Stories

Roger Hilson

Gibbonsdown

 

Ignite hope meant a lot to me because it opened my eyes up to god. It showed me that god loves us no matter what we do. Ignite opened my eyes to how many people loves god. Also it showed me what people would do for god. I learnt a lot during ignite. I really enjoyed the bands that were playing there in the nights. my favourite was superhero. Also I enjoyed having fun with the leaders that were working with me. We had a real good time .in the weekend we painted railings and garage doors. And to finish the weekend off we had a barbecue in a near by park. We had loads of things to do there. E.g. sumos suits and face painting. I also enjoyed the morning sessions of ignite. When Chloe and mark done the morning fitness thing. It was quite amusing.

Gavin Worrall

Community
 
I was on the Cwmcarn team and a lot of things happened during our time working in the community there.
 
Just engaging with the community proved a massive encouragement to us as a group.
 
When they asked us as to why we wanted to go and litter pick around the streets and clear up the river our response was simply because we wanted to show that Jesus loved them and that it was 'practical Chrisitianity' in meeting the needs of the community:)
 
This went down really well and the people I spoke to were really enthusiastic about the whole idea of the New Life Church in Cwmcarn reaching out. A ot iof them wanted even more to be done after the weekend - "Will this be a regular thing?," and "We need more things like these happening in our community."
 
One woman even came to personally thank us for our efforts in litter picking the street she lived on. She told us that the council hadn't bothered and she seemed genuinely touched that we would give up our time to go and clear up the street she was living on.
 
Impact on the Youth
 
Another exciting aspect was meeting all the young people on the Monday afternoon who came to the community barbeque we had organised. So many of them came into the church and wanted to stay and hang around, chatting with us and having a look at some of the prayers that had been put down on the prayer wall.
 
One of these young people sat down with me and we placed a bet on who would do the best colouring in picture. While we were doing thisI got talking to him about his life and school and what he wanted to do when he was older. He talked a lot about going camping with his mates but didn't seem to be motivated about anything - especially school!!
 
I told him about the stuff we had on site at Ignite Hope with the crazy sumo suits, the bouncy castles, the demolitionball  zone and the climbing walls. He was well up for coming down - he couldn't believe it was free when I told him he didn't need to bring any money with him and we organised for him to come with us down on our mini bus.
 
He came, he had some good fun in all the activities, he came into the Big Top, he listened and he responded going forward to accept Jesus as his Lord and Saviour. I couldn't believe it when he stepped forward.
 
The Church working as ONE!!!
 
Ignite Hope 2010 was an awesome time where God really moved among the young people in the project group - one announcing that the whole experience has made her faith in God grow massively - it is a big testament to what can happen when people from the wider Church join together for one purpose and cause.
 
People from Barry, Goytre (nr Abergavenny) came together with the people at New Life Church in Cwmcarn stepped out together as one being the hands and feet of Jesus - and I can't wait to hear what happens when God moves to water what was planted there during Ignite Hope. The Church is One!!:)

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