The Bible and Bananaman!
‘The words of men sound so clever, but only God’s word lasts for ever’ – so chanted the 200 young people at ‘Sorted Nano’ this May.
After 8 years of events for 14-18 year olds, Capital Youthworks (the charity behind ‘Sorted’ and the youth worker lunches) piloted a brand new Bible-centred event for the 11-14 age group this spring, called Sorted Nano.
‘We weren’t quite sure how this age-group would take to a day of Bible teaching. It’s not often day events for 11-14s contain three Bible talks! But they loved it’, said Matt Lloyd of the planning team. ‘The whole day surpassed our expectations’.
The theme of the central-London event was to help young people understand how vital and life-giving the Scriptures are, with the main speaker, Jonty Alcock, encouraging them to scream for the Bible as babies scream for their milk.
Alongside the teaching there were songs and memory verses as well as plenty of games, including the unforgettable wide game involving Bananaman (aka costumed Youth Work student from Oak Hill theological college) being hotly pursued round a sunny Green Park by 200 lively youngsters!
‘We were all very excited by the day’, commented Helen Thorne, Capital Youthworks Trustee, ‘but we’ve been equally excited by the fruit of the day. It’s been fantastic to hear of churches giving the young people opportunities to share what they’ve learnt in services.
‘We were really touched by a 14-year old boy buying a set of Bible studies from the Sorted Nano bookstall so he could start having weekly Bible studies with his younger sister; and we were thrilled when an excited mother called to let us know that her son had given his life to Christ’.
Sorted Nano looks set to become a regular feature for youth group diaries. Do watch out for the 2009 event!