Youth News

Date	Title	Pix's	News	Reporter
		From time to time the youth groups here go out and about and get up to some interesting things….here are just a few of the most recent activities they have been involved in. These articles were written for the parish magazine and we hope you enjoy them to.
	Andy Rowlandson talks about stepping out in faith, using the example of different ways in approaching a swimming pool
	Time out for the 11-14’s		Knowle Parish church’s 11-14’s survived a weekend full of activities & Bible studies at Blackwell adventure recently. High All aboard, Zip wire and assault course were a few of the activities available, with everyone (including the leaders) having a great time! Games in the rain and a cowboys and Indians theme night capped an exciting and fun filled weekend for all involved	Stuart Ratcliffe
	Manna Weekend 2008	Click here to read the report and pictures
	Manna Weekend 2007		Parish Mag Article post Manna Weekend 2007 Choices Choices Choices This February saw the Manna weekend away head off to Cliff College in Sheffield. A total of 45 people enjoyed great talks by Revd Richard Trethewey. We looked at the subject of choices and how do we make decisions. Manna is for young people in the 14-18 age group and many are making decisions at the moment about university's, GCSE's and relationships. We had space and time to hear from God, think and understand how to make informed decisions and consider how the teaching might impact our lives as we go home. Saturday afternoon saw a range of activities available from Hill Walking, Crawling around caves getting dirty and wet, trying out the local pitch and putt or strolling through the well lit local caverns. All in all much fun was had by all in the various activities with some venturing outside of their comfort zones! Huge thanks to Sue Houghton for being brave for the girls and crawling through the caves. Andy Rowlandson assures me that at least 8 of the 14 pitch and putt golfers got a hole in one at least once during the afternoon…humm… not to sure about those statistics. For those of you facing big choices and needing to make decisions and wish you could have joined us for the weekend feel free to download the talks along with the quiet time booklet and PowerPoint presentation from www.knowleparishchurch.org A BIG thanks from the youth team for the volunteers who joined us for the weekend. By Louisa Neumann
July 2007	KPC to Charis: Romania 2007		July saw 21 teenagers and 6 Leaders travel to Northern Romania to work on a small farm near Oradea, making this the seventh time Knowle Parish Church has volunteered at the Charis Foundation. The aim of the trip was to assist the family on the farm, who run a charity called `Youth for Christ' for teenagers in the local community. The main task of the week involved repairing and painting the 500m fence surrounding the perimeter of the farm, as well as reinforcing its foundations by digging trenches and mixing and laying concrete. Much of the work was physically demanding, and temperatures of up to 47°C did little to help matters. The team was also involved in other tasks on the farm, such as weeding, digging, mucking out the farm's 35 pigs each morning and even milking the goat! Of course, there was some time off to rest our aching muscles, when we enjoyed relaxing at a spa and sightseeing in Oradea. Other free time was spent meeting and building relationships with local teenagers, and studying the Bible together. This year, we focused on the Gospel of Luke, particularly about how Old Testament prophecies were fulfilled by Jesus. For many, the real highlight of the week was spending our Sunday morning at Holy Trinity Baptist Church. We were particularly grateful for every member of the team to be given the opportunity to speak about serving God in England, to sing in small groups, or to give their testimonies, two of which were given in Romanian. The church was very different to Knowle Parish Church, particularly in size, as we made up more than half of the congregation, but the welcome we were given was incredible. The end of the trip brought a real sadness to leave our friends at the Charis Foundation and the other members of the team, and for the experience we shared together to come to an end. However, the unforgettable time we spent in Romania was extremely valuable to each who went, as we learnt so much about our faith, ourselves and each other. We would like to thank everyone who supported us financially and through prayer the trip wouldn't have been possible without you.
