Hello church! 

We are nearing the end of our series on the book of Acts in Rooted. For the past few weeks we have been exploring different passages in Acts, focusing on the Holy Spirit, and how that had an impact on Jesus’ disciples spreading God’s word then, and how it still helps transform us and others’ lives today. We’ve had some really good conversations, where young people have been growing in confidence with discussion, activities and prayer. In June, we will start our new series which will focus on understanding our emotions, looking at various passages in the Bible but specifically focusing on the book of Psalms. The aims of this series are to encourage the young people to think about all the emotions we face as humans, and how God can help us deal with them – for example, anger, loneliness and anxiety. As it is currently exam season, we were thinking and praying about what to spend more time studying on, and as the summer term is approaching, we felt this was the right call for allowing reflection over the past year, and hopefully more fruitful conversations!

Our ALIVE course has been going really well. We’ve had a number of young people coming each week. Throughout the evening we watch a video as a group where we pause at times, to discuss questions. So far, we have looked at themes of love, peace, hope and freedom. This is just a five-week course, but this group will continue – just with a different name and course! We will be spending time hearing from the young people and what they would like to see and talk about.  

God continues to be at work within our outreach to local secondary schools. I go into Tenison’s every other Monday (sometimes more!) to run their year 8 assembly. I feel that the past few weeks I’ve been able to get to know the year group more, and vice versa. I try to make the assemblies as interactive as possible, which definitely helps in engaging with the students. I also now end each assembly in a prayer, which is so wonderful to have the opportunity to do. There has also been some conversation with some staff about the possibility of running some lessons in the school too, which would be amazing to spend time with the young people in a smaller space, within their classrooms. Please do pray for God to open these doors. The mentoring programme at Quest continues to go well. I have recently started working with a new student (and finished the sessions with some others), and this will be until the summer, as I tend to work with a student for around a term. The conversations each week completely vary on what they want to discuss and what’s been happening for them in their week. I take in interactive activities with me, which always have the aim to encourage, uplift and build confidence. Please do continue to pray for our young people. We are so grateful for all of your continued support and prayers for all things youth ministry!

May God bless you all, Katie

One of the group activities we did in Rooted – looking at the Holy Spirit.