Jul 13, 2023, 10:21 AMBy Pastor Alex Mareniuc
Adventist Health Expo at Kent County Show
In July 2023, the Seventh-day Adventist Churches of Kent returned to the historic Kent County Show, following a successful health fair in 2022. This year's event, which marked the 100th anniversary of the show, attracted an estimated 80,000 people over three days, from the 7th to the 9th of July.
Months of diligent planning led up to our impactful participation in the show. Our team occupied a large pitch, equivalent to twelve 3x3 gazebos, amidst 400 other exhibitors at the Kent Showground in Detling, near Maidstone.
The "Give Yourself a NEWSTART" lifestyle program was central to our offering. This included complimentary health and spiritual literature, a range of health checks including BMI, waist measurement, and waist-to-height ratio - an important indicator of the risk for stroke, heart disease and diabetes, and an online NEWSTART health gauge. We also provided a full lipid panel profile, blood sugar checks, health advice, counselling, and relaxing massages.
Participant satisfaction surveys from nearly 200 participants, just a percentage of the total people who benefited from our ministry, revealed that all were highly satisfied with their experience. A significant number said it had spurred reflection on their lifestyle choices. Notably, 95% reported that they had not previously heard of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, but had learned about us through our activities at the show. This reaffirms the effectiveness of Jesus' method of outreach – going to people, engaging them in comfortable spaces, and catering to their needs. This is much more effective than waiting for them to magically turn up at church one day in a context where we are comfortable.
We observed many powerful testimonials throughout the event, attesting to the divine affirmation of our activities. During setup, we completed our work just in time before a heavy downpour, demonstrating providence at play. A noteworthy interaction took place with a visitor who had recently started observing the Biblical Sabbath with a group of people who have left the Church of England and are on a journey of spiritual enlightenment and meeting us was just what she needed. After engaging in biblical discussions on topics that were still unclear and receiving our literature, she expressed interest in visiting the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Chatham.
While many exhibitors reported disappointing sales, our experience was markedly different. In contrast to the underwhelming business performance reported by others with most saying they haven’t reached even 50% of their expected sales at the Kent county Show, we managed to provide health checks to twice as many individuals as we did in 2022. Our offerings of books, informational flyers, health advice, counselling, and massages were received by hundreds of attendees and we can only see this as another evidence of God’s approval for our ministry there.
We would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to the over 70 volunteers whose dedication made this outreach ministry possible. Our gratitude extends to the churches in Ashford, Canterbury, Chatham, Folkestone, Maidstone, Riverway, and Margate for their support and encouragement. We also acknowledge the substantial financial and non-financial contributions from the Area 4, the South England Conference, and the BUC Personal Ministry and Evangelism Department.
In July 2023, the Seventh-day Adventist Churches of Kent returned to the historic Kent County Show, following a successful health fair in 2022. This year's event, which marked the 100th anniversary of the show, attracted an estimated 80,000 people over three days, from the 7th to the 9th of July.
Months of diligent planning led up to our impactful participation in the show. Our team occupied a large pitch, equivalent to twelve 3x3 gazebos, amidst 400 other exhibitors at the Kent Showground in Detling, near Maidstone.
The "Give Yourself a NEWSTART" lifestyle program was central to our offering. This included complimentary health and spiritual literature, a range of health checks including BMI, waist measurement, and waist-to-height ratio - an important indicator of the risk for stroke, heart disease and diabetes, and an online NEWSTART health gauge. We also provided a full lipid panel profile, blood sugar checks, health advice, counselling, and relaxing massages.
Participant satisfaction surveys from nearly 200 participants, just a percentage of the total people who benefited from our ministry, revealed that all were highly satisfied with their experience. A significant number said it had spurred reflection on their lifestyle choices. Notably, 95% reported that they had not previously heard of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, but had learned about us through our activities at the show. This reaffirms the effectiveness of Jesus' method of outreach – going to people, engaging them in comfortable spaces, and catering to their needs. This is much more effective than waiting for them to magically turn up at church one day in a context where we are comfortable.
We observed many powerful testimonials throughout the event, attesting to the divine affirmation of our activities. During setup, we completed our work just in time before a heavy downpour, demonstrating providence at play. A noteworthy interaction took place with a visitor who had recently started observing the Biblical Sabbath with a group of people who have left the Church of England and are on a journey of spiritual enlightenment and meeting us was just what she needed. After engaging in biblical discussions on topics that were still unclear and receiving our literature, she expressed interest in visiting the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Chatham.
While many exhibitors reported disappointing sales, our experience was markedly different. In contrast to the underwhelming business performance reported by others with most saying they haven’t reached even 50% of their expected sales at the Kent county Show, we managed to provide health checks to twice as many individuals as we did in 2022. Our offerings of books, informational flyers, health advice, counselling, and massages were received by hundreds of attendees and we can only see this as another evidence of God’s approval for our ministry there.
We would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to the over 70 volunteers whose dedication made this outreach ministry possible. Our gratitude extends to the churches in Ashford, Canterbury, Chatham, Folkestone, Maidstone, Riverway, and Margate for their support and encouragement. We also acknowledge the substantial financial and non-financial contributions from the Area 4, the South England Conference, and the BUC Personal Ministry and Evangelism Department.
