CONNECT SUMMER 2019
24 Sep, 2019,
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This August, a number of Hungarians travelled to the UK; 4 to volunteer at The OAKES Holiday Centre, and 3 helping on the Ventures camp in Sedburgh. Here how the experiences impacted our brothers and sisters below.
Emese, R.S. teacher and volunteer youth leader visiting Sedburgh says:
I really enjoyed participating in Sedbergh Camp! It was well organised and provided great programs for everyone - members and Helper team together…The main meetings really struck me: I found amazing how the different games, video clips and other parts of the main meetings blended together and pointed to the heart of the message being preached.
Though working on the Helper Team was sometimes hard, our leaders looked after us very well. They encouraged us, hugely supported us in our spiritual growth and drawing closer to God, and we had opportunities to study the Bible from different angles. They took care of us growing us into a team so that as well as cleaning toilets, we could enjoy the work as well! We were involved in running some activities for the members; we had our own games & activities and we had so much fun together!
Emese, student and volunteer youth helper, also visiting Sedburgh writes:
Being a helper on a Sedbergh Venture in England was an unforgettable experience for me! The busy schedule made some of the days challenging, but it was an eye-opening week, when I realized, how many useful things can be accomplished in just one day! There were so many great things about the week…To sum up my memories, I think that what I liked most was spending time with Christians from all those unexpected countries, from the youngest babies to the oldest people, who always have a smile to share!
CORE Training starts soon
11 Sep, 2019,
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Please pray for our CORE Training starting September. We are excited about training up 12 youth leaders over the next year to be more able to teach the Bible faithfully, relevantly and clearly to young people. Pray for the right people to apply, for the team as they write the course, and for youth groups and churches to be strengthened and encouraged through this work.
Summer Special: THE BIG MEET
29 Aug, 2019,
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Thank you for your support before, during and after this summers' The Big Meet camp in Hungary! Andy and Zsófi write..."Exciting, blessed, encouraging, unbelievable, better-than-expected, great teaching, helpful seminars, awesome training and just so much fun. The Big Meet really was a joy to be a part of..."
We thank God for His work during the joint camp in Bonyhád in early July. Please read on by clicking here to find out in more detail and pics how it went!
Youth Leaders Training 2019
24 May, 2019,
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It was great to take part in 2019’s Hungarian-grown national youth leaders training weekend this March. Over 250 people joined together to be nurtured and trained in their ministries around the country. Speakers gave messages based on the characters of Gideon and Jeremiah in the main meetings, together with the encouragement that ‘we’re not alone’ as youth leaders often working in small church youth ministries. We were inspired, thinking through countless themes including understanding the online world, relating to girls, cyber bullying, how to use religious studies sessions in school and how to prepare a youth group session. Andy Oatridge from ACORNCAMPS helped youth leaders consider the relationship between families and youth ministry within church, together with holding a workshop on how to prepare and teach passages from the Bible.
The weekend was excellently organised by the group who announced a new Ifi Vezető Képzés (Youth Leaders Training) organisation beginning this Autumn. This will seek to support those involved in youth ministry in a variety of ways. Already in existence, and promoted over the weekend, is the ‘Ifi Ambulancia’ (‘Youth Group Ambulance’) - a 24/7 service for youth leaders to access support when they need it from more experienced volunteers. Over the course of the conference, dozens more ideas were modelled with great skill and high quality.
Acorncamps is excited to be starting a new partnership with IVK, providing training to youth leaders in Bible-handling and teaching.
Growing Young Disciples Conference 2019
24 May, 2019,
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This January, the team at ACORNCAMPS was excited to bring a group of 10 over to the Growing Young Disciples residential conference in Staffordshire, this year with the theme of Contend. Main sessions encouraged us in exhorting young people to stand up for their faith with talks from Mathews gospel by Graham Daniels and Romans with Trevor Pearce. Seminars and streams offered a more in-depth look at the importance of apologetics in youth ministry with folks from the Ravi Zacharius Trust, and evangelism in youth contexts with Ken Moser, amongst many other themes.
The mixed group from Hungary ranged from an 18-year old volunteer in her church youth group to leader of Hungary's Ifi Vezető Képzés (Youth Leaders Training) organisation. Each guest left having experienced new insights, with a keener desire to bring Christ to their young people.
Here’s what some of the group said…
“It was so good to listen to enthusiastic preachers, who focused on the Scriptures. It charged me up. It was a great motivation for me to see older leaders, and it showed a good model that youth work is not restricted by age. From the morning talks [on Mission motive & strategy], the main message I’ve since been putting into practice as a Christian is “I’m being Normal”!
Áron Ablonczy
“It was good to meet and chat with other youth workers, to hear about their struggles and joys in the work…It was significant for me to hear that people forget many things, but they’re unlikely to forget the message I’m most passionate about.”
Dávid Drenyovszki
ACORN CONNECT
17 Apr, 2019,
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Imagine you’re really involved with your church’s youth work, and you’re stuck. Wondering how to take it forward, where to focus your energies, how to keep (or make) things relevant to the young people and where to start with the Bible are all questions on your mind.Then imagine you’re offered the opportunity to see first-hand how others handle these questions; experiences that give you ideas whilst teaching you personally, where you learn through doing and understand better how to bring the Christ of the Bible into your youth work at home.
