Being On Fire For God
From the 4th-6th of February, Authentic, our Year 10-13s went away to the Frank Chapman Centre. The focus on the weekend was being on fire for God meaning to be bold to step out in faith and the running theme throughout the weekend was fire. With every worship session we had a talk that in some way linked to fire in the bible and how Gods people either had or hadn’t been bold enough to step out in faith! It really felt like we lived out the focus of the weekend, being on fire for God, because Cassie Beeson and Henry Frankel led the talks with very little notice due to the guest speaker having to drop out 24 hours before the weekend away, but both were willing to step out in faith and we really saw God provide! God did incredible things over the weekend working sometimes in big ways, sometimes in little ways but always in good ways.
We started the weekend off on the Friday with food and worship before moving onto a quiz to round up the evening with a fantastic quiz. In our Friday evening session we looked at Moses and the burning bush and how God didn’t need the stick He gave Moses but instead just wanted Moses’ willingness to step out and go in His name. The antics of the youth weekend away began immediately when some of our year 12s decided to create a new blend of drinks, hot chocolate and vimto mixed together, for anyone reading you should try it and let us know what you think!
On the Saturday we looked into Peters denial of Jesus in our morning session and looked at Jesus reinstating Peter in our evening session. The day was filled with fun, from mafia games to singing campfire songs to climbing trees. In fact some young people took the tree climbing, an activity offered to us by the Frank Chapman Centre, to such extents that they were even able to accomplish it blindfolded and one handed. In fact, Annabel, one of our young people said “The tree climb (blindfolded) was really fun, cooperative challenge”. Many of the young people would agree that this was their favourite day, a day filled with Jesus, friendships, incredible food and also a shared experience in overcoming fears… mainly a fear of heights. “My favourite activity from the weekend away has to be the abseil, I overcame a big fear that I’ve had for a few years now and it had been stopping me from doing rock climbing and various other things. At the weekend away, with the help of my friends I abseiled for the first time in years and I loved it” -Skye.
Sunday came around too quickly, it felt like we had blinked and the weekend away was almost at an end. We studied Pentecost and the sending out of the disciples in our final session together, we played an wide game out in the woods and we ate an absolutely delicious Sunday roast cooked by the incredible cooks, Jenny Burden and Kate Stone. Before we knew it our weekend was done and we were off home, very tired, back to family and back home.
““God said he would give me his peace or shalom””
When asked what their favourite part of the weekend away was Annabel said “Being with everyone after so long of not being able to see people. There was a really nice sense of community and no anxiety about covid thanks to the lateral flows we all took”. Another, Skye, said “The thing I enjoyed most about the weekend away is getting to spend time with my friends, and family and get to worship God all together”. I asked both, how they felt God moved over the weekend and this is what they said; “God said he would give me his peace or shalom” and “At the weekend away I feel like God spoke to me and told me that everything that was going on in my life, all the anxiety I was feeling, is ok and that I need to pray to him more often when I have problems or start to feel anxious”.
There was a moment of worry when we really felt under attack from the enemy just before going away, but this weekend is a testament to the fact that God can AND will use anything we offer Him for His glory. So, on behalf of Authentic, we encourage you to be bold in your faith too. God can use your boldness!