Youth

Surely nobody who is a parent of a teenager aged between 14 and 18 can seriously expect to find out what they get up to?

The youth meet mainly between 6.30pm and 8.30pm on a Sunday evening in the Old Vicarage.  They do lots of "stuff" under the guidance of Andy Walters and team.

At the beginning of November 2008 some members of Youth took part in Slum Survivor. See below for a report and photos.

They have been to Soul Survivor each year for the last 5 years and in August 2009 over 60 young people (plus young at heart leaders) attended.

A group of 21 people visited Israel in July 2009 and visited a kibbutz, stayed in a Bedouin-style tent, and trod the paths of the disciples in Galilee and Jerusalem. Talk to some of them to find out what they discovered.

If you fit in the youth age bracket, turn up or contact Andy!

Check out the programme for Winter 2010 below:

Date for your diary: Soul Survivor 2010 will be 11th - 16th August (Week B)

Slum Survivor 2008

Alongside this the young people raised £ 1,080.07 for two charities. Soul Action, who work with those living in slums all over the world and Deep Roots, a charity discipling young people in Uganda.

When the young people arrived on the Friday evening they faced their first challenge, constructing somewhere to sleep. The youth proceeded to build some surprisingly sturdy slums out of cardboard and wooden pallets.

At about midnight on the first day it was time to try and get some sleep. Reports in the morning suggested that experiences varied. Surprisingly some people slept very well whilst others nearer ‘doors’ (plastic sheets!) were cold.

Having woken up it was time for their second meal of rice and lentils.

At about 10.30 on the Saturday the young people faced their slums being destroyed with very little warning. All over the world slum dwellers suffer the destruction of their homes on a regular basis as slums are, by necessity, often built on land not owned by the dweller and therefore vulnerable to being bulldozed by the authorities.

The young people looked on in horror as the slums they had spent hours building were destroyed in a matter of minutes. Some got angry and some upset but when the shock wore off everyone banded together to make one new slum.

As we entered the afternoon we faced an unexpected challenge. Rain. When you are at home in the warm it makes little difference to you if it’s raining but when all you have is one set of clothes it becomes a struggle to stay dry. This was combined with boredom and a longing from some of the young people for a change of food from lentils and rice.

Laced into all of this were three teaching sessions: What would Jesus do?, God’s Heart for the Poor and so Who is my Neighbour? During these sessions we recognised how Jesus cared for people holistically and how God has always had a heart for the poor throughout the Bible and today. We recognised the unfair distribution of food round the world and began to think about further steps God might be challenging us to take to love our neighbours.

All those who took part were glad of a shower and a soft bed to return home to but were also powerfully impacted by their experiences of the weekend and very much up for doing Slum Survivor 2009.