Who We Are
Bible Fest is run by a network of friends. We all have one special thing in common. We are Christians. We have all found joy in the glory of God, our maker. We all learned about him from the same source. We learned what he tells us about himself in the Bible. Naturally we want others to find joy in knowing God too. That is why we give our time and money so others may learn from the Bible without cost. During the year we do this as ordinary church members. Once a year, though, we put on the Bible Fest ... teaching the Bible - for free, for fun and for the family ...
History
The Bible Fest team started as a Christmas holiday Christian "beach" mission team. One year, though, we all decided to move inland and run similar activities in Wagga Wagga instead. Many new people joined us in this exciting new idea. Indeed, God provided that it was a great success. So, three years later some of us started the Albury-Wodonga Bible Fest, while others continued running our sister team in Wagga. We hope and pray that God will provide that both teams can continue to keep accepting new members and planting new daughter teams to teach the Bible for even more people, to God's Glory and our joy.
Beliefs
Although the team come from different cities and churches, we all agree with one another when it comes to things the Bible talks about. How could we work together to teach the Bible if we disagreed about what it says? The official statement of the beliefs on which we are united is called "The Four Things We Teach". The four things are Bible Alone, Jesus Alone, Mercy Alone and Trust Alone. All team members and guest speakers are expected to understand, believe and teach these four things.
Partnership
One of the main reasons we moved inland from the beach was to link our work more closely with churches. Local church members keep joining our teams. But the bigger picture is that the Fest is really just part of the year long Bible teaching of these local churches. As our teams grow, and as local church members join our teams, we are able to have more significant relationships with more churches.
Associates
There are many inter-denominational "para-church" Christian groups like us that work side-by-side with churches. We have close associations with several of these, in particular:
Accountability
Being a member of the Bible Fest team is a very public experience. We are accountable to a huge public, starting with one-another! We advertise in many churches, most schools and are visited by newspaper, TV and radio. Many attend our events and trust us with their children. We invite many to share meals with us where we live. We don't only teach the Bible to others, we are continuously learning from it for ourselves, and can be seen to be learning. Similarly, we not only teach the Bible, we also live it, and can be seen to be living it.
The team has a much higher standard of accountability than being open to public scrutiny, though. We consider ourselves accountable to God himself, through his Word, the Bible. Although we seek to be faithful to high standards in everything we do, our first priority is always to being faithful communicators of God's own Word in the Bible. We do not aim to teach anything but what the Bible says, and indeed claim no authority beyond the Bible. But we need no authority, apart from God's own command in the Bible, to pass on his Word to his world.
Join us in growing in love for and joy in God's glory as he has shown it to us in his own words in the Bible!
Join us in loving others by seeking to share with them our own greatest treasure!
