Let’s hear from the first of our Contagious attendees.
Could you tell us a little about who you are and what you normally do during the year?
My name is Alison and I am in 5th year at school.
What did you do over the summer?
Over the summer I went to two teen Bible events: Keswick Convention Youth and Contagious.
Could you tell us a little about what Contagious is like?
Contagious is a youth Bible conference with LOTS of Bible teaching! We studied the Bible three times a day in different ways: in a small group in the morning where we focused on the first few chapters of Romans, in a seminar where we tackled big Bible themes such as predestination and justification by looking at what the whole Bible says about that theme and we had a 'Big Teach' in the evening which was basically like a church service where we sang, prayed, learned about things we could do everyday to grow in our Christian faith and listened to a sermon.
What were the biggest things you learnt through Contagious?
One thing that has stuck with me since Contagious is that one of my biggest questions has been answered: 'How can I be sure I won't fall away?'. Our last Big Teach looked at Judas and how easy it is to 'look' like a Christian and how many people fall away. I remember Andy asking all the leaders to stand up and name someone they know who has fallen away from the faith-everyone single one of them named someone and that scared me. However, at the end Andy said that it is not the size or strength of our faith that will keep us going till the end but the strength of the One in whom we have put our trust. I left Contagious with the words of Philippians 1v6 being very real and precious to me "being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus".
How does what you learnt at Contagious help you live as a Christian woman the rest of the year?
I have learnt so many things at Contagious which help me live as a Christian woman. I've understood the love of God much more than I used to which helps me keep going everyday. I've also been more excited to go to church and other Christian events to help deepen my understanding of the Bible and to prepare me for 'life on the battlefield'. One of the most important things I've learnt is that we should be meeting up regularly with other Christians to read the Bible and pray, not just on a Sunday. I've learnt that the Church is a gift from God and we should build up and strengthen each other daily.
Could you tell us a little about who you are and what you normally do during the year?
My name is Anna and I'm in S4 at school
What did you do over the summer?
This summer, I had rangers camp at the very beginning. Then went to our main family holiday to Wales which was really nice. Then had Contagious which was AMAZING.
Could you tell us a little about what Contagious is like?
Contagious is amazing and is really worth going to. It's really intense with how powerful the teaching is but the way it set up is really good because even tho it's 5 hours a day, it defiantly doesn't feel like that. It's really interactive and along with the teaching they involve banter in the seminars and big teaches which makes it really enjoyable. The people are really nice and friendly and they are always happy to listen to you or help you out with any queries you have. You make a lot of friends as after the teachings there is always some free time. It's a time to get to know other Christian friends, and having Christian friends always helps getting through life cause being a Christian at high school can be a challenge.
What were the biggest things you learnt through Contagious?
A lot stuck out for me that week and some were: that we can trust God that he knows exactly what is happening in our life and that he has a plan for our lives - "God has a plan it will be done to make his people like his son". God's plan is to make us like Jesus even though we will never be like him as he was sinless and we are sinful. Also that anything God has started he will complete, he won't leave anything half complete and just forget about it. We can't do anything without God’s help and God should play a massive part in our lives. We are dead in our sins however cause Jesus died for us we are given a new life and a new life the dead receive! And true salvation leads to true change and that's what really stood out for me because if we don't fully believe we can't have a new start and we won't have really changed fully unless we fully believe.
How does what you learnt at Contagious help you live as a Christian woman the rest of the year?
The material you get taught at Contagious is always really relevant and can relate to life situations. It helps knowing that God has a plan for us and that our life is in his hands to control. He will always be there for us, and if times are troubled he will know what to do if we fully believe in him.
Thanks to Anna and Alison for sharing. Check back on Wednesday for the next interviews.
