I was recently asked to go and support two Crusader groups that I used to work with when I was the Area support worker for Essex Crusaders. We had a fantastic time on the Isle of Wight at the Westbrook Centre. (if you are looking for a place to take a youth group or church it is well worth a look).

I was given 3 sessions over the weekend and i thought that it would be really beneficial to give the young people an opportunity to experience worship, prayer and the bible in ways that they have never done before. In some ways this was easy as so many of them did not come from church backgrounds but interesting as they, like so many young people, have set expectations of how they should behave in these situations.

All 3 sessions supprised the young people in that they were not expecting to a) enjoy themselves b) get into the sessions like they did c) get something from it personally.

The worship was kept simple with using the children’s worship material that i tend to use at church whilst also talking about why we worship and who we worship in different guises. Their perception was that of the Mr Bean clip of him in church falling asleep and were astonished that they were alowed to have fun and enjoy worship.
Prayer was about engaging the young people with prayer away from the, get down on your knees and silently pray, vision they had of it. 4 stations of creative prayer that they did for 45mins with out knowing that they were praying.

The Bible was to brak myths and perceptions of what the bible was and how it can be read.

In all the weekend was a success all round. No injuries, good weather, engaged young people in the sessions and fun throughout the whole weekend.

Below are some photos of the weekend: