At the start of October some of our youth joined with over 1600 young people from Methodist churches all over the country at the Birmingham National Exhibition Centre for 3Generate – the Methodist Children and Youth Assembly.
With one huge hall at the NEC turned into a tent city for the weekend, another hosted a range of venues including the Town Hall, Great Outdoors, Eden, Art Space, Tech Hub, a Market Place and Health & Wellbeing Centre.
Each venue had its own programme of events with attendees being able to mix and match and pick activities of interest to them. Activities included crafts, seminars, discussion groups and worship.
There were also more physical activities such as rock climbing, indoor caving and a range of sports – so a real change after a seminar entitled ‘What is Theology’.
Another range of activities explored technology, Lego and art, again balancing activities around the Methodist Way of Life, hearing about aspects of sustainability and inclusivity, and the work of the Methodist Church around the world from organisations such as All We Can, the Methodist Relief and Development organisation, and the Methodist Liaison Office in Jerusalem.
Our youth travelled to the event with others from Redhill, Crawley, Horley and Crowborough Methodist churches, as a combined South East District (red) team. There was plenty of opportunities to get to know each other – both for the youth and the leaders.
There was also entertainment from ‘scratch’ orchestras and choirs, and Q&A sessions with the candidates before voting for the Methodist Youth President.
Overall this was a packed event – both in terms of programme and numbers of attendees. Everyone who went will have had different experiences, met different people and encountered God in new ways.