Welcome Youth Weekend Away – an update

Last weekend, our amazing Youth team took 84 of our Welcome Youth to Runways End in Aldershot for a non-stop weekend of outdoor activities, teaching, craft, food, games, and worshipping God together.

Year 7–9 slept in dormitories in the main building (including the occasional vertigo-inducing triple bunk!) while Year 10–13 took the heated “camping pods” (more glamorous than they sound).

James, who heads up the youth team, says:

“Our memory verse for the weekend was,

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us (Galatians 3:13)

“In the talks, we looked at the catastrophic results of The Fall, and how the whole of creation has come under a curse, facing guilt and shame, death, and separation from God; but then we saw the wonder of what Jesus did for us on the cross, reversing the curse by taking it on himself, taking our guilt and shame, taking our death sentence, and being separated from his Father, so that the curse could be lifted from us. Finally we looked ahead to the new creation still to come, where guilt and shame are gone, there will be no more death, and we will be in God’s presence for ever.

“That gave us plenty to thank God for, so we spent time together worshipping him for his goodness, and praising him for reversing the curse by sending Jesus!

Also we got big spiky hats and threw sausages at them.

Here are some pics to capture a few highlights from the time away

We love our Youth!

We love seeing them each Friday evening and Sunday morning, but the weekend away is a rare opportunity to spend an extended period of time together, forging deeper relationships, and going deeper in our walk with Jesus.

Highlights from the team

We asked the youth team to give us their individual highlights from the weekend. This is what came back:

  • Ruby: “Cassie squeezing into a tiny wooden box to explain the Temple”
  • David: “Youth who initially didn’t want to get their clothes muddy literally rolling around in the mud to steal a beanbag”
  • Ben: “Michael telling Euan to turn his alarm off”
  • Zac: “Going round bashing pots and pans to wake them all up”
  • Lucy: “Watching one of the Youth praying for another”
  • Chioma: “Arielle reciting the memory verse by heart, and then carrying on and reciting the bit we hadn’t even learnt”
  • Crispy: “Half of the youth not knowing how to put a new bin bag in a bin”

Thanks & Prayer

I want to say a big THANK YOU to our youth leaders for putting this event on, and for all the time and effort they put in to it. Parents, please do say your own thank you’s too

Let’s all be praying for good fruit to come from this time away together

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What Really Happened At The Welcome Kids Weekend Away?

Welcome Kids had a great time away at Walton Firs Activity Centre in Cobham last weekend … and I know some parents enjoyed the extra peace and quiet at home too 😃

60 kids from school years 3 to 6 attended the weekend. They were blessed by dry weather, which was a big answer to prayer at the end of a very wet April! The kids had a packed schedule from 8am to 9pm each day, staying in ‘sleeping pods’ in the forest overnight (see pic)

During the weekend they took part in a lot of fun activities including high ropes, crafts, buggy building, capture the flag, rounders, silent disco, a very popular tuck shop, a bonfire with toasted marshmallows & hot chocolate and lots more.

Some highlights included:

  • Caving: hunting for “fossils” and things that were hidden in an underground cave structure
  • Nightline: a blindfolded obstacle course completed as a team, learning to work together and help each other
  • Challenge the leaders: leaders completed various challenges that usually involved getting extremely messy

The weekend had some excellent spiritual content too

There were three main teaching times which looked at:

  • Getting to know God the Father (by looking at the story of the Prodigal Son)
  • Getting to know Jesus (by looking at Jesus as The Good Shepherd)
  • Getting to know the Holy Spirit (by looking at some Bible stories revealing what happens when people are empowered by the Holy Spirit)

Some of the Welcome Church Worship Team were at the weekend, leading times of praise and worship that engaged all the kids in singing, dancing, contributing and praying for one another. The year 6’s were able to spend time with some of the Welcome Youth leadership on Saturday evening, who came to join for the evening, in preparation for this age group moving up to Welcome Youth from September.

Some comments from the kids

  • “I feel like the worship was really good and we got to know people more”
  • “The activities were really fun and we got to spend some time getting to know each other”
  • “The talks were really good because they explained parts of the Bible really well and I feel like they helped me get closer to God”
  • ”The talks were really touching and helped me understand God’s love a bit better”

A Big Thank You

25 helpers were involved in putting the weekend on and I want to say a big “THANK YOU” to them all, most especially to the dream team of Harriet Code, Crispy and Darren Forsdyke who pulled it all together.

If you had a child at the weekend away, why not ask them about what they learnt and what they enjoyed? If you missed out this year, remember to put the dates for next year in your diary now (3rd to 5th May 2024), and make sure to book as soon as the event is advertised; it’s likely to sell out fast again.

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