Words by Steph Porter, Urban Devotion Birmingham (UDB)
Let me take you back to your first school residential… mounting nerves about a night away from your mom, brewing excitement about the quantity of Haribo you’re going to eat at 11pm and the all-nighter with your dorm room buddies, anticipation of the ‘leap of faith’ which your older brother told you is a death wish, all whilst wondering if you have as much pocket money as your friend, Michael, for the gift shop, where you hope to buy a massive pencil with the camp logo on.
I’ve been running residentials for the last four years and I must tell you, they haven’t changed much! At UDB, it is a crucial part of our work in the community to give our children and young people the opportunity to go away.
As a youth worker, I love connecting with young people outside of their normal contexts because they often let their guards down in a different way to a normal drop-in or mentoring session.
Giving them a spare toothbrush when they forget theirs (frequent), needing a pep-talk pre-kayaking, finding them something different to eat when they don’t like the dinner (also frequent) are all relational luxuries when you’re away together.
We love doing life with the people we work with, and residentials are a wonderful display of this.
For more about UDB scan the QR code or visit www.urbandevotion.org
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