Church tent at Royal Norfolk Show a big hit
 by Helen Baldry
2010: The Church Tent was a hive of activity over the two days of the Royal Norfolk Show. Prayer was the theme for this year's show and there were various creative ways of helping people connect with God.
A team of around 50 volunteers helped with the different activities: outside the tent passers-by were invited to try the popular speed stacking challenge which involves stacking plastics cups in the dastest possible time.
There was a Messy Church area of the tent inside for children to enjoy getting their hands dirty, musical performances and some creative ideas for prayer in the Prayer Room.
By the end of the show, the flowerbeds outside the church tent were filled with paper flowers with prayers of praise and thanksgiving written on them.
Revd Graham Miles who chairs the Churches Tent group said, "We've had a lot of visitors to the tent this year who have enjoyed the refreshments on offer and have explored different ways of praying. This year we have tried to offer something for everyone - we try to appeal to the whole spectrum."
One visitor to the tent commented that the quietness of the prayer room and the buzz of activity both outside and inside the tent struck a good balance.
The intention this year was to encourage people to "tweet a prayer" through social networking website Twitter. Unfortunately the internet connection was not adequate to do this but the organisers will aim to do it next year as there was a lot of interest expressed in the idea.
The Church Tent was organised by Norfolk and Waveney Churches Together, a group of seven Christian denominations working together to spread the good news of Jesus Christ.
Photos of the Church Tent
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