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[email protected]k. 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-mailus at [email protected]. Useful links
Norwich Youth for Christ:
http://www.norwichyfc.co.uk/
Scripture Union
http://www.scriptureunion.org.uk/
University and Colleges Christian Fellowship
http://www.uccf.org.uk/ The BBC is not responsible for the content of external Internet sites | 
