Wild weather, wild adventure and wonderful encounters with Jesus in beautiful Devon.
Our team in the South West ran a Go Wild! camp in Dartmoor this September with two different Faith Guide groups including many young people from the 95.
Go Wild! is 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. This camp on Dartmoor wove the teaching and discussion into various activities acxross the moor including abseiling, rock scrambling and raft building and racing. Back at base camp they cooked over the fire, whittled sticks, made clay pots and finished with team challenges.
Mission Enabler Chris Eales who led the team spoke about the teaching elements of the weekend, "The Bible talks came from parts in Peter’s life and linked to places and things we were doing, such as being sat round the fire or lowering someone down a rockface (not through a roof!)."
"One highlight was hearing from one group of mainly 95 young people how they felt that they had heard God speak during and activity and discussion."
The Sunday held even more excitement for the campers as a major storm with 50mph winds was forecast to hit at 10am, which was a concern for the team. Chris remembers, "many team prayed for it to be pushed back 2-3 hours and that’s exactly what happened. The heavy rain and wind arrived (Noah and the ark style!) as the last person got into the (mud hut) round house complete with fire going for lunch."
What a wonderful reminder that the God we serve is the one who calms the storm and brings us through bad weather into comfort and safety. "It was a great encouraging encounter for the Faith Guide groups to go back with, and have as a springboard for the journey to come."
Go Wild! in Dartmoor was a wonderful way to connect with young people, to offer them opportunities to explore and respond to Jesus and a great way to support our Faith Guides as they continue this adventure with their groups.
More about Go Wild!:
Go Wild! sessions are formed around 4 steps:
- Experience - an engaging tangible experience that a child has in a Go Wild! setting.
- Reflection - an invitation to engage with questions inspired by the experience on a personal level.
- Formation - an opportunity to explore a Christian perspective on the experience through the Bible and shared testimony.
- Application - an opportunity to consider the everyday life implications of what has been experienced and explored.
The beauty of this experiential 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. 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.
Discover what God is doing
God is continually on the move and we love sharing stories of what he is doing in the lives of children and young people across England and Wales.
Through volunteers, churches, Faith Guides, and Local and National Mission Partners; in schools, churches and local communities; thousands of opportunities are being created for children and young people to discover for themselves the difference that Jesus can make in their lives.