retribution! In my spirit I couldn't find any sense of this anger that God had for our community, quite the opposite really, I felt that there was a huge wave coming but not of disaster but of blessing. I felt that God was going to come and pour out His spirit in a remarkable way once again.

Although I must confess that when Gail shared her vision of the blocked well I didn't really catch the full heart of it, but I did feel a sense of excitement and whole heartily wanted to support the passion for bringing worshippers from around the globe to a celebration in Llanelli. Looking back I can see that year after year God has blessed us mightily with wave after wave of worshippers. Each year that's past I've felt that the spiritual temperature of our community and our Principality has increased. In our church we've seen lives saved, transformed and now reaching others for Jesus and the best is yet to come!

When God opens a door it cannot be closed. When we celebrated together this year on the Festival Fields it truly was a celebration, a prophetic declaration of the fact that there is no longer a barrier between what God has for His people and His people. It can be touched, experienced and shared! Praise The Lord, and nothing can stop it!

Thank you Gail and team for the courage to pursue the vision, and thank you all who came and made a difference! Llanelli will never be the same, and that means that it’s not long before the nations will never be the same.
"Let God arise and His enemies be scattered", arise in me, arise in you.
Every blessing

Photos and Videos
We will let you know as these become available.

Celebration 2014
We are not having an international Celebration for the Nations next year, but a Korean one based on an island overlooking North Korea. The Koreans have invited any who would like to join them to come 18-22 August 2014. We will put more details on the website as we have them.

Dick and Gladys Funnell, who are missionaries to Wales and carry an intercession for revival, sent me these verses saying ‘this portion of scripture is what the Celebration is all about and pointing towards...!’ In view of our prayer for Wales, North Korea and many other places I say Amen!

“Thus says the Lord: In this place of which you say, ‘It is a waste without man or beast,’ in the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem that are desolate, without man or inhabitant or beast, there shall be heard again the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voices of those who sing, as they bring thank offerings to the house of the Lord: “‘Give thanks to the Lord of hosts, for the Lord is good, for his steadfast love endures forever! ’
For I will restore the fortunes of the land as at first, says the Lord..."'" Jeremiah 33:10-11

Help the Barren woman sing! (Isaiah 54)
As we have prayed about the future this is the word that the Lord spoke through Gareth. We believe that the shape of Celebration in the future will probably be very different, though its heart will be the same; to see the wells of God’s life spring up as we worship Him. It seems right to be next year focussing on Korea. Where will the Lord lead us next? Will we still be all together or will there be many different expressions? You are part of the answer. Together the Lord will show us.

Your testimony
Thank you for those who have written to us. It is great to hear how many of you had deep meetings with the Lord. It seems many links were made that I am sure will bear fruit for the Kingdom. It was special to hear that the team from Colchester will continue to meet every two weeks to see what the Lord wants them to do from what they have learnt in Celebration. We would love to hear how the Lord has spoken to you during the Celebration, and/or experiences you have had that are related to Celebration. You are welcome to post on our facebook page or send them in to us This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Let’s keep worshipping the Lord and allow Him to unfold His purposes!

My deep thanks to all who have made these years of Celebration so precious, and most of all, of course, to the Lord Jesus Christ himself.

Shalom in His Name,
Gail.