Youth ministry workshop/conference notes

Definition of Youth:

Define some boundaries -> i.e. anything younger than 45

Define ministry: Looking after needs or young people, bringing them to Christ.

-lead -influence -guide -serve – using gifts -help -serve -spread word of God

one example of a great leader (top 5) in the bible is Joshua. Joshua was a young man and he was being mentored by Moses who trained him from a very young age. (Remember in the bible how Joshua was supporting Moses by holding his elbow to help him raise the staff in the air while the Israelites were at war?)

However, Joshua had one fatal flaw, he didnt pass the baton to anyone else. Hence the world entered a period of Judges who judged the Israelites and God was fighting against them instead of with them.

Thats why its so important to train the next generation!

So why is Youth Ministry (YM) so important? Why is it so vital?

Kids are young, if we train them well, we will have a whole new generation rise up to serve God!

There is no success without a successor. Aim to have a “generation perspective”

Christianity is only one generation away from being extinct!

if we dont teach it, we will forget it. Much like we forget a lot of our home tongue, ie. how to read or write Chinese.

From Gods perspective, we are just a tiny period on a big time line. We will pass away and move on, but someone has to be able to pick it up from us. All we do is fulfill our time in history.

Another example would be King David who prepared all the land and conqueored much of the country to prepare the way for his son Solomon. In other words, he set up the groundworks for the next generation.

 Footprints we leave behind, may all those who find them find us faithful.

In YM, we should aim to be value-centred. This means placing values first and actions/behaviour will follow. Eg.

1) Worldview: Jesus is king.

2) Beliefs: God loves everyone

3) Values: therefore I value loving everyone

4) Actions behaviour: I treat them well.

So its important to influence kids values first before we try and change their behaviour. We must facilitate the Holy Spirit to change them from the inside out. Not creating environments that change them. Its essentially God that changes them so we must lead them to God and Jesus for He is the way, truth and life.

testimony to Christ (post-OC)

As I begin to rededicate myself to Jesus and following His ways…starting from a month prior to going to the Oceania Convention, I’ve found that God radically touched on areas of my life that I didnt believe I could ever change + difficulties I know I could never overcome alone.

 The first of which I have to admit would have to be the on-going addiction or slavery to sin, lust, objectification of women, chronic pornography viewings late at night. Although I was a Christian serving for quite some time and believed I was following Christ, I was never able to shake the shackles of worldly temptations. After the OC, I felt the presence of the Holy Spirit much greater than before, I felt compelled to turn around my life and live the way God designed me to live. It feels really good to have a clear conscience and not be ashamed of aspects of my life when im facing God. I can worship Him with a heart that is sanctified by Christ, with any sins forgiven by His grace.

 I am really glad that when I tell others about God, or say praise God, I really really do mean it. I can talk about Him and praise Him with a mouth that is 95% free of obscene words and gossip. I believe God will continue to change me and help me to grow closer and closer to Him. I am forever thankful that you are there to give me a way out of temptation every time I feel tempted.

Being closer God has also given me the spiritual fruits of patience, joy, kindness, love and peace. I feel more compassionate towards other ppl when normally I would just be caring for myself. Although I still admit to being quite selfish most of the time, I am learning to put others (esp God) before me. As a result, my relationship with my cousin and a lot of my closer friends are improving gradually. On a side note, thanks to Joshua Harris’ book How I kissed dating goodbye, God has given me a stronger conviction to live a Holier emotional/physical life when it comes to the other sex. I see girls not as objects that I could derive pleasure from, but sisters in Christ. They are not there to give me love and support, but rather I feel that I need to be the one serving them and being a good neighbour/brother to my sisters.

All in all, God is just so awesome…I feel my guitar skills improving too because of a renewed will to worship Him with music….ever since the OC, God has given me the opportunity to lead my cell group in worship with guitar…The next day, there was no electricity at church…so we had to worship with piano and I played guitar too..unplugged – acoustic…it was awesome…

Lord, I hope that my love for you will never fade…because I know that Your love for me never will…I hope in 5 years time when I look back on this, I would be even closer in my walk wif U… it just feels so great…to have God in my life…