Go Wild! Using the great outdoors to introduce children and young people to an even greater God
What is Go Wild!?
Go Wild! isn't your ordinary teaching programme, it's an exciting experiential learning initiative that encourages children and young people to discover more about themselves and explore who God is through activities in natural settings and the great outdoors.
Whether creating a makeshift shelter, learning to construct a campfire, or simply creating an interesting indoor space there are so many ways you can use fun experiences that lead to faith-filled conversation and deeper exploration of the Bible.
How does it work?
Go Wild! sessions are formed around 4 steps:
1. Experience - an engaging tangible experience that a child has in a Go Wild! setting.
2. Reflection - an invitation to engage with questions inspired by the experience on a personal level.
3. Formation - an opportunity to explore a Christian perspective on the experience through the Bible and shared testimony.
4. Application - an opportunity to consider the everyday life implications of what has been experienced and explored.
The beauty of this experiential learning approach, which is so key to the Go Wild! experience is that children will leave the session or activity with more than a story in their minds.
I now know that God is always there for me!
- Young person during a Go Wild! session
Experiential Learning that has to be experienced!
We've created some brilliant content that can help you explore how to run Go Wild! inspired sessions but, sometimes the best way to learn is to experience things for yourself.
Across the year we run online training sessions, in-person leaders residentials, and holidays for children and young people where you can come along and jump into a Go Wild adventure. We guarantee you'll learn how to connect with God in the outdoors, respond to him, and explore the Bible in new and impactful ways with children and young people.
If you'd like to talk more about using Go Wild! in your context we'd love you to get in touch! Send us an email or click the button below to find your local team.
Hear Faith Guide Jackie's story....
Using the Go Wild Emmaus Road activity (found in our Easter pack here) Jackie took an after school club group on a journey of discover.
We took a group of 16 children aged between 9 and 12 from our after school club on an Emmaus Road Go Wild! walk just before Easter. Living in Cheddar we were able to have an hour's activity walk up the hill of Cheddar Gorge to a high lookout area, then back down again to sit outside a cave and finish at a lake.
At each stop we were able to sit and listen 'the friends script' that came in the activity pack and talk over some questions. The children were very excited to be out exploring and managed the steep climb with lots of energy! Our final point on the walk ended at a lake where we took time to pause and talked about what it meant to have Jesus in our lives. We suggested that any of the children who wanted to say yes, they'd like to have Jesus in their lives, would respond by wearing a blue wristband they'd been given at the start of the activity. We also suggested that if they didn't want to respond they could reflect a bit more and we left space for some questions.
Many of the young people responded and I had a wonderful chat with young person as we walked back who said how wonderful it was that Jesus was with her and she knew he was always there for her. It was so encouraging!
