Baptist churches supporting new summer youth festival
Baptist churches are getting behind a major new event for young people, which is taking on the baton from the Soul Survivor festivals this summer.
The Youthscape 'Satellites' event - a new five-day camp aimed specifically at Christian youth groups - takes place in Peterborough from 9-13 August, and hopes to attract more than 5,000 teenagers in its first year.
The event, which will welcome speakers including Guvna B, Andy Croft, Miriam Swanson and Rachel Gardner, says that a third of the total groups already booked on are from Baptist churches around the UK.
'I came to faith and then spent my youth in a Baptist church,' says event founder and Youthscape Director Martin Saunders, 'and going with that youth group to Soul Survivor each summer was hugely formative for my faith. I am so thrilled to see so many Baptist churches getting behind Satellites, not least because the first donation we ever received - which really got the ball rolling - was from a retired Baptist minister who was desperate to see faith passed on to the next generation.'
The five-day event will include major worship and teaching gatherings, and a wide range of talks and seminars all focused on the key aim of helping young people to live with God at the centre of their lives. However, a varied programme will also include a huge amount of sport, music, and opportunities to participate in creative workshops. It will be aimed at both Christian and non-Christian young people, so that teenagers can feel comfortable and confident about inviting their friends.
Helen Wheeler, youth and children's worker at Holland Road Baptist Church in Hove, said, 'I have always found Youthscape resources to be relevant and thoughtful so when I heard they were planning to run an event in place of Soul Survivor, I knew it would be exciting, well planned and just what will help the young people in my church to grow in their relationships with God. I can’t wait to take our young people this coming summer.'
Jamie Walker, who leads the youth work at Finchampstead Baptist Church in Berkshire, said, 'I can’t wait to take young people to Satellites because it’s more than a summer festival. The focus on year-round discipleship will make a huge difference in the lives of young people.'
More Baptist churches are being invited to book their group in for Satellites – who are offering a 100 per cent refund promise on all tickets if Covid-19 prevents the event from going ahead. Tickets cost £95 before the end of February's early-bird booking deadline.
Baptist Times, 05/01/2022