Transitional Ministry

- 
The last few weeks at youth group I've started to transition year 6's from the local primary school I work at into youth group.


These last few weeks I've noticed something. I seem to be thinking differently to most people in the room at youth group. 

I love 10-14year olds. And I love having them at youth group. They are probably some of my favourite people.




 It's fascinating really, 
year 6s tend to think they are the most important person in the room, they aren't aware that things have been operating before them and will in the future.


Other youth hate them, they label them twelvies and are annoyed by their bouncy, loud and energetic attitudes.


Other adults get tired by them, they seem to want to have a conversation with them and this of course doesn't happen in a mature way.


  


Me? Why do I love them so much? 


I love them because their energy can be turned into evangelism, their loudness can be turned into leadership and their bouncing can be turned into action. And they remind me of a childlike faith and fun.  




 What I've noticed the last few weeks is how much joy young people in the junior youth category bring me. I love their enthusiasm, sure it's certainly more tiring, but it gives me a hope and a purpose for the future of youth ministry. It brings me joy to think that if these young people feel connected and apart of the group now, in the future they will bring friends and they will eventually make faith commitments because they belong and have seen Jesus expressed in this community.  




 I want to see people coming up and into youth group for many futures to come, I don't wanna just see the youth I have now grow up into awesome adults with solid faiths.  The challenge in this tension, is how do i make awesome adults with solid faiths as well as nuture and encourage loud, bouncying and enthusiastic youngsters?






I don't really know the answer that that, but I know that now is a great time for me to make the values and vision of my youth group clear for those coming into the group as well as those already part of the community.  





















































Comments











Post a Comment






























Popular posts from this blog









The day I found my voice






-















For some of you who know me really well, you might be thinking, Nicole has always had a voice. But I want to tell you, this weekend I found my voice. It wasn't really lost, but it wasn't confident. It was hidden behind the fear of being judged or boxed a certain way.   This weekend just gone we had the Presbytery and Synod meeting for the SA Uniting Church.  This is the business and governance (or AGM) meeting for the whole church.   I have been a member for a number of years at this meeting, but haven't really spoken on matters at the microphone.  This weekend, I went to the mic, not just once, but 4 or 5 times.   Now, you might just say, well yeah, that's the process, you were just doing due diligence to the role and reason you were at the meeting.  You are right but let me explain a little more about why it was important for me to find my voice.   During the first day of the meeting, in smaller working groups, I cautiously and nervously shared my thoughts.  Under the








Read more










Young leaders development...






-















So I'm a  youth pastor right, it's something that sometimes I say out loud and it still blows my mind. It's something I always wanted to be and I am that now.     I don't know if I'm doing a good job, i thonk I'm doing alright, I might not be as cool or successful as some of my other youth pastor friends but I feel like I'm doing alright.      Last week I went to NYMC Encore which was a day conference for those in youth ministry.    It was a great day and totally worth  coming back the 400kms  to adelaide for the day, I got to see my friends, my family, my support network. But I heard from God too. Both on a personal level and also for my ministry.      One question I am left with after the conference is about young leaders.   Now I would consider myself a young leader. At 21 , I am young, I have been blessed with many leadership opportunities well beyond my years, but in still a young leader . I'm still leading about who I am and my style of leadership.








Read more










The Word means a lot...






-















In my previous blog i talked about the emptiness i felt at camp in the spirit and how i just had so many questions about how God chooses to move and everything.  I was talking to one of the guys fro my church who had preached at camp and had prayed for me and i asked about Gods spirit and its workings. We talked about it for a while but it was obvious there was more to this conversation then a facebook chat and maybe we would actualy meet up and discuss at a later date. As he was going away he reminded me that the Scriptures were awesome and a way straight to what God wanted to tell us, and encouraged me to read them. So thats just what i did. Tuesday was a public holiday so i spent the day lazying around i decided to read the bible and thought i would read Acts as i was interested in learning about the Spirits movements and knew Acts was a good book to talk about that. just over 5 hours later i had finished reading Acts and journalling my way through it.  So much awesome stuff happene








Read more