The SoulNet Journal 2017 by Soul Survivor

Spring/Summer 2017

THE

Book by 2nd May to save up to £15! – The Soul Survivor mini mag for youth leaders –

Summer is coming!

Welcome to our little mini mag that’s especially for you lovely youth leaders!

Summer We’ve got loads of great friends coming along this summer to get involved in our teaching! In our main meetings Mike, Ali and Andy will be joined by Tim Ross (at Week A), Rachel Gardner and Miriam Swaffield. We’ve also got guest worship leaders joining Tom and Beth including Rend Collective (Weeks B & C) and Lex Buckley (Scotland).

Contents

We can’t wait to hang out with you this summer and we thought we’d give you a heads up about some of the stuff we’ve got planned so you and your group can get prepared and get excited!

CONNECTING

Inside you’ll find:

is coming! 04 Summer including teaching highlights, community events, new venues, useful info, SoulNet breakfasts and more

05 SoulNet summer

EQUIPPING

06 Useful info 07 Resources for you and your group

ENCOURAGING

tips for the summer 08 Top from a fellow youth leader the good news 10 Being sharing some of the heart behind our Stafford and Bristol mission opportunities

yourself away 12 Giving Mike takes a look at how Jesus mentored the disciples

REFRESHING

Pop up events The ever popular silent disco is back and it will be bigger and better than ever when we take it outdoors! Our cafes are getting a makeover with some fresh new themes plus we’ve also got a brand new venue for you that will have different things happening each night as well as providing a great space during the day (think video games, a salon, entertainment and sports) so there will be plenty to choose from!

Fancy dress theme What’s a last night at Soul Survivor without a little bit of fancy dress?! We love seeing so many youth groups getting involved and this year we’re looking forward to seeing all those childhood fantasies as we all dress up as what we wanted to be when we were five years old! A quick poll around our office shows the top most wanted jobs were to be a footballer, a ballerina, a bus driver, or to be the person who sat inside the traffic lights and changed the colours!

Soul Survivor by the C! We’re taking full advantage of Soul Survivor C falling over the Bank Holiday weekend by bringing Hawaii to Peterborough! We’ll be having a beach party with a sandy beach, live music, a slip ‘n’ slide, entertainment and more. We’re hoping God might bless us by contributing some gorgeous sunshine but either way we’ll have a great time!

Soulnet Summer

Join us in Peterborough! It’s all change this summer as we move Weeks B and C from Somerset to Peterborough! We hope friends new and old will be able to join us at this more central venue which has a fantastic purpose built arena for our main meetings. The showground has had a huge amount of investment in recent years and will be able to brilliantly host all of your favourite venues. We’re really excited about being in this great new home and hope you can come and join us!

Naturally Supernatural 22nd – 27th July, Stafford Showground This summer we’re hosting our first ever Naturally Supernatural summer event and we couldn’t be more excited! We’re passionate about the whole of the church moving in the presence, power and gifts of the Holy Spirit and this conference will make loads of space for worship, teaching and ministry as we wait on God and see what he wants to do in our lives. We’ll have practical workshops so we can gain confidence in areas like praying for physical and emotional healing and hearing God’s voice; and there will be lots of teaching around leading ministry times, Spirit-led worship and following the Spirit’s lead in fighting for justice.

SoulNet News Stafford mission We loved serving local church projects last summer and so we’re running mission days at Soul Survivor A this year too! This is a great way to get your youth group to experience what it’s like to get stuck in to community projects such as baking bread for people who are homeless, clearing up community areas, and hosting a fun day/family picnic. They’ll spend an afternoon offsite getting stuck in but will be back in the time for the evening meeting. Find out more on page 10 and sign up ….

t Weeks A, B and C we’re looking forward to gathering you wonderful youth leaders each morning for coffee, pastries and the opportunity to delve into some teaching just for you. The brilliant Rachel Gardner and Martin Saunders will be leading the charge and Mike will be taking a session to answer your questions. We’re making plans to get together with you guys in Scotland too – check out the programme when you arrive to find out more.

