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It’s a decent temperature outside, the sun is shining in between the clouds and rain. This means summer is here, at least if you’re in England. This also means it’s time for holidays and also a time young people go on summer camps like Soul Survivor, New Wine etc. For the young people in the Crowded Community that meant travelling down to Wales for a camp organised by Crowded. This would be a few days spent in close community and connecting with God learning about the big story of the Bible.
Whenever young people are ever taken on a trip whether this be a day trip to a theme park or a residential trip. There is a problem most youth workers face while on the trip. This is young people developing and staying in their own cliques and not communicating with those outside of it. However on this trip it wasn’t the case. The young people were really accepting and including of each other, which was awesome considering they are a pretty diverse group. I think on future trips we’d love to see the young people develop deeper friendships during the time.
We didn’t want this to be a stand alone trip we want to see the young people become part of the deeper Crowded community. One the last day we discussed how the young people could become part of our Sunday community gathering. It was an encouraging discussion, the young people are willing to be part of the group that already meets on Sundays. What the leadership need wisdom for now is deciding on a time we meet, so we can best accomodate for the young people’s various schedules. Also we need wisdom on format and content of the time, as most of these young people have never experienced traditional church and we want the young people to be comfortable in being part of our community.
One of the key elements to our time away was to spend time going through the big story of the Bible. We did this by all listening to various MP3′s of various key stories in the Bible that link the key events together. This was a useful time for young people, for some of them just having the information that linked the stories was helpful. This helped get to understand God a little bit more as they were able to see what God’s story was all about. For others these 30 minute – 2 hour times were just great ways to connect with God and in them God was able to reveal his heart for them.
Sounds a really great time, and so encouraging to hear the ypeople interested and taking part. Praise God for the amazing work you guys are doing in his name
I was one of the teenagers who went on this trip (in fact I’m the one in the photo with Kiera). This trip really opened my eyes to Jesus’s message in way that I really wasnt expecting. I often went to the Tuesday costa nights and there I would gain some insight into Jesus, in the brief time we had but then with the drama of being a teenage girl in 2010 this insight was often not developed futher. But the week we spent away gave me, personally, time to reflect and really connect with Jesus and his message. We were surrounded by people who were so firm in Jesus that it was almost impossible not to feel his love through them. This week made a massive impact on me and all the others who went on this trip. Thank you, God bless