10 Things You Need To Know About 2017’s Best Summer Prayer Festival

By John Withers

With summer now well underway, and our annual prayer festival fast approaching, we wanted to write up our personal invitation to Youth 2000 Walsingham to you! And this year we are going bigger than ever, so here are just a few things you need to know about what we have in store for you!

1.    Theme

Each year, we as a team pray through the scriptures to decide upon a theme for the festival. This year our theme is Inheritance.The theme of our festival is also our mission, to show other young people that God exists. He’s our Father who loves each one of us and, through his Son, he adopts us as his children so that we can share in the eternal inheritance of Jesus. This is an inheritance that cannot be spoiled or fade away because it is kept for us in heaven. Questions about our worth, purpose and identity, that the world can’t answer, find their answer in this promise. 

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you. - 1 Peter 1:3-4

2.    Café

Mind blown after the latest great talk? Fancy a coffee? A snooze? A chat? A DMC? Or a bit of late night open mic? Welcome to the long awaited café! A great place to meet old friends and new and ask those questions that are sparking away.

3.    Speakers

Guiding us through the retreat that is at the heart of this festival, we’ve got an awesome line up of international and UK speakers that we’ll be announcing over the next few weeks. We’re buzzing to announce that our first speaker is Fr Bernard Murphy, a former head of the Fransiscan Friars of the Renewal. He’s coming over from Limerick, Ireland, to share his testimony and wisdom on life with Jesus, and also his legendary banter.

4.    Creative Space

You’re not Picasso. You’re not Leonardo. You’re you.  In the words of St. Catherine of Sienna;

“Be who God made you to be and you will set the world on fire.” 

Master or apprentice, uncover your creativity as we explore themes of love, freedom, beauty and identity, through painting, sculpting, iconography and calligraphy.

5.    Encounter

GPRS. No signal. You’ll get a lot of that at this festival, but that’s not a bad thing. Instead you will be face to face with each other. Heart to heart with Jesus. This is where you belong. God loves first, this is our hope and it moves our hearts to respond in love. From the big top where we pour our hearts out to Him in 24/7 worship, to the café filled with conversation, this festival, in the words of Blessed John Henry Newman, is all about heart speaking to heart.

6.    Y2K Olympics

Bringing back an old classic, the Y2K Olympics sees 1,500 young people in teams competing for a place in the history books. Assault courses, races, dramas, mental challenges, tug of wars and much more! This will be a safe training ground for living the Christian virtues... May the best team win! (It’s the taking part that counts).

7.    Volunteer

Volunteering is one of the best ways you can squeeze as much juice as possible out of this festival. You’ll not only help build a festival, but you’ll build real friendships with those you serve alongside. There’s nothing more exhilarating than using your gifts and talents to help make this incredible mission come to life. Hop over to our festival team page (http://www.youth2000.org/team-1) to volunteer in one of these areas: Catering, Stewarding, Welcome or Children’s Ministry. 

8.    Families

We love our families! Our family field just keeps on growing and this year we’re improving our children’s ministry and introducing parent sessions. We want to raise up our youngest generation in the Gospel and support our wonderful parents who give so wholeheartedly through their vocation. 

If you’ve got a heart to for children’s ministry then get in touch here: http://www.youth2000.org/team-1

9.    The Big “Small Groups”

This year, the festival gets bigger, and that includes our small groups! Girls, grab yourselves a coffee in the café, as the guys set up camp in the refectory for our Big “Small Groups”. Let’s get to the heart of how we can be authentic men and women of God in 2017.

And lastly...

10.  Water fight… who said that… 

Come along to Inheritance Aug 24th-28th! More info on where, when, and how you can help, all found here: http://www.youth2000.org/