Over the weekend of 14/15 September, the Harvington YouthProject will be celebrating 25 years with a family fun day and joint service.The group was started as a joint venture between St James in Harvington andHarvington Baptist Church and is still going strong with groups for childrenaged 7 10 and 10 13 meeting weekly as well as a third group for those agedover 13 about to be re-launched.
Harvington Youth worker, Hannah Owen, said: It was startedby a small group of people who saw young people in the village who needed to hearJesus message. They were really passionate about sharing their faith and theproject continues to be focussed around discipleship and helping young peopleto know Jesus. We get around 20 people to each group most weeks, mainly fromaround the village, but some come from Norton and also Evesham if theyve gotfriends coming.
There are a strong group of volunteers and trustees involvedin the project and it is supported by the parish council as well as with prayerand financial help from many others. As well as meeting weekly, there are tripsand summer activities and the project often has a presence at community events.
We talk to the children about they want to do in theirgroups, continues Hannah. We often look at current affairs or issues that theyoung people are dealing with and how they might respond as a Christian. Thisyear our older group are very keen to look at eco issues for example how theycould make plastic-free, reusable makeup wipes. Weve also done litter picks inthe past.
Theres a real mix of young people in our village of verydifferent backgrounds and its great to see them all together. As our villagechurches get smaller, its essential to relate our faith to the nextgeneration. We see a few regularly in church, but lots more at our specialevents such as our light party our aim is to make church relevant to them.
The 25th birthday celebrations will take place atEllenden Farm so that they are community based. There will be a family fun dayon the Saturday with inflatables, circus skills and face painting and youngpeople will have the opportunity to take part in workshops such as hand bellringing and singing. After a BBQ, there will be performances of the skillslearnt in these workshops as well as the chance for other young people toperform. On Sunday, both churches will join together in a joint celebrationwith the young people involved in the music group and the prayers.
More information about the weekend of celebrations in Harvington
