The annual Valofestarit gospel festival filled Nummela's market square with music and good cheer on Saturday 8 August, drawing more than 800 visitors for the fourth edition of the event. Organised by the local diaconal charity ViaDia Länsi-Uusimaa together with several Vihti congregations — including the Vihti Free Church — the festival brought together Finnish gospel artists and an international guest band in a day of music, food and family activities.
The event is a collaboration across denominational lines, uniting free church, Lutheran and other local congregations around a shared goal of bringing the gospel's message of hope to the wider community. ViaDia is the diaconal and social-work arm of the Free Church of Finland (Suomen Vapaakirkko), and the festival reflects its long-standing emphasis on service and a welcoming presence in Finnish towns and neighbourhoods.
This year's festival had a distinctly international highlight: the East Africa Gospel Academy Band — five young musicians and their principal — travelled from Uganda specifically for Valofestarit and spent nine days in Finland. Alongside the market-square performance, they appeared at a Ugandan cultural music and dance event at ViaDia's senior house. Finnish gospel names Eve and Ossi and Jippii Youth also performed, while a children's tent offered face painting, games and Bible-themed quizzes, and a Uganda shop sold handmade goods with the proceeds going to ViaDia's street-children work in Uganda.
(Originally published in Finnish. Summary translated by CC / Connexion.)
Source: Suomen Vapaakirkko / Suomen Viikkolehti — svl.fi
