16 March 2018
No Breakout in 2001: but new future planned
The national Methodist youth event, Breakout, will not takeplace in 2001, it has been decided. At a time when many large scaleyouth events and festivals - both Christian and secular - arefacing increasing costs and competition, the Methodist Church hasdecided to take a year's break to put Breakout on a more steadyfinancial footing. In many respects Breakout 2000 - which took place at the LondonArena at the start of October - was a great success. More than5,000 young people from across the country attended the weekend ofmusic, sport, worship, talk and drama, with a further 1,500 at thespectacular Sunday morning service. Breakout remains the largestChristian youth festival of its kind organised by a mainstreamChurch - and is a cornerstone of the work of the Youth &Community Section of the Connexional Team. But the Methodist Council decided on 7 October to postponeBreakout 2001, after the costs of the event exceeded income. Areview will now take place to look at what sort of national youthevent that the Church wants in the future. This process will alsoconsider the balance of energy and resources given to the nationalevent compared with those put into youth work at the local level,said MAYC's National Secretary Mike Seaton. A variety of groups - including the Council for Methodist YouthWork, Methodist Youth Conference, District Youth Executives, BlackMethodist Youth Conference and Full-Time Youth Workers Conference -will be asked to share their experiences, ideas and hopes forBreakout. It is hoped that a revised Breakout will happen in summer 2002in Birmingham. As compensation to youth groups, the next MethodistProvincial Weekend is likely to be brought forward from 2002 toNovember 2001.
One huge success at Breakout was the launch of the new WorldAction campaign for 2000/1. Streets Apart hopes to highlight theplight of street children. These are youngsters who have ended upliving rough because of poverty, war, abandonment or abuse or othersorts of family breakdown or death. The campaign focuses especiallyon Brazil, Bangladesh and Macedonia. Youth groups across Britainare being encouraged to consider the issues, which were highlightedat the launch by a dazzling combination of dance, drama and speech.Your church will have received a copy of Footnotes, the launchmagazine for Streets Apart, in September. The next issue is out inFebruary 2001 for registered groups. Footnotes can be ordered from |