Emma Philpotts |
Emma Philpotts is a 20-year-old student from Cromer who believes
there are not enough opportunities for young Christians to meet
up and worship in Norfolk.
To comment on her article or to have your say on any topic,
e-mail norfolk.online@bbc.co.uk.
Chris
Sanham
replies to Emma
When I come
home from university in Sunderland, the outlook when it comes to
church tends to look quite bleak.
In Sunderland
I am surrounded by people my age who understand and share my faith.
Yet when
I come back to Norfolk it seems there’s just a few people dotted
around the county that I know.
At uni, Christian
Union is the main place where like-minded Christians can meet.
It’s an exciting
time meeting such a diverse group of people, with lively worship,
times of fellowship, bible study in cell groups and social activities
such as grub crawls (hungry students in the search for cheap food!).
Most of all
we are given opportunities to take part and get involved - organising,
leading, teaching and so on, not just in CU, but in churches too.
So why when
I come home to Norfolk can I not find anything like this? It appears
that the 18-30 age bracket has been missed somewhere along the way.
Older
age group misses out
The youth of
Norfolk is gradually being catered for, but it all appears to end
at 18. Local churches provide Sunday schools, Youth Alpha and CYFA
groups.
Norwich Youth
For Christ does work with schools and runs events such as FRIDAYS,
where young people from around the county meet to enjoy worship,
teaching and fun.
The events are
fantastic, but miss the older age group.
Beach missions
take place up and down the Norfolk coast but once again miss our
age bracket. Various churches such as Wymondham Baptist put on youth
services once a month - but it’s not enough!
In August the
camping festival Living Water will be on at the Norfolk Showground.
Here we
are slightly catered for, but it leaves us waiting for a whole year
for more! So what can be done?
Coming
together
Surely if a
group of young Christians at Sunderland University can put on so
much while completing their degrees, the churches of Norfolk can
come together and face this problem.
A thousand
young people leave the church each week. This
is a statistic that cannot be ignored.
Maybe it’s an
issue that could be tackled together. Between the churches, we have
an amazing amount of resources, so how about pooling them to put
together something for the young adults of Norfolk? Anything
is possible.
Chris
Sanham
replies to Emma
To
comment on this, or to have your say on another topic, e-mail
us at norfolk.online@bbc.co.uk.
Useful
links
Norwich
Youth for Christ:
Scripture
Union
University
and Colleges Christian Fellowship
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