A WEEKEND of Christian worship culminated with a rock concert attended by thousands.Three days of events held at Portman Road included the largest Christian event in Suffolk for 21 years and the biggest Mothers Union (MU) meeting ever held.

A WEEKEND of Christian worship culminated with a rock concert attended by thousands.

Three days of events held at Portman Road included the largest Christian event in Suffolk for 21 years and the biggest Mothers Union (MU) meeting ever held.

Events on Friday and Sunday were planned to coincide with the annual MU general meeting on Saturday.

Friday night saw more than 6,000 people arrive for Suffolk's biggest Christian gathering since Billy Graham came in 1984. The event, called Walking Into Life, included music, singing and worship led by Bishop Richard Lewis.

The Mothers Union meeting on Saturday attracted 4,000 members, including representative from around the world.

And on Sunday, four rock bands took to the Portman Road stage for a youth worship event called Xpression05.

Headliners at the concert were Delirious? who interrupted a European tour to take part. The evening also marked a first for Suffolk born Delirious? guitarist Stu G, who is an Ipswich Town fan and was given his first taste of performing at the Portman Road ground.

More than 2,500 tickets were sold in advance of the concert and hundreds more people were expected to arrive on the night.

Some concert-goers had travelled from Manchester and Sheffield for the event, while six others made the journey from America, where Delirious? regularly perform to crowds of 40,000.

St Edmundsbury and Ipswich diocese spokesman Nick Clarke said: "The weekend has been a huge success and that is the bottom line.

"It was a chance for us to say to people 'come and be a part of something special'.

"The concert was about offering young people the chance to worship in their way and in a setting they're more familiar and comfortable with than going to church."