The Salvation Army Chatham

Here’s a report by one of our Youth Group members following the first SA Youth Group Together event.    Sounds as though everyone had a great time.   This is what Helen says about it:

You may have heard of the Youth Group Film Night which took place at our hall last Saturday, with various Corps from the division joining us- youth and leaders from Maidstone, Ashford, Gillingham and Chatham made up our gathering, which came to about 40 people (27 youths and 10 + leaders), which was a great success!

There was a great atmosphere, as we talked to people from other Corps, which was made easier by the two “ice breaker” sessions we took part in. First we each had a grid on a piece of paper with various details on it,  e.g. home towns or favourite TV programmes  etc. and we had to match the statements to the people present and get them to sign the grid- this meant talking to new people! The second ice breaker involved having a sticky note stuck on our forehead, with the name of a famous person on, and we needed to ask each other questions to find out who this person was- mine was William Booth.

After buying food from the tuck shop (supplied by Maidstone Corps) and collecting our (free!) pop corn, we made our way upstairs to the gallery, and we realised what a great venue the hall is for cinema nights: the big screen and the surround sound made it really work well!

The film we watched was “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs”, which was a good film, and had us all laughing! This was a computer animated film, about an inventor, Tim Lockwood, who created a machine that made different types of food fall from the sky like weather, such as ice cream snow! This new sort of weather caused problems, which our hero solved and managed to save the day.

Our message was given to us from one of the Maidstone leaders, in which he pointed out to us how very important it is to talk to likeminded people, such as other young people in the Salvation Army: we had something on common with every person in the room: our faith.  He reminded us that within the Corps family there is always someone to help us, and we are never alone with our problems. Lynnette (our Divisional youth Officer) finished off our night by praying for us and our future events.

This event was the first of many “youth group together” events, and we will meet at various venues within Kent about once every two to three months, the next one being hosted by Ashford Corps, which will hopefully be a barbeque! I am looking forward to our next meeting, and we hope to have an even greater number next time!