Ventures Update Autumn 2014
Thank you Lord! www.ventures.org.uk
We always thank God for all of you and continually mention you in our prayers. We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labour prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Thessalonians 1:2-3) I enjoy a good meal as much as the next person (well, perhaps more than most!), so I’ve got a soft spot for the cooks on Ventures – but that’s not the entire reason that I begin my prayers of thanks with them in mind. Although our amazing volunteer cooks served up 138,300 meals this year, there’s more to their service than delicious physical nutrition. Among the many stories of young people getting to know Jesus as ‘my Lord and my God’ (John 20:28) on Ventures this summer, I’ve also heard about the powerful testimony given by one of the cooks. She served up a story of her past, her brokenness, her attempt to find affirmation through sexual relationships, her encounter with Jesus, his meeting her deepest needs, and the process of healing. One of the great strengths of Ventures is that the 3,000 volunteers who serve the children and young people, whether from the kitchen, in the activities or through the teaching
programme, are labouring in the same vein as the early Christians in Thessalonica – sparked by an encounter of Jesus and rooted in faith, love and hope in him. It’s always a highlight of my year to meet them in action! As well as being thankful for all the volunteer leaders who serve on Ventures, I’m also grateful that many young people return to Ventures later in life, testifying to God’s grace in their lives and motivated to serve him by passing on the gospel to the next generation as they continue to put their hope in Jesus Christ. So as you give thanks for your next meal (even if you have to cook it yourself!), thank God also for our volunteers, for the opportunity we all have to serve as a people impacted by his grace, and for the faith, love and hope that prompts us to nourish the next generation with the good news of Jesus. Bon appétit!
Tim Friend Ventures and Falcon Camps Principal
For several years, Jo Smith has brought a group of young people from St Peter’s Haliwell in Bolton to Sizewell Venture, giving them the opportunity to grow in friendships, faith and confidence.
from the bookshop, a card, a funny story or anything else the person might like. It’s all very exciting and secretive, and it’s a great way to encourage the young people to get to know each other. It always feels like Christmas when we give out all the envelopes at the end!
Growing together
‘As well as meeting young people from elsewhere, Sizewell is also a great chance for my group to meet other leaders, and hear teaching which is often quite different in style to what we do at youth group meetings. Sometimes I’ll see my young people really understand something at a heart level for the first time during the Venture. Something about being away together and getting so much extra input can really help things to click into place.
‘This summer, I brought eight young people from St Peter’s with me to Sizewell, aged 16-18 (you can see us all dressed up for the last night banquet in the above photo!). There’s something special for them about going on a residential together and spending time deepening their friendships both with each other and with others from elsewhere. Most of my group go to the same school and are from similar backgrounds, so it’s a great experience for them to meet other Christians from different places.
‘Some have become Christians on the Venture, and back at church I often hear young people mentioning the things they learnt at Sizewell, as they come back with renewed enthusiasm and confidence to share their experiences and put their faith into practice. The congregation prays during the week we are away, and we all see something of the impact as they come back stronger in their faith, and wanting to get more involved in things like leading Sunday school and taking part in services.
‘We do something called “Blessings” at Sizewell which really helps build community among the young people. At the start of the week, everyone is anonymously assigned someone else to bless. They then put “blessings” in an envelope for that person. It can be anything from a Bible verse to something they made in a craft session, a book
‘As a youth leader, one of the most encouraging things for me about bringing my group to Sizewell is getting a glimpse of how they’re developing year on year. It’s lovely when other leaders at Sizewell say to me, “Jo, they’ve really changed and grown since last year!”, which is sometimes hard to see when you spend time with them every week.’
What a summer! During July and August we welcomed an incredible 3,460 children and young people on 73 Ventures. Here’s a flavour of what they learned and the things they loved, in their own words:
‘The great friends I made, the inspirational leaders, the great fun, the super outings, the feeling of community, learning about Jesus.’ Molly, 12 ‘Paddling in the river and meeting new friends.’ Rebecca, 9 ‘The activities were amazing and I also loved the worship workshop!’ Emily, 13 ‘It is the best camp ever because you get to learn about GOD!!!’ David, 10 ‘The laughs, the pranks, the off-site activities, the wonderful people, the amazing food and most of all the incredible evening sermons.’ Lottie, 16
‘The bonfire on the last night!’ Jeremy, 15 ‘The amazing Christian atmosphere – it’s like a taste of heaven!’ George, 17 ‘I loved the music – truly amazing to hear everyone sing together. I also loved meeting new people and dorm games.’ Sophie, 15 ‘The friends I met and how my relationship with God deepened. Also, climbing Snowdon!’ Maisie, 16 ‘That Jesus has set a pathway between God and us so that we might have FREEDOM!’ Evie, 15
‘The buzz groups, where we talked about how to continue being a Christian outside of camp.’ Andrew, 17 ‘I learnt that God wants to be my friend.’ Daniel, 11 ‘The Venture honestly feels like my second family. I feel so loved, happy and amazing here. It has changed my life for the better and helped me get closer to God.’ Ella, 13 ‘I will never forget the Bible studies that helped me to stop and think about how wonderful Jesus is.’ Naomi, 11
Please continue to pray for all the young people who went on Ventures this summer, that they would continue to expl ore the Bible and disc over Jesus throug h the work of loca l churches all over the country.