This is what ACORNCAMPS aims to facilitate with its new CONNECT programme. We want to give Hungarian youth leaders the opportunity to partner with UK Christians, learn from Christian youth work in the UK and pass on what they've learned back in Hungary.
For further details please visit us a few days later.
Youth Leaders’ Training in Bodrogkeresztúr
27 Mar, 2019,
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Feb 14-16 Around that time we received an invitation to lead a regional youth leaders’ training weekend in February. The title: “Bible-centred Youthwork”. Péter Malik, a Lutheran pastor working near Nyiregyháza in the East of Hungary, organised a weekend to bring together youth leaders, and pastors to help them think through the importance of the Bible, in our lives, and its central place in youthwork. Over the course of the weekend, we taught the importance of expository preaching; tools on how to study and prepare a talk from a passage and how to make topical-talks more Bible-based. The weekend ended with a packed afternoon youth service which attracted more than 100 people together with most of the Lutheran clergy in the area. It was so encouraging to see a strong group of evangelical, gospel-centred Lutheran pastors passionate about quality bible teaching, concerned about getting the gospel out and focused on training up the next generation.
Youth Leader's Conference
20 Feb, 2019,
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What better way for a group of Hungarian youth group leaders and volunteers to start January 2019 than together with 300 others from the UK at the Growing Young Disciples CONTEND conference?! Here’s a reflection from Áron Ablonczy, youth leader pastor of the Reformed church at Gazdagrét, Budapest:
“It was so good to hear zealous and warm preaching, where they put the God’s Word at the centre. It replenished me. It was motivating for me to see lots of ‘older’ speakers, it gave an example that youth work is not limited by stage of life. My personal ‘take-home point’ that I want to put into practice everywhere, is the advice of one speaker to Christians living amongst others who are not: “…BE NORMAL!”” (with the delightful welsh accent of Graham Daniels!)
Tuesday night Bible Workshops
8 Jan, 2019,
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Each week this term 8-10 teachers of the Bible have met to grapple with Paul’s words to the Philippians and plan a youth group session from the passage.Although the evening didn’t always finish with an outline of a youth group talk, spending time in what the passage must have meant to the first readers was beneficial to help understand the initial power of the message. This has been important to help get the application right for us today. Many in the group gave a ‘mock’ youth group session and received feedback on faithfulness to the text, clarity and relevance. It was helpful for all the group to start evaluating and really seeing what’s ‘not great’ and what is ‘really helpful’.
It’s been encouraging to see people understand Paul’s heart more, be able to explain why they got that from the passage and struggle together to work out how it transfers into our world together.
Ultimately, it’s been a joy to together have our eyes lifted to Christ, and see how His word can transform our attitudes and actions even today.
Next step: pulling the resources together to create one whole resource to help youth leaders across Hungary Teach Philippians to Youth Groups. Watch this space...
ACORNCAMPS BIG MEET: 6th - 14th July 2019, in Bonyhád Hungary
2 Oct, 2018,
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We’re delighted we’ve found a place for next summer’s joint ACORNCAMPS. 10 partner churches, 200+ young people, 50 leaders from UK & Hungary. A week full of inspirational, deep, applicable Bible teaching from John’s gospel; seminars, hot topics, training for youth leaders, sports, crafts and one great God to worship.
NTiOY - Read the New Testament in One Year!
2 Oct, 2018,
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Summer 2018 saw the completion of all the videos on YouTube. Teenagers - and anyone wanting some help reading their Bible - can now watch a short video online that helps them get into the heart of the chapter. That’s every chapter in all 27 books of the New Testament in the Bible!The prayer is that:
- this would give young people a starting point as they spend time with God and read His word;
- that they would grow in their love for Him as they discover Him in the New Testament (NT) pages;
- that youth groups would take this opportunity to read through the NT in a year together;
- that 25 more young people would join the programme.
Bible Workshop
2 Oct, 2018,
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September 2018 is the start up again of Tuesday night’s ‘Bible Workshop’. We study through books of the Bible aiming to understand the message to the original reader and then set that message into today’s context and apply it to ourselves.
- Preaching Practice every third week for members to lead a study or give a talk; afterwards they will receive positive, helpful comments which will sharpen and improve their ability to deliver a sermon or bible-study in a faithful, relevant and clear way.
- Creating Resources - producing a booklet at the end of the season to give to youth groups, including powerpoint slides and teaching videos, starting with Paul’s letter to the Philippians.
Youth Leader Training (Nov 2018)
2 Oct, 2018,
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We’ve decided to condense last years’ 3 Saturday training days into one long weekend. On 23-25 Nov ‘18 a group of around 25 will meet at the Szokolya Baptist church to look specifically at why the Bible is an important part of a youth group. There will be sessions on Bible-handling, using the Bible when teaching on topics and more.We pray it would be edifying for youth leaders attending, that they would sign up quickly, and for wisdom in planning and preparing the content.
ACORNCAMPS BIG MEET: 6th - 14th July 2019, in Bonyhád Hungary
2 Oct, 2018,
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Next summer we look forward to welcoming a team of around 30 from the UK to Hungary - could it be you? All the camps we run will combine into a one united summer week in the south of Hungary. It will be an amazing opportunity to:- Reach out to Hungarian teenagers with the gospel, and give believing teenagers a chance to meet with & be encouraged by other Christians from around the world
- Equip young leaders with their own stream of seminars and Bible study
- Support and spiritually feed overall youth leaders in their own stream of workshops within an understanding community of like-minded believers