Territorial youth rally
Report by Claire Anderson
[Reprinted from Salvationist with permission]

OUTSIDE OUT, the Territorial Youth Rally held at two UK venues – Adelaide Baptist Church Glasgow and Watford Colosseum – encouraged more than 800 hundred young people to take their faith beyond private experience and transform the world.

Using the sub-themes Get Out, Speak Out and Pray Out, the youngsters considered the story of the Good Samaritan. At Watford and Glasgow, respectively, Sarah Grace (Drama by Grace) and Keren Sneller (Lacey Theatre Company) presented their interpretation of the story, based around a council estate.

Christian rock bands Electralyte (Glasgow) and [dweeb] (Watford) led slamming worship and rocked with mini gigs and the rally-goers were encouraged to, and did, look beyond the music to Jesus – though that didn’t stop mini mosh pits breaking out in the meantime!

In a filmed interview Chris Parker (Sutton) spoke about getting out as he is ‘learning and serving in a variety of contexts’ while on an internship with IHQ’s emergency relief services. At Watford DJ Jim Rivers upped the tempo for evening worship with his own tracks and a few dance moves and spoke about serving others by being salt and light in the club scene. In Glasgow, a woman working with women victims of human trafficking spoke about her work at a safe house. Her story was particularly relevant as it is two years since the Army launched its anti-trafficking campaign at the UKT youth rally.

Considering their need to Speak Out and Pray Out for the vulnerable – and in preparation for Freedom Day on 25 March, celebrating the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade – ralliers at Watford marked their commitment to carry on praying by painting their handprints on a freedom wall.

In both venues, young people offered heartfelt intercessions for victims of trafficking, traffickers, people who abuse trafficked victims, and for the Army as it responds to human trafficking.
At Watford [dweeb] responded sensitively to the time of prayer, and later taught the ralliers the chorus ‘Create in me a pure heart, I want to be set apart’, which the young people soon picked up, claiming the words for themselves.

Electralyte responded similarly in Glasgow. ‘The evening worship was exceptionally powerful. There was a real hunger in people to meet with God and a sense of people being moved by him,’ commented the Glasgow’s speaker Russell Rook (ALOVE Director). ‘It was a hard-hitting day as we covered issues of human trafficking, bullying, caring for excluded young people in the community, how to be a Good Samaritan and thinking about who our neighbour is. It made people think hard and pray harder!’ he enthused.

Towards the conclusion of the Watford rally, speaker Ian Henderson (The Message Trust) played film footage vividly illustrating that the Church needs to be where people are and to not be a passive group. Rally-goers and leaders appeared onscreen as they passed by a homeless man – Ian – in an underpass linking the venue to the town’s high street. Recognising themselves, those captured on film ducked their heads. Ian told them: ‘We’re not bad people, yet sometimes we walk by need. Jesus meant for people to see the teachers in the Good Samaritan story and realise: “That’s me!” He added: ‘The priest didn’t stop to help. Yeah, he knew he should, but it was a hassle. In life it comes down to being as simple as – can we be bothered.’
The young people in Glasgow considered the question posed at the start of the story: ‘What must I do to inherit eternal life?’ and Russell told them: ‘Jesus says go and serve your neighbour by living for the least, the last and the lost. In doing this we are the good news to people and we experience life to the full now.’ He concluded: ‘It’s a difficult, challenging and costly way of living, but it’s also the most exciting!’

As the young people were stirred to transform their world they were given prayer cards and bottles of oil to anoint their communities and pray for them. From Watford Colosseum they left with Ian’s reminder ringing in their ears: ‘Society often pigeonholes young people in a certain way but you can make all the difference. Let’s not be the generation to say: “Yeah, but...”