Autumn Soul 2023 – Volunteer perspectives
Rebekah Jackson
“It’s a huge mixture of emotions being a steward at one of the best Christian youth weekends in Northern Ireland.
You’re exhausted from all the running around you do and the lack of sleep, but at the same time you get dramatic bursts of energy to play table tennis or cover yourself in glow-in-the-dark sticky tape for a neon disco to do some of the worst ceilidh dancing I’ve ever seen to Cotton-Eyed Joe, while all the kids watch you embarrass yourself and film you on their phones.
You’ve gotten a combined total of ten hours sleep within two nights sleeping on an air mattress that deflates every time you use it, and yet you still find the energy to play a sometimes bloodthirsty game of dodgeball on the morning for a trophy that you have to return later in the year, before you sit down for tasty hotdog and a Kitkat at lunch time.
There will certain points at the weekend where during the amazing heavenly worship that you may want to kneel on the ground and cry as you feel the holy spirit right beside you, or where you want to burst out into dance with unbridled joy and excitement at seeing hundreds of younger people and kids in one single room all present and utterly on fire for Jesus.
It’s too long and also too short at the same time. You do so much even in the first day that the thought of doing it all again tomorrow makes you groan, and yet you’re sad as the weekend feels like it’s over in a matter of hours from when it just started.
I mean the statement bright yellow t-shirts alone which I’m pretty sure astronauts can see from space, are enough to blind you for a short time until you get used to seeing them so much.
But as someone who has done it for five years now, I can honestly say that it still remains the thing I look forward to most at this time of year, when I get to catch up with my fellow stewards from previous years and the new young stewards from Overflow and youth groups that have risen up the ranks and now feel like they can take on a leadership role in an easy way.
Probably the most important part about being a steward is setting an example for how the young people and kids should act and behave as young Christians with their friends, families and within society, and we do our absolute best to ensure we live up to that standard.
We take our role very seriously, knowing that those wonderful kids who come from all four directions of Ireland are watching the stewards’ every move at all times. They mimic us, watch us put our hands up and close our eyes during worship, they follow us down to do art work which is displayed in front of everyone or go for prayer ministry at the front of the church knowing how scary it being so exposed and vulnerable in front of their friends who may make fun of them or not understand why.
They repeat our actions, words and expressions to their friends because they know we are not much older than them, so they can relate to us easily and know that we are there to help and guide them while they are there.
We are aware it is important for them to know that we as younger adults are comfortable in how we worship, praise and celebrate so that they can be too, especially if they do not feel like they can do that at home or in their own churches.
They see how much we love being there for them and I think they feed off of that. They know they are cherished, valued and welcome to be in God’s house and family. They know they can come to a safe place where can they can be curious about their own faith and not be judged or turned away, but be accepted as a son or daughter of God.
After much sleep deprivation by Sunday afternoon when we arrive back home, we sleep extremely well knowing we have done our jobs. We know those kids go back home to their parents as stronger young Christians with a passion for their faith, begging to come back again next year.”
Rebekka Snoek
“This year at Autumn Soul I oversaw the prophetic art that young people have an opportunity to be part of during worship. When attending the event as a young person I always enjoyed watching the art happen, so being a part of it this year was very special for me. The art area was available throughout the whole weekend, giving the young people lots of time to create. On Sunday we collected the art to see if there were any themes from the weekend and we noticed two major themes. The first being the difference in dark and light and how that compares to our relationship with God when we are with Him or without Him and the second was how we love to marvel at God's creation, but we often forget that our beautiful God sees us as we are a part of His creation too.
During the weekend I also got to run the pop-up choir workshop which I was very excited about! I had free range to pick whatever song I wanted to sing, which made it harder, but finally I chose one song which was, ‘Good, Good Father’. I had about 15 young people attend the workshop, and we broke the song down and slowly learned the different parts. I wanted to have a few harmonies in it so had created those too. On the Saturday night of Autumn Soul, the choir had the opportunity to perform the song for everyone and each one did a fantastic job getting up on that stage, as this was not an easy thing to do. I am very proud of them all. I had a lot of fun creating this choir and I am very grateful that I was given the opportunity to do so.”