“We had a whole bunch of churches across Gwent Baptist Association who had some youth involved – but weren’t necessarily able to sustain a ‘larger’ young people’s ministry themselves,” explains Tim Moody, one of the pastors at Moriah Baptist in Gwent. “But we thought why couldn’t we bring these ones and twos together, to gather? So, we clubbed together, started a monthly ‘Gathering’ – and have seen things grow from there.”
Gathered
A typical Gathering evening now sees thirty or so young people come together on a Sunday evening once a month to spend time getting to know Jesus better in an informal atmosphere – up from an initial gathering of only a dozen or so youth. The format itself is simple but intentional, summed up in their tagline Gather. Worship. Eat. As Tim explains, “we just wanted young people to have a safe space to be Christians together, and to have a context where they could hear directly and authentically a bit more about what it means to follow Jesus in their lives.”
So interviews with leaders, short explorations of characters from the Bible, as well as some icebreaker games are also part of the mix. But above all, the aim is very much in the name – to create the sort of space and time that is increasingly difficult for young people to access in our society to grow as disciples of Jesus together.
Purpose
The team of five or six leaders drawn from churches across the Gwent Baptist Association had always been clear that they wanted this to be inclusive – both of the young people’s voices and of other churches locally. To that end they recently conducted a survey of what participants wanted from church life and from events like the Gathering itself. To their surprise, the response was overwhelmingly that they wanted more of the same – more time together, more opportunities to meet, to eat together and to learn together what it means to follow Jesus.
“There’s a huge hunger, I’d say, to be part of things,” Tim goes on. “And we’ve tried to recognize that over the past year by nurturing young leaders from within the group who can start taking on responsibilities and roles when we do gather together.”
Future
In an era where a perception has grown that initiatives like Christian youth clubs may now belong to an older, pre-social media age, the voice of young people themselves may well suggest otherwise. As Tim points out, the growth of The Gathering in Gwent is paralleled by the surge of interest in the Esgyn youth weekends (which returns for its third installment this November 21st-23rd).
He is convinced that the simple model they have alighted upon in Gwent could be easily replicated elsewhere, with a small amount of manpower drawn from multiple churches underpinned by the Association’s backing with a small pot of funding – and above all, passion for Jesus and young people fuelled by prayer.