Recently, we took some young people on a weekend away. The venue was only about 30 minutes from church, and we only had 22 young people coming with us. Other people had taken care of much of the admin and I knew all the young people coming. So why was I so apprehensive about it?
Part of the reason was that I hadn’t been on a weekend away with the youth group before. I had always had other plans which meant that I couldn’t go. (These other plans almost always included watching the Eurovision Song Contest. Don’t tell anyone.) I’d also heard tales of previous weekends away, and they had seriously put me off…
As it happened, I had a really great time and, more importantly, so did the young people. In the style of Buzzfeed, here are ten things I learnt on the weekend.
- Most 12-year-old boys have no concept of how loud their voices are. Particularly at three in the morning.
- If you create the right atmosphere and give people reassurance and guidance about what sung worship is (and isn’t), then previously reluctant young people will sing together in worship to God.
- You can never have enough cake. Or enough coffee (for the leaders).
- Having a variety of personalities and skills in the leadership team ensures that everything gets done. And that people can work to their strengths. This also means that a variety of learning styles are catered for when helping young people engage with the Bible, and with God.
- Mattresses designed for children aren’t suitable for fully grown adults. I’m only average height and I spent both nights with my feet hanging off the end of the bed.
- In a temporary Christian community like the one created at a residential (however long that residential is), God can begin to soften even the hardest of exteriors and break through into really difficult situations.
- If you only have one allergy (fish, randomly) and no vegetarians, catering for up to 30 people isn’t as difficult as it might seem.
- Young people can (and indeed should) minister to the leaders as well as the other way round. Appropriately of course, but we can learn as much from our young people as they can learn from us. God speaks to everyone in different ways, and everyone has something to offer in ministry to others.
- If you’re filling something from a hot water urn, don’t go off and do something else. Particularly if that something is a cafetière. Full of ground coffee.
- God can and will confound your expectations and work beyond your own measly parameters of what might happen.
I probably shouldn’t have let myself be put off going on a residential for so long. I learnt so much about my own relationship with God, as well as learning so much about the young people we went away with. Residentials can be significant events in the spiritual lives of young people, and are well worth the lost sleep, the excess of caffeine and the 12-year-olds with resonating voices. And if future events clash with the Eurovision Song Contest, I’m going to be in a real quandary…
Alex Taylor is a youth worker in his local church and manages the youth blog for the Diocese of London. He took his youth group to the Chellington Centre, a residential centre in rural Bedfordshire (www.chellington.org).
Image: Chellington by Des D. Mona, used under Creative Commons licence.