EEC Blog

Our aim in VIA is to influence Young People to be (or become) devoted disciples of Jesus Christ. This aim is pursued by

• Exposing them to the gospel
• Showing how it can be brought to bear on every aspect of life
• Enabling them to speak of the gospel and defend their faith
• Encouraging prayer, financial giving and service in support of the gospel, and
• To do all this in an atmosphere of love, respect and fun.

This Past 6 Months:

So far this term we have been looking at who God is. Teaching from the Youth Challenge Course book ‘God’s Way’, we encourage our young people to know God and the Bible; in particular to know The Way to God and how to Live God’s Way. These teaching times have been strengthened by the use of visual aids such as video clips and PowerPoint presentations and interactive question times where the teens ask and learn from each other. There are group study times too.

In pursuit of our desire to connect with the parents of our young people, we held a Christmas dinner party where 37 turned up to sample Vincent’s wonderful cooking! All the teens came with at least one member of the family.

We’ve recently introduced a time of worship, giving some of our young people an opportunity to use their gifts, playing guitar
and piano and singing together.

We also look for opportunities for weekends away and recently travelled to Kilkenny for Connect ‘09. (See last month’s EEC Newsletter for a preview). First launched as "Beyond 48" in 2007, the event has attracted 340 teens and their youth leaders from all across the country. The focus is not the weekend itself but on God and His plan for our future lives and for Ireland! This weekend saw a particular connection between each of the young people of VIA. It was encouraging to see them look out for each other and grow closer as a group.

What’s Ahead:

For the rest of the year we will continue our study of ‘God’s Way’ and how to apply the truths of Gods word to our own lives for practical daily living, with topics such as Morality, Time, Final Challenge, choosing God’s Way & Trusting God on the Way.
We will promote the importance of memorizing scripture, so the ‘Sword of Truth’ is always close at hand for sharing and protection against the evil one.

Numbers at VIA have risen slowly over this past few months and it is encouraging that our young people want to bring
along their friends.

Let me just say to finish, VIA is not a crèche. The leaders of VIA take our aims very seriously and the lives and growth of the young people seriously. There are difficulties and challenges but together we will overcome them. God has begun a good work in VIA and
we have no doubt He will bring it on to completion!