Please do help us spread the word and share the Naturally Supernatural website (www.naturallysupernatural.co.uk) with anyone who you think might be interested. This conference is for everyone! There will be something for all ages and life stages, with great venues and social events. Keep an eye on social media for the latest info! (Twitter @nsnconf FB /nsnconf)

We don’t want you to run out of juice so we’ll have loads of charging points in our cafes and venues. Bring your own USB cable and you can charge for free any time our venues are open (which tends to be afternoons and evenings).

Wi-fi There will be free wifi at Soul Survivor A in Stafford available throughout the site. Unfortunately we’re not able to provide wifi in Scotland or at Weeks B and C but the Peterborough showground does have good 3G and 4G coverage.

Group leader guides

Summer Dates Week A

28th July – 1st August Stafford Showground

Scotland

Saturday 5th - 9th August SU venue in Kinross

Booking deadline

Week B

Don’t forget you can save £10 per person (£15 compared to paying on arrival) if you book on or before 2nd May so give everyone in your group a little nudge to get themselves sorted!

19th – 23rd August Peterborough

Week C

25th – 29th August Peterborough

Naturally Supernatural We’ve also got our first Naturally Supernatural summer conference for the whole church family from 22nd - 27th July in Stafford. Find out more at www.naturallysupernatural.co.uk and have a read on page 4!

You can download a group leader guide for each week which has loads of info about Soul Survivor, what will be going on at the event, how to organise a group etc. If you’re an old pro, and you’ve got some helpful tips to share, do send them to us to include next year! (Email info@soulsurvivor.com)

Event programmes You can pick up event programmes for £2.50 on arrival (from Info and outside the main meetings). These will help you get the best out of the week as they have loads of details on venues, seminars, speakers and main meetings, plus practical info on where to get ice packs, maps of the site etc. You can also download the Soul Survivor app for free and the programme content will be available there too. (We tend to put these out a day or two before each event and will let you know via social media when it’s ready for you to get your hands on.)

Resources for you and your group

Useful Info

Mobile phone charging

Free teaching videos

Looking for some new talks? We’ve made all of our main meetings and seminars from last summer’s events available for FREE on our website! You’ll find video from each main session, plus some seminars, and audio for all talks at www.soulsurvivor. com/talks so if you missed a talk or fancy listening again, it’s all right there. We’re keen to resource you and your young people and never want money to be a barrier which is why we’ve taken away the cost. That said, we do rely on friends supporting us financially so if you’re ever able to give or to do any fundraising for us, we’d love that! Our YouTube channel also has loads of talks including all the teaching from our winter Naturally Supernatural conference and our Saturday celebrations, plus a series of talks Andy has done for Christian TV network TBN UK on the theme ‘God speaks today’ as well as teaching for new Christians and on sex and relationships.

Shop Bible in One Year

Don’t forget all the videos that accompany our Bible in One Year readings are on bible. soulsurvivor.com and our app. You can jump in and join us at any point!

You can also buy resources from our shop including the 2016 live album ‘Never Gonna Stop’, Mike & Andy’s Everyday Supernatural book, and loads more at shop. soulsurvivor.com. (There’s free UK p&p on all orders.)

Top tips for the summer We asked intrepid youth leader, Bob Wallington, for his top tips for fellow Soul Survivor planners and campers!

Before you go Plan ahead! Communicate the dates for Soul Survivor as early as you can as many families book summer holidays in advance. This also allows families to take advantage of early booking fees, which for some young people may make a difference to whether they are able to come. Download the Group Leader guide that has loads of info about the event, bookings, transport, support available during Soul Survivor as well as kit lists and more. Keep the parents posted. Ensure the safety and well-being of the young people during the week and communicate the measures you’re taking to give parents peace of mind.

Got a top tip to share?

Let us know via info@soulsurvivor.com and we’ll share the best ones with other leaders!

