Much to my surprise, I found my self as the assistant to the assistant cook with the youth group from my church at this year's Soul Survivor.

During one of my frequent chats with City Temple's Youth Pastor, Matt Gregor, I happened to say

"What happens at Soul Survivor stays at Soul Survivor" His profound response was "yes, that's the problem!"

It was a great time and I really enjoyed being with the 55 young people and the other leaders that were there that week.  It is such a wonderful event and such a privilege to see so many people worshiping God. As the week went on it was amazing to see the impact that God had on the lives of many in the group. Their worship became more passionate, they listened to the talks with interest and were anxious to respond to the ministry of the Holy Spirit and to be involved in praying for others.

However I was challenged one lunchtime when we served up a wonderful platter of fruit. A young woman who had been passionately worshipping God a few moments before headed the queue. Taking a plate she selected for herself 4 slices of melon, enough orange segments to make up 2 whole oranges, 4 or 5 plums and some other ancillary fruit! I suggested to her that it was a little too much in light of the many yet to be served.  Her response was. "I like fruit" Again I challenged her. She looked down the line and said "I'm not bothered". Once more I tried. She looked at me and said "No, you're alright" and went back to her table with a plate piled high with fruit. I was not only speechless, I was disappointed and not a little angry. Later in the week in a similar incident a young man took around 10 pieces of ham thus ensuring we ran out of sandwich filling for those a little further back in the queue. 

This made me think that there seemed to be a journey for many to go on before the impact that God appeared to be having on them personally overflowed into how they dealt with and considered others. This revelation will come as no surprise to any Christian parent who has anxiously awaited their child's return from a Christian camp, event or youth service. As they ask tentatively "how did it go" the likelihood is their progeny will answer with a grunt, "yeah it was ok".  After Soul Survivor most kids come home shattered, throw their washing into the house, mumble hello, head to the shower and spend the next six hours on facebook!

Over 30,000 kids attended Soul Survivor and Momentum alone. This does not include the myriad of other Christian camps that happen across the summer holidays. Just imagine the impact on the world if the passion could be poured out on a needy world, a grateful friend or an amazed parent. 

However, let's not assume this malaise is unique to the young. The same issue is evident amongst the adult church after every Sunday service!

Jesus was aware of this problem. He recognised that it was not the religious experience that made the disciple but their action once they had encountered Him.  "By their fruit you will know them"

Just before my recent trip to Soul Survivor (on which I will write soon) I received a tweet saying "sorry for the piece about Ignite in the Guardian". This was the first I had heard about but tracked it down. Printed below is the article, my thoughts and the comment I made to the paper.

Though he has attracted countless eulogies in the two millenniums subsequent to his expiry, "phat", "sorted", and "wicked" are not adulatory terms traditionally associated with Jesus Christ. This failure on the part of posterity's imagination is, however, to the credit of an institution that has become a fixture of latter-day Christendom: the Christian teen camp. Coming to a town near you this summer, British Christian teen festivals such as Soul Survivor have risen to the call of preaching the gospel in the patois of the Twitter generation, as John Wycliffe was moved to translate scripture into the plebeian tongue. God will be said to be awesome. Jesus will be a diamond geezer. Sin will become minging and preserving one's virginity for the marriage bed, sorted. Though the theological implications of Christ as diamond geezer are for others to ponder, we may at least conclude that the efforts to twitterise the good news have been successful in terms of bums on seats. Tens of thousands of British teens flock to such festivals and they have become an established fixture of the ecclesiastical calendar.

The yoof lingo is, of course, mere window-dressing to the escapades going down at the Christian teen camp. Longhaired Christian guitar heroes thrash out three-chord hymns for the Lord, workshops agonise over whether tattoos and piercings are prohibited by scripture, and middle-aged clergy holler to their charges about the wonders of knowing the Lord. Proceedings finish by a godly hour and the Babylonian substances that lubricate secular teen gatherings are surplus to requirements.

All of this is also merely in support of the core raison d'être of the camps. For, in addition to giving today's teen the chance to have good clean fun away from more worldly temptations, the Christian teen camp also aims to bring them to the Lord. This it does in industrial numbers according to the camps. Thousands are said to make decisions for Christ every year. Our prodigal island is slowly brought back to God as he transforms our teens' lives one by one.

