Young People These Days by Summer Young
Summer is one of our young people at church. She attends the 9:30am service, Thursday youth group and has started coming to the young adults group on a Monday night. You will often see Summer by the coffee cart in the Lakeview building on a Sunday morning where she serves as one of our baristas. Summer is in year 12 at All Saints Anglican School and has agreed to share some of her experiences of the Christian weekend experience known as ‘Happening’. It is such a joy witnessing our young people develop and grow in their faith, take on leadership roles and encourage others. Past, present and hopefully future interns have experienced mountain top moments like Happening. Over to Summer…
The last weekend from Friday 15th to Sunday 17th, I had the pleasure of being one of the leaders at the All-Saints Anglican School Happening. Happening is a Christian spirituality camp run by students and is held all over the world. All Saints was introduced to Happening by Mother Ann and was the first ever school to hold one and has had a total of 9 so far.
Happening is a very eye-opening experience to those who attend it and as someone who has been on four, I’ve treasured each one for different reasons. My first happening meant I was a happener and got to experience the utter thrill of the weekend. Having no idea what to expect I jumped in headfirst and never looked back. The weekend and what it holds is undisclosed to those who have not been on Happening to keep it special for those who are attending, allowing people to participate in an experience with no clear expectations of the weekend.
My next two happenings I helped staff. This allowed me to appreciate the behind scenes work that goes into the weekend and help make the new happeners’s experiences as special as mine was.
This happening was the last time I would be staffing on one and made being one of the leaders a forever cherished memory. This year meant so much to me and I loved experiencing it with the staff and new happeners. It was chaotic, exhilarating but most of all absolutely lovely. We had our challenges but the way the students that were on this weekend all gelled together so easily was incredible to see. I have so much love for the students that come on happening and the overall experience of it and would recommend it to any student in Senior School.
Summer Young