Going from Kids to Teenz
Over the last two years the Youth and Children’s ministries within our church have grown dramatically - VIA from 10ish Teens to about 20 teens and Friday Club from 20 to 40 children. While both ministries have been challenging, both have been fruitful and it has been a blessing to see them grow.
Friday Club
About 18 months ago I was about to step away from my commitments to Friday Club. Friday nights were, and are, quite a challenge and sometimes more that we want to go through at the end of the week. In September ’08 I decided I would continue to help in Friday club on a short term basis, perhaps until that Christmas. Little did I know I was going to start enjoying Friday Club again! The hour we spend with the kids on a Friday night is strenuous, but because of God and His mercy it is very worthwhile! Throughout the year the children’s families faced many violent and tragic incidents. There were a number of deaths among these children’s families, and I am sure that many of them questioned God and subsequently why the Friday Club team came to serve them every Friday night. In the time of the Judges everybody did what was right in their own eyes (Judges 21:25) because they had no king to rule them. It was before the glorious arrival of Christ. Cloughleighis a place where a lot of people do what is right in their own eyes. In the book of Judges God would call upon His people to follow Him time and time again. And when He did His people would follow Him and repent. Might I be bold enough to ask if anyone else can smell revival in the air when they think of Friday Club? Is the call of so many prayers over the years being answered? Believe it or not Friday Club is the size of an average church in Ireland. God is moving, sing hallelujah.
VIA
VIA’s attendance may not have grown to that of Friday Club, but the teens attending have grown to know Christ so much more. For our Christmas event we hosted a dinner for parents and got the teens to serve. I mention this because I would like to point out that the teens are learning to serve one another. The upcoming mission trips would indicate that the teens are also learning to serve Christ. Friday 29th May saw our last VIA before the summer. It has been a great encouragement to see the teens grow over the last year; and walk closer to Christ. This year we tried to teach on the character of God, and when I asked them what they have learnt about God this past year they answered with many amazing and humbling statements. They were a true encouragement. The aim of my talk that night was to leave them with the challenge to get to know Jesus better. To do this I suggested that they take plenty of time to read the four Gospels and the book of Acts. We at VIA encouraged them to chew over the scriptures in these passages and to, as Paul put it in Hebrews 12, ‘Consider Christ’.
The Transition
There are many amazing young men and women in VIA and more “teenz2be” in our church. Throughout the summer we will be having many events that we will invite the people entering secondary school to attend. While looking forward to seeing our current teens grow and serve all the more, we are also looking forward to seeing the new teens that enter VIA grow.
To conclude, it is clear that God is moving. Let’s not hinder the youth’s walk with Christ, but assist it. Let our ceilings be their basements; our limitations their beginnings.
