Faith in the Community: I'm proud of these amazing young people

WE’VE just got back from an amazing five days away with 50 teenagers from church youth groups across this area.

We went off to the Adventure Plus activity centre in Oxfordshire where they could try fencing, archery, canoeing, kayaking, baking and clay modelling. There was also an outdoor treasure hunt in the dark, a water slide, a silent disco, various sports activities, and a chance to write their own music.

These 11 to 18 year olds are involved with their youth groups in churches all around the Portsmouth area, so they also enjoyed fantastic times of worship, prayer and discussion about their Christian lives.

We were focussing on the Biblical story of King David, so – among other things – they had the chance to make ‘Goliath’ giants out of cardboard and then destroy them. We could then talk about the ‘giant’ issues in their lives that they might need God’s help with.

These young people actually meet every month for High Tide youth services, at a different church each month. And it’s the fourth time in three years we’ve taken them away for a High Tide holiday. So, even though they are from different churches across Portsmouth, Havant, Emsworth, Fareham, Waterlooville, Portchester and elsewhere, they know each other really well.

Some of them may never have tried activities such as kayaking or fencing before, so it’s great to be able to give them an opportunity to experience these things.

For a few of them, the Christian story is fairly new, so it was good to give them an idea of why it matters to think about these issues. But many of them are already committed to their faith, so this kind of holiday helps them to grapple with some deeper issues.

It’s always easy to disparage young people, but as a youth leader, I constantly see examples of young people helping each other, emotionally and spiritually.

It has been an absolute pleasure to see so many of these teenagers developing over the past few years to become more rounded, generous young people and to become genuine disciples of Jesus. They’ll now come back to their own churches, schools and colleges with enthusiasm and motivation to make a real difference to our society.

HIGH TIDE YOUTH SERVICESFor details, see: www.portsmouth.anglican.org/youth/hightide