‘Church of Scotland village’ at youth festival

Around 1,400 young people gathered for Scotland’s biggest annual youth festival in August.

Magnitude was held at Lendrick Muir by Kinross, Scripture Union Scotland’s principal retreat centre. The event for 11 to 18-yearolds included thrice-daily worship, prayer and teaching sessions, a sports and activity programme, spaces for quiet reflection and exhibitors such as Tearfund, Scottish Bible Society, Mission Aviation Fellowship and International Justice Mission.

The Very Rev Dr Martin Fair the Church of Scotland’s Pathways to Ministry Manager, at the event as part of a team to support young people from the Church, said it was ‘full of excitement, and enthusiasm, passion and prayer, fun and faith’.

“These young people do it their way and for their leaders and event organisers, it was an enormous privilege to witness their youthful exuberance, joyful worship and enjoyment of being in community,” Dr Fair added.

Members of congregations attended and many of them gathered at the official ‘Church of Scotland Village.’

The life of the village is organised by Suzi Farrant, the Kirk’s Young People and Young Adult Development Worker, supported by a small staff team including Kay Cathcart, head of Ministries and Mission, and Dr Fair.

Cooking teams from various congregations prepared dinner for festival goers.

Alongside local youth leaders, the aim of the organising team is to put everything in place to allow young people to come and explore and go deeper in their respective faith journeys.

Dr Fair said: “For many, that’s exactly what happened.

“The real encouragement is that 75 young people and their leaders were part of the village this year, compared with 27 last year.

“Why not over 100 next year?

“Get in touch if you want to get involved or would be interested in bringing young people from your congregation and please pray for our young people.

“The reality is that most of our congregations are devoid of young people, or at best have very few involved in the church’s worshipping life.

“This makes events like Magnitude all the more vital.

“It’s important for those youngsters who feel alone in their local contexts to see that they’re part of something much bigger and it’s an encouragement for all who hope for the future of the Church.”