Banner Photo Credit: Marek Jedrzejewski

During the first weekend of June 2024, 200,000 visitors packed Coventry’s city centre for MotoFest, an automotive-themed extravaganza of displays and motorsport. A team from OM was there for the first time this year - organiser Simeon Locke will share why they are returning in 2025! But first, Festival Director James Noble explains the ethos of MotoFest – it’s all about bringing blessing to the city…

James Noble: I had a motor industry background before I became a leader in Jubilee Church, Coventry. Over ten years ago, God led me to pioneer this festival celebrating our city’s rich creative heritage, and our bright future, in motor manufacture and design. MotoFest has something for all the family, and every motor fan, from classic cars at the Cathedral to hot rods on the ring road!

What’s the purpose of MotoFest?

JN: We want to do the city’s people good by giving them a great weekend! We’re inspired by Jeremiah 29:7 (NIV UK) ‘Seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you…pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.’ MotoFest is not evangelistic, but it creates an atmosphere of joy and hope, enabling conversations to happen.

Credit: citypraise.org

Does the event has a Christian flavour?

JN: Not overtly, but on the Sunday afternoon, we conclude MotoFest with ‘City Praise and Prayer’. That’s hundreds of Coventry’s Christians gathering at our biggest music stage in the Jubilee Arena, to glorify God and bless the city we love.

Credit: citypraise.org

And all weekend there’s the ‘Hope Marquee’ where you’ve got inter-church association HOPECoventry hosting Samaritan’s Purse, Christians against Poverty, iSingPOP and Healing on the Streets. Elsewhere you’ll find the Christian Motorcyclists Association on their big bikes! It was great to welcome OM too, for the first time - but I’ll let Simeon talk about that!

What was OM’s involvement?

Simeon Locke: We had a stall with a great location by the ‘Hope Marquee,’ meaning there were hundreds of families and individuals passing by our book table, which had literature and Bibles in dozens of languages. Many of these folk had a heritage from all round the world, like South Asia, Hong Kong and eastern Europe.

My colleague Ruth brought 300 modelling balloons each day, which were incredibly popular with families. They gave a great intro to our ‘conversation starters’, like a board with lots of pictures asking ‘What brings you joy?’, and a paper puzzle like a one-dimensional Rubik’s cube. Fold the puzzle correctly, and it reveals one of six famous Bible stories – fold again to find the other five, win a sweet each time! We could ask if people knew the stories, then offer them gospels with the stories in. This was really popular, and I was surprised how passers by were so ready to share their hearts with us, complete strangers.

Was it just you and Ruth running things?

SL: Fortunately, no! Across the weekend various OM staff who are based in the West Midlands visited us and got really involved, from their kids getting stuck in with modelling the balloons, to adults having great conversations with the families who visited our stand. We gave out all 600 balloons, and all 120 picture puzzles, plus loads of Scriptures. It was such a busy time that those of us manning the stall didn’t get much chance to catch up with each other – what a nice problem! But it was a great team-building experience nonetheless.

Was anyone else involved?

SL: Yes, local church Foleshill Baptist (FBC) worked with us on the Saturday. Ruth heads up youth work there. FBC lent us their gazebo, and best of all, two of the young people came along, and their leaders. Straight off they made friends with different OM team members and worked together - like Samuel aged thirteen, who is eager to share his faith but unsure how to initiate conversations. He was so encouraged when my colleague Andrew showed him ways to do that, drawing on his years of experience in open-air work.

Ruth had recently showed the youth groups how to model balloons, so it really paid off on the Saturday when the young people could put that skill into practice. Andrea, who’s fifteen, was initially really nervous about sharing her faith but then gained tremendously in confidence. Youth worker Cami says she absolutely loved the day, seeing God’s Word getting out there, and people being open to it. Her husband Caleb had a great idea of using some OM world maps as giveaways if passers-by could answer geography questions, and this idea got developed further on the Sunday as a conversation starter.

SL: My colleague Terry had a great conversation with some Greek university students who’d noticed the OM map; one had been born in Iran and was keen to point out its location. When Terry offered the girl a copy of John’s gospel in Farsi, she seemed genuinely surprised and pleased, as if it had been a long while since she’d seen any meaningful literature in her heart language. All the students were fascinated to hear that the gospel shows what it meant for God to live amongst us, and took a key fob with QR codes to more online Scripture and info in their languages.

Personally, I was really encouraged by an older lady we met on Saturday. She’d been a believer for a year, but in the past had been a Hindu for a time, and wanted literature to share with her Hindu friends. She returned on Sunday, having distributed all the gospels and New Testaments I had given her, and wanted more! She was so obviously a natural evangelist, that I gave her another load of Scriptures, and all the remaining tracts for Hindus. We hope to keep in contact with her, and would love to encourage the Coventry churches she’s associated with.

Will OM come to MotoFest again?

SL: All of us from OM loved our experience of MotoFest, and hope to return next year. As well as so many opportunities to talk with people about Jesus, it was great to support and encourage local churches in their witness, as they take that step of going outside and doing mission where they are. MotoFest is a great way of strengthening our connections with Coventry’s churches; in the future we’d love to help local young believers get involved in other expressions of witness at MotoFest, like street drama and dance. And maybe we could arrange our OM training programmes for young people, so that the participants are up in the West Midlands for MotoFest 2025? I’m planning already!

· Thank God for ten years of MotoFest. Pray for Festival Directors like James Noble, as they work in close association with secular partners to bring hope and joy to Coventry.

· Please pray for the MotoFest visitors who encountered the different Christian groups present at the festival. May God use the conversations, and literature shared, to bring them into His kingdom.

· May God grow OM’s partnerships with local churches in Coventry, sharing the good news of Jesus in their city and beyond.

· May He guide OM leaders like Simeon, as they start to plan their involvement for MotoFest 2025.