August 2007	Soul Survivors!		This summer, for the second year running, 47 young people and leaders from Knowle Parish Church Youth Team attended the Christian youth festival, Soul Survivor in Shepton Mallet, Somerset. Along with 12,000 other Christians, the five day event was a great opportunity to get to know more about God, with the theme of the festival as `being transformed into His likeness'. Twice a day we attended a main session held in the biggest tent in placeEurope! These sessions focused on worship and also involved talks from many influential speakers such as J-John and Jim Yost, which were very thought-provoking. During the week, we also had plenty of free time to go to seminars about various topics, such as the being a Christian at university and the reality of poverty, to play sports, watch movies and relax in cafés with our friends. We were also introduced to organisations such as Soul Action, the collaboration of Soul Survivor and Tearfund, which supports projects and friends working in poor communities throughout the world. Despite the very wet and muddy conditions, everyone who went to Soul Survivor had a fantastic time. We all grew a lot in our faith and strengthened friendships with each other and with other Christians we met on the trip. We would like to say a big thank you to all the leaders who came for making the trip possible. By Becky Elliott and Becky Walsh
	Fundraising to go to Romania Romania 2006		Fundraising to go to Romania April 2nd saw the outburst of Chuckle Mission! All 21 members of the Romanian Team 2006, were ready after the 9.30am church service to serve the members of the church in various ways; to show their enthusiasm for the project and help raise funds for the venture. There was shoe shining, car washing and cake selling as well as the sale of mugs in order for people to deposit their loose change and donate it to the venture. A quiz about Romanian culture was also sold, all in all, over £500 was raised, thanks to the hard work of all involved and the generosity of our church family! We were very happy with how the day went and grateful to all who contributed, the next major hurdle for the team is organising our next event, Giggle, which will be a further opportunity for us to advertise what we are going out to do. This will be held in St John's Hall on the 20th of May. Romania 2006 This July saw Knowle Parish Church's 5th trip to support the Charis Foundation in Northern Romania. The aim of the mission was to assist in the development of a farm near Oradea which for the last 7 years has provided a home and jobs for orphaned teenagers. The experience was valuable both physically & spiritually for each of the 21 teenagers and 5 adults who took part in the trip. The main task of the week involved shifting approx 75 tonnes of stones which were being used to create the foundations for new paths around the farm. With an average temperature of 37°C and about 250 wheelbarrows per day being filled it wasn't work for the faint hearted. During `time off' from work we spent time studying the bible together. This year we learnt from the character of Peter, particularly how he attempted to be more like Jesus. We also spent time building relationships with local teenagers, the orphan boys and the family on the farm. Of course we enjoyed a couple of days off to let our aching bones recover. One day at the local swimming pool and the other in the mountains. For many of us the clear highlight was on Sunday when we visited Holy Trinity Baptist Church. It was amazing to hear of the guys from Knowle give there testimony 2 of which were given in Romanian. We sang and prayed for the church. The welcome they gave us was overwhelming especially considering we outnumbered them. Holy Trinity Church currently has 23 members and hopes to more than double in the next year with aim of reaching 50 members by next summer. As we returned to England there was great sadness to be leaving each other and for the experience we shared to be over. However as we each digest and recover we can look at our photo's giggle and smile knowing that we made a huge difference to a group in Romania. Again we would like to thank all those who supported the 26 of us both financially and through prayer. Louisa Neumann
	Soul Survivor 2006		Towards the end of the summer, as British airports struggled to recover from the terrorist threats, Knowle Youth Team took 40 young people to Somerset. For the first time our young people were to experience a week long Christian festival called Soul Survivor. First held in 1993, Soul Survivor has grown to now accommodate 11,000 young people from throughout the UK. Although slightly daunted at first by the scale and independence on offer our young people quickly thrived on the relevant Bible teaching, awesome worship and multiple activities available. It was a great week and we much look forward to taking many more young people to Soul Survivor again in 2007. Andy Rowlandson
25 June 2006	Baptisms 2006		On June 25th as the sun was beaming down on Solihull, 4 young people took the step of faith to get baptised. Nathan Brown (14), Matt Roberts-Davies (14), Emma Wilson (14), and Andrew Wilson (10), had all decided that this was the time for them to make this public and personal affirmation of their faith in God and to commit their lives to God. The service was attended by around 50 friends and family of the young people, and marked a new rung on the ladder for the life of the young person they had seen grow up physically, mentally, and spiritually. We pray that this will be a new step of faith for all of them and a time when they see God do amazing things through them.
9th – 11th June 2006	Gaines Five Alive		We gathered on the cobbles at the front of Knowle Parish church on Friday 9th June. Rachel Pinwell with clipboard in hand to make sure everyone was there, and Louisa Neumann struggling to start the N reg Minibus. After all this commotion we were off members of Headstart, G2G, KP Nuts, Pathfinders and Double take, ready to take whatever the Gaines weekend had in store for them. One hour later we arrived. After everyone had found their small group leaders, and their bedrooms we settled for dinner. The theme of the weekend was Five Alive, four talks plus a prayer room which made the five things to do living life as a Christian. Louisa Neumann kicked off the talks, with love, followed by Gareth Roberts-Davies on being a family together supporting each other, Rachel Pinwell on growing up as a Christian and running the race for God, to be rounded off by Aaron Neumann on the theme of reaching out, to encourage everyone to go out and spread the message of God to their friends and family. After each session we had small groups were the young people could talk about what they had heard, this was also an opportunity to go into the prayer room and do some creative prayer. The prayer room consisted of five stations such as post-it prayer and the Graffiti wall. Each group came out of the prayer room having experienced something new of God, some for the first time. The talks were separated by activities such as, grass sledging, the death slide, assault course, football, tennis and mini Golf. Which were made even more enjoyable by the sunny weather. Then the last session of the weekend came before we packed and went home, some of the young people took the opportunity to say to the others about what they had learnt over the weekend, and say thank you to the Gaines staff for providing all the food and activities. The coach was then loaded up with our bags and we went home, exhausted but happy because of a fantastic weekend.	Paul Cox, & Paul Murphy
May 2006	KP Nuts Mini Golf (photo attached)		In May the KP Nutters braved the extreme weather conditions and embarked on a 12 whole mini Golf course in Dorridge. Despite the wind and rain, we managed to get a round of golf in and had joint winners with a round of 22, which I think is 2 under par a score Tiger Woods would be proud of. Who knows what fun socials next term of KP Nuts shall bring, who next shall we take on? Watch this space to find out.