‘One thousand teenagers and young people converge on central London’. While this may sound like a headline about a London riot, it is in fact what happens every year on a Saturday at the beginning of November when many hundreds of teenagers and their leaders gather together for Sorted, held at the renowned Westminster Chapel.
Sorted (sortedevent.org.uk) has been taking place in London for about 15 years now. It is organised by a team of church youth workers and youth ministers under the banner of Capital Youthworks (capitalyouth-works.com).
Sorted has one simple aim and an equally simple strategy. The aim is to provide an annual day of Bible teaching about Jesus for teenagers (aged 14–18) and their leaders, and the strategy is to do what church youth groups do week in week out, only do it on a larger scale with a ‘big event’ vibe.
Sorted 2016 took place on Saturday 5 November and was entitled ‘The Unexpected King’. The day was focussed on three sessions, with preaching on the life of King David by Andy Mason, minister of St John’s Church located on the World’s End Estate in Chelsea (stjohnschelsea.org). Each of the three sessions looked at events from King David’s early life as Israel’s first unexpected king (from 2 Samuel 6) and showed how they foreshadowed the true unexpected king: King Jesus.
The King David Dance-off!
In addition to the relevant Bible teaching, the day also features music and praise led by a live band, various elements involving the young people that related to the theme of each session (the ‘Great King David Dance-off’ being my personal favourite), time to spend in London together as a youth group, plus a resources stand provided by 10ofThose.com. For many church youth groups in and around London, the South East and even across the wider UK, the Sorted event has become an annual highlight in their youth ministry calendar.
