Young Christians from Southampton recently gathered for two big events held to help them learn and grow in faith. 165 young people met at Central Hall in Southampton for the fourth year of ‘WinterFest’ which is open to church youth groups from across the city and beyond. As well as teaching, worship and learning, the young people get to enjoy games and eat pizza! The evening event is the counterpart to ‘YouthFest’, an annual weekend away in the summer. 13 different churches were represented at WinterFest including 4 new churches this year.
Mike Shorey, Head of YTH at Highfield Church, said, “The primary reason for both YouthFest and WinterFest is to provide opportunities for young people that they may not have, because either they’re from a small church that doesn’t have many young people or their church doesn’t have that type of worship, which is probably slightly more lively. One church only brought two young people, and we were able to chat to them and they absolutely loved it. They’re hoping to come to Youth Fest as well which is exciting.”
A team of around 30 people helped on the night and 70 extra large pizzas were ordered to ensure everyone was well fed! The speaker came from the young person’s charity ‘The Pillar’ which is based at St Wins in Totton and spoke about Noah and the themes peace, hope and freedom.
Mike continued, “There was an amazing response, and they were completely engaged the whole time with phones away, which is always encouraging. People were invited to the front if they wanted to either recommit their life to Christ or give their life to Christ for the first time. We had about 15 young people come forward. There was so much freedom in the room.”
They later enjoyed a time of worship with the band and a space for prayer. Mike added, “God gave me a picture of two people hugging and the words ‘not enough’ written on a page, but then the word ‘not’ was scribbled out. So many of our young people believe that they are not enough, but God has come to tell them that they are enough. What was amazing was that a young person had drawn the exact same picture even before I shared mine. I think that was encouraging for the young people to see someone standing up and giving his word and then someone completely different, confirming that there is a God who is so real.”
Meanwhile, nearly 40 Christian students from Southampton got to enjoy a joint weekend away on the Isle of Wight. The focus of the teaching for the weekend was Hebrews 12, encouraging the young people to “throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, running the race with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.”
Highfield Church Student Worker Ed Davey commented, “I think having an entire weekend, that is based around spending time with God, is just so powerful, not letting time with God be dictated by the stresses or anxieties of life and trying to figure those out. On the first two sessions, it felt like I was doing a lot of talking and prayer ministry prompts to the room. Although I love leading the room, what I love more is facilitating other people to lead the room. So, I was really encouraged that on the Sunday morning, we had loads of that with people coming forward with a word or piece of scripture. It was incredible to see people taking initiative and banding together.”
The weekend away is part of Highfield Church’s work with young people and university students, with the main campus of the University of Southampton close to the church building. Every Thursday is a Student and Young Adult night and there is a Small Groups night on a Tuesday, which involves cooking and eating together and spending time studying the bible.
The weekend away is an annual event. There were seminars, extended times of worship and a chance for people to explore their faith through artwork. Eating together and going on walks together also helped strengthen bonds and deepen friendships.
“We’ll be focussing on small groups for the rest of the year and spending time in the bible,” Ed added. “Without those friendship and bonds, it can so easily become just theoretical and information sharing, rather than transformation sharing. I think this weekend was incredible for facilitating that.”
