Sunday at Harrogate Bunkhouse Family Weekend 2025 - Jacob's Ladder

Sunday at Harrogate Bunkhouse Family Weekend 2025 – Jacob’s Ladder

On Sunday at Harrogate Bunkhouse Family Weekend 2025 we had a lovely breakfast cooked by Donna and Katie! After this we needed to clean up the bunkhouse with all hands on deck. Some people took the initiative more quickly than others, but in the end there was some extreme vacuum cleaning action and we hope that the owners of the centre will have been pleased with how we left it.

We moved into the room with the stained glass window to have a service. We went back to the story we had learned about the previous day, that of Jacob’s dream and the ladder or stairway between heaven and earth.

The Lord made His presence known to us by creating a beautiful light through the stained glass as we were praying – we felt His presence in our midst.

The theme of our service was the stone that Jacob laid his head upon in the story of his dream in Genesis 28. We heard the story of the Wise and Foolish Builders, and thought about the foundational beliefs we have that we can hold on to throughout our lives. These are things like loving the Lord and loving our neighbours.

Singing!

We sang some songs and hymns that people knew the words to and various people read out prayers. The angels that lots of us had written on the previous day were shared, and a few angelic qualities of each person was read out.

We finished by singing “You shall go out with joy” as quickly as we could.

After the service, it was time to leave West End Outdoor Centre Bunkhouse. We made our way down to Thruscross Reservoir where we had a picnic lunch. The rain held off, but it was a very breezy meal!

Eating together in such beautiful surroundings was another reminder of the Lord’s blessings. We could hear lapwings and curlews, as well as many other birds.

Thank you to everyone for making it such a special weekend.

If you would like to come along to a Family Weekend, you can find details here. Go to the blog to read more about other Family Weekends and residentials that have happened recently.