Each year, the King’s Hall Belfast complex is host to a large Christian festival organised by Church of Ireland, called Summer Madness. This year’s theme was “Get Connected” and the festival ran from 3rd to 7th July. The festival is similar to any other with tents, rain, sunshine, lack of sleep (through choice), not a lot of washing (again through choice) and far too much caffeine, sugar and saturated fats. You’ve guessed it, all through choice, but a few days living “rough” at King’s Hall won’t have any lasting change. Or will it? Just ask anyone who spent time there: the Christians who deepened their faith, the young people who gave their life to Jesus then and there and the young people who experienced something of Jesus love through those around them. As already mentioned, the Festival is organised by Church of Ireland and Summer Madness but there is a large volunteer staff team who among other things look after the site, the events, prayer ministry, security and staff catering. Few at the festival realise that the young person who is emptying their bins or unblocking the toilets is a volunteer who has paid to be there, just where God wants them to be. It is their ministry for a few short days.
One of Dromore Cathedral’s parishioners writes in a couple of installments of her experiences this year.
The Blog That Never Was
I have to start by apologising that this is a retrospective blog as the internet access I had hoped for couldn’t be organised. So, I’ll try to give you a flavour of my Summer Madness starting with my overall impressions.
This year, like last I was one of the staff on the Security team, only this year, I was on a bicycle which meant I could nip round the site very easily. I did come off the bike on a couple of occasions, but thankfully I dodged the water balloons and footballs which brought one of the security team off his bike very spectacularly. This time of year is when the eyes in the back of my head come in handy, and the young man who threw a water balloon at me soon regretted taking up the dare as even when tired, large woman on bike can easily out manoeuvre small child on foot. Everything though was in good humour and I would have been exactly the same myself!
It’s taken a few years to find my little niche in the security team having meandered through helping with the Cathedrals’ young people, breakfast for Streereachers with Mothers’ Union, the catering team, the event crew – in fact I just kept popping up asking team leaders to “Give us a job”. Why I enjoy the security team so much is that it feeds my mothering instincts, it enables me to chat to the young people while still keeping the site secure, the campers in one piece and enabling me to show Jesus love to each and every young person, no matter how unloved they may feel. Not all the young people are regular church goers, and showing love is a challenge at 3am when squealing at them in the pouring rain “Into your tents. Please!” Now don’t go thinking the unchurched are the only ones out at that time of the morning. On the last night, in the teeming rain, cold and very, very wet I “waded” into a crowd of campers at 3.30am only to find one of the security team looking very sheepish in the thick of things. And so that crowd went off to bed, only to be replaced by another.
Judging by the many happy smiles I received at the front gate as campers went home, and the many “thankyou’s” I have to pass on to the Summer Madness staff and the numerous shouts of “See you next year!”, connections were made.
I’ll leave it there for now, but rest assured I have much more to write about. The worship, the atmosphere, the highs and the lows, but all part of God’s revealing plan in my life and in thousands of others.