Faith Guide and youth worker Carolyn Terry had been working with church children in a village setting. So, when God called her to a Southampton inner city estate to share Jesus with young people who knew nothing of him, it was a culture shock! And she certainly never expected to encounter such a spiritual hunger.
Carolyn says, ‘When I joined Holy Trinity Church and Weston Church Youth Project just after lockdown in January 2021, there were no children or young people here. So, we set up two after school groups for primary and secondary age. I wasn’t even sure anyone would turn up, but we got five for one group and six for the other.
‘Now, our primary group has 25 children, so many that we’ve had to break it into three groups and rotate them around the activities (15 minutes each on faith, craft connected to the faith talk and games).
‘The children said, “We haven’t got Bibles at home – we want to learn to read the Bible!” So I asked our church for help and, despite it not being a wealthy parish, they donated funds to buy 30 Bibles. The children are reading them between sessions and ask lots of questions. They talk to their families about faith too – one mum told me, “We’re not church people but my daughter keeps on about this Jesus!”
‘Our youth group has grown to 19. We do an hour of games and activities, then we give the young people the option to stay for pizza and a faith session. Usually some do stay, but yesterday it was 17 which was amazing. One lad said, “I’m not into this God stuff – I’m leaving. Who’s coming with me?” When nobody followed him, he came back!
"We’re not church people but my daughter keeps on about this Jesus!"
Tne impact of camps
‘Each summer, five churches, including ours, get together to hold a camp for their youth. It’s called Dynamic Camp and is held near Romsey. Last year out of 80 kids in total, we brought 16. Their parents know it’s Christian but let them come because we massively subsidise the cost and often it’s their only holiday. One thing that really surprised my group was how many others their age at camp were Christians – they’d just not really met other Christians their age and it had quite an impact! Five lads, including a couple of ours, decided at camp to follow Jesus. Back home, we tried doing Youth Alpha with them, but it was way beyond their understanding. However, they’re coming on camp again this summer, along with lots of new kids. And I’m working with Jenni, my SU Mission Enabler, to organise some activities starting in September that I think will work much better.
‘Jenni really understands our situation. She’s great at finding me resources geared to kids with no church background – they can be really hard to find. I love the SU Faith Guide gatherings too. This can be quite a lonely job at times, so it’s good to be with people in the same situation! ‘Sometimes we get it right, sometimes we get it wrong! It’s hard when you’re working with children and young people with so little understanding about Jesus. But we keep trying new things, we keep praying. Honestly, we can’t believe how God has blessed this; it’s like we’re living in a revival!’
"Five lads, including a couple of ours, decided at camp to
follow Jesus."
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