Play ‘angels and mortals’ during Soul Survivor to get your group encouraging each other. (Allocate each person an angel before you come so they have time to think of different ways to bless and encourage their mortal, anonymously, during the week)

Send someone from your team to set up a meeting tent before your whole group arrives so you have a base on arrival.

Buy a couple of copies of the programme to share amongst the team and familiarise yourself with which seminars are happening when so you can help point your group to helpful sessions.

Have a team morning.

meeting

every

Make sure every young person has a leader that looks out for them specifically and, if possible, takes each of their young people for a hot chocolate during the week.

Have some leaders back at the campsite after the evening meeting so that if a young person has lost their friends or need to process anything, they always have a safe place to go (and don’t hide away on their own in a tent).

Have a couple of leaders who don't mind being up late!

Try and get along to the SoulNet breakfasts so you can be fed and encouraged and meet with other youth leaders.

When you get back Encourage your group to share what God has done in their lives with the rest of the church. There are Soul Survivor Sunday resources on our website that can help you communicate as a group what happened and how you’ve been encouraged by it. Keep up the momentum. Keep praying for one another in the power the of Holy Spirit, encourage those in your group who have received the gift of tongues to use this in prayer each day, make the most of resources like ‘Everyday Supernatural’ and go through them as a group so you can continue to learn and grow together.

Kit list Earplugs and a comfy mat will make all the difference in the world!

Food

Set expectations and boundaries for your group in advance. Chat about curfews, meetings, meal times etc so everyone knows what is expected of them. Some groups get each young person to sign a copy of the site rules as a sign they have committed to keeping them.

Leaders

Keep food simple but have lots of it! If you’ve got a big group take one or more cooks to take charge of all the catering. Eating together helps to build an inclusive environment, as well as providing points in the day when the whole group meets.

Take a ridiculous item so that your group can find each other in the main meetings. Plan something that unexpectedly blesses your young people during the week e.g. put a chocolate bar in each of their tents or print a different Bible verse for each person.

B e i n g t he go o d n ews If Jesus had a strapline it might have been something like this: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.”

e quoted these words from Isaiah 61:1-3 at the start of his years of ministry (Luke 4: 1819) and they give us some pretty good insight into what he is all about. We’re passionate about equipping young people to live for Jesus and follow in his footsteps so every year we have seminars that look at what it means to stand up for those in need, to fight injustice and to tell people about God’s love through our words and our actions. We know there is a huge value in talking and praying about these areas but there’s also something amazing that happens when we actually get stuck in and do it! So we want to make space for young people to get involved in local mission projects both this summer in Stafford and in Bristol next Easter working in partnership with the Noise and HOPE 2018. We want to demonstrate what mission looks like, and give young people an experience that puts a passion, urgency and confidence in them to serve their communities. We’ll be working in partnership with local churches on existing projects as we believe it’s important to model sustainable mission.

The kinds of projects we’ll be getting involved in are: • Painting and decorating community facilities • Fun days • Litter picking • Car washing • Creating community gardens

We want to play our part in raising up a generation who are on fire to communicate the good news of Jesus, and for people to go back to their own community understanding mission is part of who we are as Christians and inspired about how to love and serve those around them. We believe that going on an adventure with Jesus changes us. As the Chinese proverb says: I hear, I forget. I see, I remember. I do, I understand. We hope and pray that hundreds of Christian young people will get involved and they will never need to be taught again about mission because they will have experienced it and grasped something of God’s heart for others.

