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By Philip Burman, Young Faith Matters Engagement Worker.

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Sowing the seeds of faith in Afon Nedd‘Wild’ appears to have been a recurring theme over the month of February for many of us. For starters, the weather had been incredibly wild, and I do hope you all managed to escape its destructive and rather dangerous effects. It also seemed really fitting that we should hold the first ever Afon Nedd Ministry Area ‘Messy Church Goes Wild’ on the 23rd February. The theme of which was to provide our young people and their families an opportunity to connect with God and discover him at work through Creation (Romans 1: 20).Prayers that were said at the office early that day for some drier spells of weather were answered and as well as being both wild and very cold (it took a good couple of hours until we could all feel our toes again that evening), our event certainly lived up to its ‘messy’ title too – a wonderful indication of the fun time that was had by everybody who came along. We were blessed with such a good turnout and met so many new faces from in and around the Ministry Area (MA). Over 30 children attended with their families, and the feedback from them has been extremely positive with many of the children asking their parents/grandparents when they can come back again.Over 30 children attended with their familiesThe ancient churchyard at St. Illtyd’s Neath felt like the perfect location to hold our first Young Faith Matters event in the Ministry Area. I often wondered on the day what Illtyd would have made of it, especially as the church dates back to the time of the saint himself. Tradition has it that during Lent, Illtyd would visit here to pray at the banks of the River Nedd, staying at the point where the present church now stands.If you have ever been to St. Illtyd’s, Neath, you will know how the grounds around the church provides an excellent outdoor space for putting on a range of fun, engaging and creative activities for young families. As you may have already seen from the photographs posted on social media, we experienced singing, live music, a prayer trail & WOW walk, Rev’d Lynda’s fantastic re-telling of Genesis 1 with the help of her ‘Creation Bag’, making heart-shaped bird feeders to peg up on tree branches in the churchyard, decorating their own plant pots before filling them with soil and sowing seeds in them, even down to making their own bread dough for baking over the fire …oh, and as you can imagine, the toasted marshmallows were a popular treat at the end too!All of this would not have been possible without the help of such a wonderful group of volunteers! A huge thank you to everybody who got involved, teamwork certainly does make the dream work. We’re all really looking forward to building on the success of this event by holding other in the Spring, Summer and Autumn. Keep a look out for information on these, along with other exciting events and clubs coming up – we would love to see you!

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