To object to such frolics may be to be a killjoy, yet there are two things about Christian teen camps that should give us serious pause for thought. The first is that the evangelical tactics used at such camps are on occasions manipulative. Sermons at such camps often take the form of wild orations that aim to wear down the resistance of the audience to the message. Videos designed to whip up the emotional temperature of the audience are shown, and fervid calls for youngsters to accept Christ are made. This culminates in the centre point of such meetings: the altar call. After having their emotions softened, hypnotic music typically sounds out in subdued lighting as youngsters are urged to come to the front and give their lives to Christ. Giving one's heart to Christ can alas be done in a fit of absence of mind, and many youth ministries therefore have contingency plans. Ignite, a Welsh youth organisation, encourages youngsters to sign a prepared document pledging their allegiance to Christ. Signatories promise to include Jesus in their thoughts, words, and actions and to let the Holy Spirit lead them each day. None of any of this is fair to teens: young people have a right to choose their religious beliefs without being subjected to strategies that emotionally exploit them.

The second objection we should have to the Christian teen camp is that the youth lingo and guitar riffs conceal messages that could be damaging to young people. Whatever the attempts to dress them in the garb of youth culture, many of Christianity's most controversial doctrines are given a full airing at the camps. Youngsters are threatened with divine judgment, and they are initiated into the world of charismatic Christian practices. At Soul Survivor, the largest Christian youth festival in the UK, teens have been told that witch doctors can maim children by cursing them. They have also been informed that God judges us on death for our deeds and thoughts, and they have been encouraged to practise physical healings. Could the real "wicked" in Christian teen camps actually be their effects on teens' emotional wellbeing?

The full article can be found here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2011/aug/11/christian-teen-camps-soul-survivor

My first thought was pleasure that we had made the Guardian! Whilst the tone was not positive, there was no doubt that what was reported about Ignite was true. We do assist young people in framing what it means to be a disciple. I was also flattered that Ignite was in the same article as Soul Survivor. I then felt I should answer the criticism. I have printed below my comment:

One of my twitter friends highlighted this article for me. This was helpful because I am the CEO of Ignite one of the organisations mentioned.

I am always amazed that so many atheists seem to highlight that religion is brain washing whilst their comments and articles are highly value driven. They always appear to suggest that people of faith have "checked their brains at the door" This does a huge disservice not only to the millions whose faith is an intrinsic part of their lives but also the young people Prosser claims to wish to protect.
Let me make it clear I along with all orthodox Christians believe that people have free-will (indeed it is a part of God's design!). Therefore it is not helpful to manipulate people into making a decision they are not wilfully deciding upon for themselves.

Although not a youth organisation, it is true that Ignite does have a six point declaration that assists young people in living he Christian life that they have decided for themselves that they wish to live. You might be interested to know that a significant part of this is to encourage people to have care and compassion for others (loving their neighbours as themselves). For those thousands connected with Ignite this has included undertaking tens of thousands of hours of community kindness and social action in South Wales, building and maintaining a 300 pupil multi-faith school in India, feeding and caring for lepers, sponsoring thousands of children in the 2 thirds world, assisting the rebuilding of Liberia and Sierra Leone after civil war (including the care of many ex-child soldiers) the building of a children's home and providing teams of street pastors onto the streets of the capital every weekend for the last 3 years.

We are open and clear in our values, as are Soul Survivor, believing that young people have a spiritual dynamic that they have the right to explore for themselves without being abused by their fellow human beings. I am about to leave for Soul Survivor where I will join 11,000+ others all of whom have decided for themselves to attend (and even paid for the privilege). Here they will listen, debate, dialogue and make decisions for themselves, long may it continue.

For people of no faith, I defend your right to your decision and respect you as a human being. My plea is that you will offer the same respect not only to me but also the thousands of young people who are having a great time at Christian events this summer.

All press is good press? You decide!

In trying to understand the reasons behind the recent riots in England, the pundits have rallied behind two main arguments. At one end of the spectrum, they are all thugs and thieves out to get new trainers and ipods. At the other they are a disadvantaged that are demonstrating their frustrations. The problem with these extremes is that it is then very easy to play the blame game. If they are just criminals then it is because they have no parental guidance if they are a social underclass it is the governments fault. What if it is more complex than that, what if it is a combination of reasons? Some of the most damning and condemning arguments on facebook have been posted by Christians and that makes me sad and also question whether Jesus was in the blame game? It seems to me that He was on the side of the marginalised and the underclass. His wrath was reserved for the pious, the religious and those in authority.

To be clear, criminal damage is criminal damage. Robbery is unacceptable, violence is not the answer but the church needs to assist. It needs to be offering moral guidance and assistance to those who are crying out for help, for father figures and for authority.

The best response I have heard was a few broadcast a few days on Sky News. This guy understands the wide ranging issues, condemns where it needs to be condemned but offers hope to this broken society. Great work!