Bognor Regis Weekend away

I went away with my church to a Newfrontiers weekend away at Butlins in Bognor Regis. It was definatly a great time of just getting to know my friends more and getting together and hanging out. On friday my family and i came in on the coach as mentioned previously. We got into our room and into the groove quickly both Debs and Danielle didnt get there till much later. When Danielle arrived she didnt have a key to her room cause the girls whos name was on the room hadnt arrived yet so we sat around for ages tryin to sprt it out eventually it was with a lot of drama. Then we found out that there were 2 extra spaces in the room so i moved out of my parnets room and into danielle's room. We then went to the meeting which was about the Holy Spirit and how there was almost what you could call a rediscovery of the Holy Spirit a while back and how this led into mission and cultivated an attitude to the nations of the world. The main verse was 2 Corinthians 10:12-18. The first point was 'Renewal led to Restoration' This part was that basically the renewal of the Holy Spitit led to restoration of the Holy Spirit in church and in people's minds. This was essentially when people started to move away from spirit deprived churches and nto the power of the Holy Spirit. This 'Restoration led to to Mission' The Holy Spirit laid on people's heart the need for us to evangelise. The way this was said was that we are made into a light for the world to bring those who are lost back to God. When i heard this i thought of a light and how people will go towards a light in darkness and move towards what is perceived as warmth and a shelter and a safe place which is basically God. Also in regards to ministry your personal life with God impacts on a wider spectrum than just you . Avts 18:11.


After the meeting was over we had a nice chilled time we decided me and a couple others to go to the beach and play ultimate frisbee basically the funnest game ever even if it does involve severe bruising and bashing that could be bacause we did it on a stone beach in the middle of the nigh and not on grass or on sand. I did get war wounds a proud busted lip teehee. Half way through danielle told me we had scored the biggest room with the double bed way kl. Had to go to Guest services and get room keys done up the first of many many trips. Chatted on msn for a while then went to bed.

The next morning i was up at the crack of dawn and danielle and I had a prayer and bible study time which was so great i just felt close to God the whole day after that. We had breakfast which was quite a hilarious time with ppl gettin 2/3 meals (this was a repeat of dinner the night before - the people in our 20s group are completely barmy and we are a wild bunch) The morning meeting was about God's vision for the church the praise and worship was just such a great time i just felt God's presence and really just felt so close to Him. The talk was lead by David Stroud. He spoke on Matthew 5:13, Genesis 1:26. In the talk he discussed how everything is a part of God's plan down to the tinyest thing. He spoke about the fall in Genesis 3. He suggested that thsi led to almost 2 worlds the good creation of God and the broken and twisted world we live in now. Some people can experience both they can see the beauty and the spirit filled moments and the bitter, twisted and evil side where people kill and maim and rape and rob and commit all types of sin. The sign of decay can be seen in so many different ways 1 through popular arts and popular cukture, 2 through violence on the street, 3 through poverty. The Church should be the salt and the light of the world and should be what gets people out of the sinful cycle of society. As christians we should look to shape and change culture.

After the meeting we all hung out around the site then we all went different ways i went and had a swim in the pool it had a way cool wave machine and loads of amazing slides and besically all round fun, I had a race against my dad and my sister across the bredth of the pool and i won even against my dad who is like 6 ft 3 the best feeling ever and im not even a super strong swimmer i can defintly manage myself but that was incredible. After this we went to the pub and had a drink with Debs and her friend and had a bit of a chill out time.

Part 2 to follow