Youth Day services are held at Donemana Presbyterian Church

Both the morning and evening service had the theme of ‘Who is God?’ and the church was decorated with soft toys, tractors and even a wooden ark to reflect a ‘Youth Day’ theme.

Ruth Allen led the morning service while Nigel Buchanan led the evening service. After Ruth welcomed the congregation in the morning, Jessica McDonald opened the service in prayer. John Robinson said the opening prayer at the evening service.

During the morning service Nakiesha Thompson recited a poem entitled ‘Who is God?’ while, in the evening service, Robert Smyth read a portion of scripture from Exodus 1:8–14. At both services, primary, junior and senior classes, in various groups, sang a number of pieces. In both the morning and evening services, the choir sang ‘High above the earth’. The younger members of the choir sang ‘God the Father, who is He?’ to the tune of ‘Frere Jacques’ and ‘Jesus saves me from my sins’ to the tune of ‘Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star’.

There was a lovely variation to the singing when a group, Sophie, Chelsie, Bethany and Gemma sang with enthusiasm, ‘God made you and God made me’ The choir accompanied them in the chorus. Once again, the choir accompanied Zara, Holly, Chelsie and Rebecca as they sweetly sang, ‘I’m accepted, I’m forgiven’.

At both services Mark, Emma, Ellie, Sarah, Bethany, Ryan, Amber, Zara and Kenzie recited poetry for each individual letter of the words, ‘God is Love’.

Linda Kennedy McNeill and Judith Allen provided musical accompaniment during the service.

The morning offering was collected by David, Gemma, Joshua, Aaron, Nicole and Cherilyn and in the evening Sophie, Lucy, Jack, James and Ryan collected the offering.

Ruth Allen played the piano and her sister Judith, on the flute, accompanied her during the offerings. In the morning they played, ‘As the deer pants for the water’ and ‘I’m Special’ in the evening.

Among the congregational hymns were ’I am so glad that our Father in Heaven’, ’He gave me eyes so I could see, ‘My God is so big’, ‘God is always near me’ and ‘Did you ever talk to God above?’

At the morning service the visiting speaker Rev Hiram Higgins from Cumber, Claudy gave the address, explaining that God’s love just keeps spreading and spreading, illustrating the message by cutting up a sheet of paper.

He also explained to the congregation that every day we are writing the Gospel by the lives we lead and what people see in us. Rebecca, Andrew and Kenzie assisted him by reading some portions of scripture.

The young people thoroughly enjoyed the message. Rev Dr Stewart Jones addressed the evening service, taking the opportunity to introduce the theme of Mission Rescue for the incoming week’s Bible Club focusing on the oppression of the people in Egypt.

At the end of the evening service the Sunday School Superintendent, Mrs Jean Rutherford, congratulated the young people on how much they had contributed to the service and how well they had done. She thanked the Sunday School teachers for their hard work throughout the year and the parents for their support. She also announced that, due to work commitments, she was relinquishing her duties as Sunday School Superintendent. Rev Dr Stewart Jones then presented the prizes. All members of the Sunday School received a prize and there were a number of special prizes.

Special prizes were awarded to Zara Rankin-Glenn in the primary age group who received the Annie Colhoun Memorial prize. Andrew Hume won the William Sayers Memorial trophy in the junior age group, while Joshua Falconer received the Rev. Jack Forbes Memorial trophy in the senior age group. Judith Allen from the Bible class was the recipient of the Rev J. McGregor Memorial shield.

Both services were brought to a close with Jacob Black confidently saying a lovely prayer before the benediction. Beginners gave out sweets to members of the congregation as they left each service.