Voltage (Sunday) Year Book Report
The last year has seen several changes for Sunday evening Voltage. Helen Weaver stepped down from helping but soon after we were able to welcome Lee Green. His enthusiasm and great way with the young people meant he very quickly became part of the Voltage family. Our venue has also changed, with us now meeting at Sharon and Gavin’s house, 6-7.30 pm. This gives us much more of a ‘house group’ feel and we’ve been encouraged to have some of our Wednesday Voltage group join us on these evenings.
We are focussing our main teaching on ‘The Story’ in line with the rest of eNeRGy. This is something the young people have enjoyed and is providing them with a very good overview of the Bible. Our discussion times are full of deep conversations, with some exciting light bulb moments, alongside the more hilarious wacky comments. That’s what’s so great about Voltage; we have great relationships with each other, providing a safe place for the group to question and grow in their faith, alongside good humoured banter! We’ve also had some evenings of testimony from Lee and Gavin, socials and participated in the odd evening service at Somervale, with the ‘Songs of Praise’ evening being a particular highlight.
At the beginning of this year we’ve started going out every other week during the preaching time in the morning service. This is with some of the younger members of Ignite too and we’ve have had Jerry Parr join us and also Jonathon Cooper, informing and involving us in the transition process for a new Pastor. All credit to these chaps for fielding some pretty way out questions!!! We’ve also been to the Salvation Army and have planned a visit to St Johns in Chilcompton. We believe it’s good to experience the different ways our local churches worship and this has been welcomed by the young people. Other evening visits have included the recent Movement Worship Night at St Johns in Peasedown and a Hillsong Young & Free Worship event in Bath. We
also met up with the Methodist young people for a Prayer and Praise evening at the beginning of the Churches Together United Week of Prayer.
Last August, we made our annual trip to Soul Survivor, with the added bonus of better weather than in previous years and no mud. We had some of Wednesday Voltage join us and they fully immersed themselves into the Soul experience. The paint party was high up on the best bits for the young people, but as leaders we couldn’t understand the fun in getting covered in paint then heading for a cold shower! The highlight for all though had to be Henna and Isobel deciding to give their lives to Jesus!
October saw our regular Chepstow youth weekend away with Ignite and this, as always, did include rain which seems to always coincide with our trip out into Chepstow town. We had a good weekend with a great series of studies on Daniel by Craig Groeschel and an amazing roast dinner! We really relish these trips away as it gives us a chance to really bond, join together as young people of the church and for them to immerse themselves in God.
Plans are already underway for Soul Survivor in the summer and our weekend in Chepstow is booked for the autumn. As always we have new faces join us each September from Superchargers and as members turn 15 they move on to Ignite throughout the year. There’s always mixed emotions when the young people move on as we do miss their input, love and maturity within the group but it’s exciting to continue praying and watching them grow in their personal relationship with Christ.
Prayer is a big part of Voltage, both within each session but also through our well used prayer chain. This has been such an encouragement as we’ve seen God answer many of our prayers, not always as we would have thought but in a perfect way and in his perfect time. We again thank Hillside House Group for their continued prayer support for us as leaders but also for the group and a huge thank you to our Heavenly Father for entrusting us with such an amazing group of youngsters!
Sharon & Gavin Williams
Sharon and Gavin Williams, 05/05/2015