Jo Jones from the Kensington Area team shares what happened at the Area youth event last weekend.
Over 60 young people and their leaders from 10 churches across the Kensington Area turned up to enjoy an event hosted at St Paul’s Brentford. The event was part of an ongoing effort to provide accessible youth events for churches that can’t always do so from their own resources, as part of the Growing Younger priority in Kensington.
Young people arrived to find a range of games and silly challenges waiting for them: How far away can you throw a teabag into a mug? Or catch a mento in an ice cream cone held in your mouth? How high can you build a tower from spaghetti and marshmallows?
After the initial fun, some excellent food was served, in part funded by a generous donation from one of the churches partnering to make the event a reality.
The second part of the evening was an engaging and relevant set by Christian Arts Collective JC4Me, who performed a range of their songs and did a ‘podcast style’ discussion section on the theme of trusting God in today’s world. The audience heard some thoughtful and honest reflections on our faith as well as getting into the groove with the music.
“We had a great time working with the Kensington Area to support local churches in their faith in a creative way and showing young people how God can help them impact their communities.” – Tolu Awojobi from JC4Me
It was brilliant to see young people from across the area join together, have fun and engage with JC4Me, who are amazing role models for younger Christians. Our hope is to offer a programme of collaborative events, building on the longstanding Area youth weekend, that are especially helpful to encourage churches with smaller youth groups. Grateful thanks to St Paul’s for their generous hosting.
Tipi, Youth Ministry Apprentice at St Paul’s, commented “It was incredible. Loads of young people turned up and the music was great!”
In a feedback email, one vicar shared:
“The whole evening just seemed to ‘work’ really well for our group. It definitely helped them bond, which is our key priority at the moment, and the content worked well for them. Really appreciated from the perspective of a vicar trying to run youthwork without much time to give to it.”
If you would like to find out more about future youth events in Kensington Area, please contact me at joanna.jones@london.anglican.org
All photography by Levi Phillips, all rights reserved.