Soulnet

This past weekend I went to a youth workers retreat in Nottingham called Soulnet. It was a lot of fun to be able to have a weekend where I could relax and hang out with the other youth workers that are based in my area. We stayed at a resort called Center Parcs, which was located in the middle of Sherwood Forest (aka where Robin Hood lived), the scenery was beautiful! We had a lot of free time during the weekend, but we also had the opportunity to attend worship services and inspirational but informative sessions on youth work.

One of my favorite parts of the weekend was attending the worship services. I really enjoy how openly and freely people worship here in the United Kingdom. People allow themselves to be drawn into worship with God and forget about the distractions surrounding them. This is something I struggled with before I came here, but now I feel more able to focus on spending time with God during worship. Since this change, the lyrics of the songs that we sing have taken on more of a deeper meaning to me. I know that this is because my relationship with God is becoming stronger and I actually believe in the words that I am singing.

Many of the churches that I have attended back in the States have more traditional services rather than contemporary services. The church that I am a member of back home does have one contemporary service, but this contemporary service is very similar to many of the traditional services that I have attended here in the United Kingdom. The church where I am placed has three services on a Sunday; starting with a mix between a traditional and contemporary service, followed by a family contemporary service, and ending the night with a very contemporary service aimed at people in their 20s and 30s. When I first came to Bookham Baptist Church, I felt the most comfortable with attending the mix of traditional and contemporary service, but even at that service I was still out of my comfort zone. The first thing that I found very surprising was the songs that were being sung during worship. There were not hymns being sung, but more current and upbeat songs by singers such as Tim Hughes and Matt Redman.  Song time worship happens at the beginning of the service, not throughout the whole of the service, which allows more time for the Holy Spirit to work within the church. The structure of the service is more dependent on waiting for the Holy Spirit rather than strictly following what is laid out in the program. I am becoming more comfortable with the idea of waiting on the Holy Spirit, but I still struggle to be completely comfortable with it. At Soulnet, each time during singing worship, the leader of the retreat (Mike Pilavachi) would invite the Holy Spirit in. Seeing the Holy Spirit move within people causing them to cry, scream, or shake, did freak me out a little bit. However, I am becoming more open to the idea of the Holy Spirit moving within people. I enjoy attending events like Soulnet, because they challenge me and take me out of my comfort zone, but by the end of the event I feel like I have strengthened my relationship with God. Through my strengthened relationship with God, I now find myself being the most comfortable attending the more contemporary services.

I had an amazing time this weekend at Soulnet and it was great to be able to deepen my relationship with God and spend time with the other youth workers. I feel refreshed and inspired to make the most out of my last six months as a youth worker for Bookham Baptist Church.

Fun Fact: It finally properly snowed here in the UK and I am very excited about it!

A few of us hanging out

                                                                                            at Center Parcs!