Baptist Assembly 2018: Youth Programme 

This year’s Baptist Assembly youth programme was full of worship, craft and games with the young people from Years 7-9 encouraged to explore youth lifestyle and faith. By Kira Taylor

The day included discussions about the culture young people are surrounded by and how it influences their behaviour, particularly focusing on the types of music they listen to and whether that affects their personality or lifestyle.

Following on from this, they talked about the meaning of worship: whether it is simply about singing or being at church or whether it goes beyond the four walls and is part of how we live our lives.

'I was just trying to encourage them to actively think about what worship means in terms of them being at home, what it means in terms of them being around their friends or going to school,' said Jo McMillan, the leader of the youth programme and youth worker at Greenford Baptist Church. 

One interesting thing that came up in discussions was about the nature of belief. Jo said, 'A lot of young people are here because of their parents … one of the young people brought up … ‘do you have to believe in something because your parents believe in something or do you have to believe in something yourself?’'

Jo also emphasised how she wanted to make the day enjoyable for those taking part and help foster friendships, as most of the young people came by themselves from all areas of the country.

'A lot of the young people came here on their own so they didn’t really know any of the young people … by the end of the day they’ve got a friend, they’ve got people to hang out with,' said Jo.

She admitted the most challenging part of the day was building these relationships in such a short space of time. Her favourite thing was seeing how the youth who had entered shyly began to grow and form friendships.

'Whether it was the arts and crafts or discussion, I was really hoping that they would go away from today with one memory that was really good. Everyone had something that they were grateful for today,' she said.

Jo wanted the young people to return home having made a friend and taking back change to their lifestyle to improve their relationship with God. They were given a lolly stick and asked to write their challenge on it.