The Youth Department of the North England Conference (NEC) hosted, in partnership with the Central California Conference (CCC) Young Adult Department a weekend, Virtual Summit. For 34 continuous hours there was programming that the youth and young adults could participate in!
From 5:00 pm on Friday, 6 November until 3:00 am on Sunday, 8 November, there was either a live-streamed sermon, musical concert or panel discussion interspersed with Zoom Bible studies, prayer sessions, social games, small groups and testimonies.
It was a great opportunity to meet other young people from a different Conference who are also going through similar challenges and struggles during this time. We were not just joined by the young adults from Central California but also from the Philippines, various parts of Africa and across the United States of America.
On Sabbath for our main church services we did a pulpit swap where for the midday service for the NEC, we were blessed to have a message by Pastor Anil Kanda, the Young Adults Director from CCC. Then at 8:00 pm, which is midday in California, Pastor Adam Ramdin gave the message. A particular highlight for those who attended was the Zoom Bible studies, online socials and small groups that gave a chance to meet and get to know people we don't normally interact with, whilst engaging in spiritual and fun activities.Natalie Jeffers from Preston church said, "For me a highlight was being able to interact with people from the US, and the panel sessions getting to hear the different views. It was great, interactive and diverse."
Dylon Mushumbi, from Perry Beeches church, who was integral to the organising of the event said, "It was a very refreshing event, I found myself enjoying much more than I thought I would, taking the time outside of my time zone just to stay up and listen to the words being spoken. All in all, I felt renewed, after the year I've had, it was really something I needed."
We look forward to more innovative collaborative efforts that we can do in the future and hope that if one day travel restrictions are eased that we could do an in-person event with our friends from CCC.
All the sermons and Bible studies have been uploaded to the NEC Youth YouTube channel and you can find them at www.youtube.com/necyouth.
A highlight video of the weekend is found here.