6 things that help young people get the best out of Christian summer festivals

I had to repent for seeing summer youth festivals as a silver bullet for my kids’ faith. This is because these experiences were really significant in my own story of faith. The weeks at Spring Harvest and Soul Survivor were always really special. I remember at Spring Harvest seeing a picture from the Holy Spirit for the first time that really shaped my future. I also took a few mates from year 11 to Soul Survivor, and they came to faith. When we were all worshipping Jesus together, enjoying His presence, I remember thinking, “This is like a taste of heaven!”

Today I’m a mum of three boys living abroad. No kids work teams on a Sunday. No school assemblies, youth clubs, or basically any kind of community or support for discipling my children.

This summer let’s prepare our children and young people to take home what God has done in their lives during the ‘mountaintop’ experience of Christian festivals

In our local church context, we use a different language, and apart from my husband and me, no one else does any of the kids’ work. We are used to this, and we make it work. Yes, there are times of boredom for my children. But the family that is our church means none of us really notice it. We are a small group, and we love each other deeply - and my children have never known anything different.

Parenting for faith away from home is lonely, and over the years, I have felt like I’m doing it in a vacuum. There are ways to connect to programmes online, and whenever I go to the UK, I stock up on books and devotionals, but I have always struggled with a niggling thought at the back of my mind… “I’m not doing enough. It’s all on me. I’m getting it all wrong. Are times doing a discovery Bible study over the dinner table enough for my children to know and love Jesus?”

So fast forward to 2025, and I was waiting to take my 9 and 11-year-olds to a large, well-known summer festival for young people in the UK over August. I was going too as a volunteer and to support them through what will be a very new experience (camping for the first time, different food, different language- and most of all big church-like gatherings with loud cool music!).

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As welcoming as everyone was, we felt quite out of place. And that’s okay; it’s part of the third-culture kid experience (we have been out of the UK for so long that we no longer feel at home there, but neither do we fully feel at home in our passport country).

Secondly, my usually very confident 9-year-old didn’t want to join the kids’ work. He felt really anxious.

And finally, they weren’t used to preaching in English. They adored the worship, though. And so did I. Worshipping in my heart language always makes me cry, after nearly a decade of worshipping Jesus in a second language - also a beautiful experience. We all came away with favourite new songs from well-known UK groups, and it reminded me of how worship songs are a great way for children to learn key truths of scripture.

But here’s the problem. Because of my own experience, combined with the loneliness of living abroad, I had hoped for ‘the encounter’ for my boys. The one Holy Spirit miracle, or word or moment, that would have impacted my boys’ lives. That would convince them ‘It’s all true!’.

Research shows that the biggest influence on children’s lives, and what it means for them to be fully sold-out living for Jesus, is their parents

And it didn’t happen.

And God taught me an important lesson.

Learning to be a disciple of Jesus will never depend on any one moment, experience, or summer festival.

Research shows that the biggest influence on children’s lives, and what it means for them to be fully sold-out living for Jesus, is their parents.

It’s the modelling of discipleship day in and day out. And I used to think this meant that my children had to see me go into the upper room for a three-hour quiet time at dawn every day (this does not happen!). And it can mean this, but recently I’ve been reflecting that it’s about how much I look like Jesus in my interactions and in the way I serve others (this, of course, is the direct fruit of spending time in His word).

It’s about our children seeing how we make decisions guided by our faith. It’s saying ‘no’ gently to that movie invitation and explaining why. It’s keeping the Sabbath for family rest time. It’s taking my 12-year-old on a short-term trip next week to serve in a deprived area of the country, which will push him out of his comfort zone but also show him what a joy it is to pour out of his life for the gospel.

Ultimately, I pray that knowing they were raised abroad because their parents responded to God’s call to go to the nations with the gospel will have an impact on their young hearts.

If you’re sending your kids to a summer festival this year, or you’re going as a family, and you have high hopes for your child’s experience of God, here are some things to remember, and some tips to help young hearts navigate big conferences.

1. Before they go, chat about the role of the Holy Spirit and who He is/is not! Pray together before they go: “God, help me be open to what you want to teach me?”
2. Think of summer festivals as just a part of the landscape of your kids’ faith, a point of connection throughout the year.
3. During or after the festival, talk to your children about what God has been doing in their hearts. Ask them what this means for their everyday lives at school and home. Remind them that He is at the peak of the big worship experience, but He’s also in the early-morning walk to school, when they can talk to Jesus alone.
4. Explain that faith in Jesus grows over time, and that a powerful moment at a festival is a beginning, not the whole journey.
5. Demonstrate time in the Word and in solitude. This one can be tricky because of life rhythms and timing, but at least over dinner, tell your kids what you have been learning during your one-to-one walk with Jesus.
6. Remember God loves your child more than you do, and he is pursuing them and wants to know them. PRAY for your children, every single day.

This summer let’s prepare our children and young people to take home what God has done in their lives during the ‘mountaintop’ experience of Christian festivals and integrate it into their everyday walk with Jesus.