Ventures are an excellent training ground for developing leaders, with many taking their first steps as junior leaders on a Venture. This summer we had nearly 250 new junior leaders, as well as 200 more who returned to continue their journey towards leadership.
Developing leaders Sparkford 3 is one of many Ventures which have a long-established programme for junior leaders, known as Taskforce.
influence on a group of teenagers, leading Bible studies and sharing the gospel.
Lyndsey Simpson, who has led on Sparkford 3 for 16 years, said: ‘Being a junior leader is an excellent training ground, especially for those who might be too young or too inexperienced to have full leadership responsibilities. We have anything from 15 to 30 junior leaders each year, most of whom are students but we also have some people who have come to faith later in life.
‘Taskforce have their own dedicated seminar track based on the same Bible teaching as the rest of the holiday and attend the evening talks with the other leaders and members. During the day they also carry out various jobs around the site to help the Venture run smoothly, as well as organising the end-ofweek dorm tournament. Some of it sounds like hard work, but we’ve had to set a limit of spending three years on Taskforce because they have so much fun!’
‘It’s a definite stepping stone to becoming a leader, which many go on to do. As well as a great learning opportunity we get to see if they’re ready to be trusted as a positive
About half of Taskforce is made up of former members, with others recruited through links with student churches in the university towns of Cambridge, Oxford, Exeter and Brighton.
Katie Stileman is one of four siblings who volunteer on Sparkford 3. Having been through the Taskforce programme, she has since returned as a leader for the past three years: ‘The idea is that it’s imperative to begin with a serving role before taking on more leadership responsibilities. After three years on Taskforce I knew that becoming a fullyfledged leader was the right step to take. ‘I’m really glad to have had the opportunity to be on Taskforce, because as well as having a good grasp of the gospel it helped me know how to communicate it to teenagers. It was also a great way of learning how things work on the Venture, so there were no hidden surprises when I became a leader.’
Faithful supporters, faithful God
Putting God at the centre of all we do is a big priority for everyone involved in Ventures. Overall leader Naomi Heywood tells us more about how God is working through the prayers of supporters at Ashdown Forest. Encouraging support ‘There’s nothing quite like knowing people are praying for you when you are on a Venture! Camp can be so busy and can become its own little world, so just knowing people are praying helps us keep in mind that it’s God’s work, not ours, and that we are part of a bigger picture and a wider community. ‘For several years, we’ve sent prayer emails before and during the Venture to the leaders’ friends, families and churches and other supporters. This year, we set up a Facebook prayer group too, which was a fantastic way to get more people praying, and was easy for leaders to invite their friends to. It also allowed more interaction as everyone could see when people sent messages of support or shared what God was saying to them.
greatly and it was an amazing reminder of God’s graciousness.
‘There’s nothing quite like knowing people are praying for you when you are on a Venture!’
‘Our Bible teaching was based around different people’s encounters at the foot of the cross (e.g. the criminal, the roman solider, Mary, Peter). We encouraged the young people to think about their own stories, and several of them responded by giving their lives to Christ. We know this is something only God can do – we were very aware of his presence with us in response to the prayers of our faithful supporter base.
Our faithful God
‘Ashdown Forest has been running for 30 years. Many Ashdown Forest ‘alumni’ are involved in supporting us through prayer, financial giving and offering their skills. Having such a long history reminds us that God is faithful, timeless and unchanging. Answered prayer It is wonderful to know that he is working ‘Throughout the week, we saw God working through us as we honour him through all the powerfully. We asked our supporters to pray for a couple of situations involving behaviour. conversations, games, talks and activities on We saw the young people’s behaviour improve the Venture.’
The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. (James 5:16)
Spread the word Bookings for 2015 Ventures open 1 December Please use this edition of Ventures Update to spread the word about these life-changing holidays. Visit www.ventures.org.uk to pre-order the Ventures 2015 brochure and other promotional material.
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