Want to get your group involved? When you book on for Week A (28th July – 1st August) you will find a form on the booking summary page that allows you to tell us that you’d like to get stuck in with some mission projects in Stafford. You can also tell us there about any specific skills you have that might be useful or any preferences you’ve got so we know which project to allocate you to. We’ll keep you posted about how to book for HOPE Bristol which will take place from Tuesday 3rd to Saturday 7th April 2018. If you’d like to register your interest and stay in the know, drop an email to info@soulsurvivor.com

Giving yo u rself away By Mike P

ight at the end of Matthew’s gospel we read Jesus’ parting shot before he ascended into heaven. He said what has become known as the ‘Great Commission’, the heart of which is to go and make disciples out of every people group. If before he ascended to heaven this was the one thing he told us to do, it seems reasonable to suppose that it should be our number one priority. But what does it mean for us as we disciple young people? Firstly I think we need to check who we’re making disciples of. The answer may seem obvious but I’ve definitely had to check that I’m making disciples of Jesus and not of myself, that I’m making clones of Jesus and not mini-Mikes. My fear is that sometimes I have invested more time and energy in passing on my preferences and priorities than the commands of Jesus.

Which is another challenge to me - do I know and live the commands, the heart, and the lifestyle of Jesus so that I have something coherent and authentic to pass on? Jesus doesn’t say ‘teaching them to know everything I have commanded you’ but ‘teaching them to OBEY everything I have commanded you.’ It is very difficult to teach someone to obey something when you are not obeying it yourself; in my experience they usually smell a rat!

Jesus taught us a lot about discipling and to him it seemed to be a 24/7 role. He didn’t see Peter between 6 and 7pm on a Wednesday for an hour’s mentoring. They did life together. They had front row seats for the confrontations with the Pharisees, they were involved with some of the miracles and they saw Jesus weep over Lazarus and sweat blood in the garden of Gethsemane. For three years they lived with him. They went on fishing trips together, they ate meals together and they partied

together. Yes I know the culture was different then. Many of us have other jobs to go to and families to raise on top of the fact that our young people have school and homework. And of course it would look more than odd if any of us tried to do everything with a big group of teenagers in tow. I know life is different. At the same time, there must be a way, even within the constraints, for our discipling to come out of genuine relationship and to be a little less formal and antiseptic?

Jesus said, “Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet” (John 13v14). The very best thing we can do for those we are attempting to disciple is to find ways to serve them, to love them and to bless them. We should pray for them, buy them meals, invest in them, and love them in practical ways. Above all we should listen to them. We are sometimes so eager to pass on our ‘wisdom’ that we miss the pearls that are coming back the other way. And a discipling or mentoring relationship that is true to scripture is two way. We are all so fallible and have much to learn from each other. I know that I have learned more from those who were supposed to be my mentorees than I have ever given. I have been challenged, encouraged, rebuked and spurred on to love and good works. I love it. The aim of discipleship is more than the acquiring of knowledge - it is a change in lifestyle. It is obedience to Jesus. For this to happen we will always be pointing one another beyond ourselves and to him. Lastly we should take to heart the words of Paul who said to the church at Corinth “You have ten thousand teachers; you do not have many fathers.” Any fool can teach; the desperate need is for spiritual parents. Teachers pass on

information but around parents, people grow up. Just like any good parent, we are preparing those whom we serve to leave us. We must hold them lightly. They never belonged to us in the first place and they don’t owe us anything. This, if I’m honest, is the hardest part for me. It can be agony when someone I have loved and invested in leaves the nest. Sometimes it feels as though life is a series of bereavements. But it has to happen. If I have done a good job they will remain my friends for life wherever they end up. And amazingly, there are men and women serving Jesus in many different places and I have the joy of knowing that God granted me the privilege of playing a small part in their lives.

That is the vision. Choose to be more than a teacher. Commit to being a mother or father. Serve them. Love them. Don’t give up on them. And give yourself away.

DON’T BE A STRANGER! We’re looking forward to seeing you in the summer but we’d love to hear from you before then too! www.soulsurvivor.com www.naturally supernatural.co.uk SoulSurvivorGB soulsurvivoruk soulsurvivoruk Got questions about the summer? All the info you need should be at www.soulsurvivor.com/summer and if there’s anything else we can help with just drop us an email info@soulsurvivor.com or call us on 0303 333 1 333. Charity No. 1080720.