As I hand over leadership of New Wine, here’s what I believe God is saying

After leading New Wine through tough times, including financial difficulty following the Covid-19 pandemic, Paul Harcourt is stepping aside and passing the baton on to Rich Johnson. Here, Paul reflects on the past seven years and looks ahead to what God might be doing in the UK Church 

At the beginning of this month, many of us made the pilgrimage to Harrogate for the New Wine National Leadership Conference. Almost 1,800 were present for what was New Wine’s largest ever gathering of leaders.

With so much going on in the nation and in the Church, many came with a desperate need to meet with God, and we were not disappointed. The three days together were marked by a deep sense of encounter with God. More personally, for me they were marked by the announcement that I will step aside as New Wine’s National Leader at the end of April, with Rich Johnson of All Saints’ Worcester taking on the mantle from then.

Not surprisingly, I’ve been reflecting on my time in leadership over almost seven years…