Joseph and Heather reflect on their first experience of working at Castlewellan Holiday Week. 

This year I had the privilege of being part of the Youth and Children’s team at CHW.  I was a little nervous as the age group I’d be serving specifically was the 4-5’s, an age group I have less experience with; and I’d never attended the whole Castlewellan week as an adult, so I wasn’t sure what to expect! 

From the very first day, I loved it.  Being on the youth and children’s team gave me the opportunity to develop relationships with volunteers of various ages (SPUDDDD!), catch up with people I hadn’t seen in ages, enjoy several cups of teas and pizza inside tents as the rain raged outside, and experience serving God in a new environment. 

Sunday was spent in training.  The first session involved thinking about inclusivity, in particular; what factors might make someone feel they are ‘outside the circle’, and how do we ensure we include people in our sessions.  The second session focused on prayer ministry and some guidance around praying with children, young people, and each other.  After the training we had time preparing for our age group programmes, and we were raring to go! 

Each weekday began with family worship, leading into the age group programmes where, for the children’s programme, we were exploring what it means to have an Olympic faith.  We were learning how Jesus is the King, and about various stories from the Bible like Joseph’s trials, Jesus calling the first disciples, feeding the 5000, the Great Commission, and how these stories teach us that God is always with us and is worth putting our faith in!  Afternoons were generally free, then there were age group programmes again in the evenings. 

I learnt a lot over the week, but I’ll leave you with two things in particular: 

1. Each day in all age worship there was time spent in creative prayer.  One day we were asked to pray for people as they travelled back to the north, south, east, and west.  Various people would stand while everyone else held their hands towards these people and prayed for them.  The 4-year-old sitting beside me held up his hand, closed his eyes, and mumbled away under his breath.  You might be thinking to yourself, ‘Should she not also have been praying?’  Maybe!  But in that moment, God was teaching me something profound.  He was reminding me not to underestimate the faith of a 4-year-old.  He was reminding me that we are all called to have a child-like faith.  And He was reminding me that my prayer as an adult is no more important than that of a child.  God hears and cares for the prayers of all ages. 

2. Our pastoral team was the Spence family, who also led devotions for the team each morning (thank you to Nicky, Michael, Benjamin and Lily!).  We were reminded that serving God isn’t about making US look good.  If that’s our intention, then we’re in it with the wrong heart.  Serving God means more of Him and less of me.  Helping people to engage with Jesus and know how good HE is.  More of Him and less of me.  Listening to God’s Spirit and direction and not my own hopes.  More of Him and less of me. 

A massive thank you and well done to everyone who was involved in the planning and running of Castlewellan Holiday Week.  And thank you to the 4-5’s children who inspired and encouraged me and made me laugh every single day!  

I’m already excited for next year! 

- Heather

This year, just like Heather, I was delighted to be joining the Youth and Children’s team at CHW. It was only my second year coming along to CHW. The first year I attended, I was also volunteering on the Youth and Children’s team, but at that time I was working with another ministry, so I was quite the newcomer and just helping with one of the age groups. This year, though, I got to be more involved, helping Lisa, Jonny and the kitchen team with some of the team support, and jumping in with the Youth team if they needed the help. I feel like I saw CHW in a much deeper manner, and I am so in awe of the work the committee and all the volunteer leaders who have kept the Holiday Week going all these years! 

The highlight for me was without a doubt spending my few days with the youth and children’s volunteers. I originally was only meant to be visiting CHW as a guest and just helping with one or two small things for the team. Within the first few hours of the volunteers arriving, though, I found it almost impossible to leave them! The volunteers were an amazing combination of young adults. Some of them have attended CHW since they themselves were in the 4-5s age group, and seeing their gratitude and adoration for the camp pouring into their desires to give back to the next generation filled me with such joy. Others on the team like me found themselves very new to CHW, but their work was missing none of the same passion and enthusiasm. Through all the inside jokes we didn’t understand and still getting the hang of the schedule, they met the energy of the old guard and gave so much to youth and children and CHW. The young adults involved in these events are a golden asset to the Methodist Church in Ireland, and I pray that they continue to be supported and discipled in their own local communities. 

Like Heather I’d love to leave you with something I learnt from my time, but in my case, it was just one thing. Through working with the Youth and Children’s team and watching the young people attend the program themselves, I’ve have been struck by how much we can get from young people just by raising our expectations of them. Even in just the few days I was there, we had countless examples from the teenagers where we planned an activity with them with assumptions of how they’d engage, but the young people absolutely went above and beyond in their responses. We so often create our own expectations of what our young people are able for and therefore unintentionally box them in. Over the week the Youth team leaders began to raise the bar as they saw what the young people were capable of, and the teenagers continuously rose the occasion impressing us with their understanding of God and the topics they wanted to discuss. Three weeks later I’m still inspired by this and can only hope to take this learning with me into the coming year of my ministry. 

I am so thankful to all involved in running CHW, both for all the young people who have been impacted, and for all I took from it myself! CHW is a beautiful project, and I hope all its leaders can feel proud of the good work they did. 

- Joseph