It's a little while since I last blogged... But this
subject is something that I've been thinking a lot about recently and it's
caused me to finally get behind my keyboard and get typing!
It might be a long while again before my next blog
as baby #2 is due any day now so time will be at a premium.
I've set up my whole youth work career based around
the gifts that God has given me – something that I really believe is an important
thing to do because it is God who wants me in youth ministry.
Whilst I'm never one to rave about my skills in
youth work I do find that an easy entrance point is humour. A lot of the young
people I meet engage better if we can have a laugh and a joke about something –
a bit of banter. It's something that is so easy to do and if being a bit silly
means that I can engage with young people better then it's something that I
want to keep doing.
The challenge is, though; how do we get past the
banter and bring meaning to the conversation?
If I want to be an effective youth minister then I
need more than just fun relationships with young people. I need more than a bit
of banter. I want to see young people come to know Jesus and have their lives
transformed by his love and grace, to see them have self-esteem in the
knowledge that their identity is in Christ and not in the world. I want to see teenagers
rejoice in the power of God and His amazing works and not feel that what the
world has to offer is the better option.
I could quite easily have a big youth group where
we have a laugh and a banter and go home, but what's the point? Of course it's
important to have a safe place for youth on a Friday night and it's definitely
more effective to have a big group together, but if I get to the end of my
career in youth work with 100 young people that don't know Jesus but love a bit
of banter, surely that's not furthering the Kingdom of God. If I get to the end
and have impacted a few young people to know their maker then I think I'm doing
something better.
For me, the break from banter to building a
stronger relationship involves me stepping out. Some young people are more
willing to ask bigger questions and find out more about Jesus, but often I have
to be brave and step out in faith.
In Deuteronomy 31:8 it says:
'The LORD himself goes
before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do
not be afraid; do not be discouraged."' (NIV)
God goes before us in every conversation. It's up to us to allow
Him in. The more I pray the better conversations I have. The more I seek His
will the more impact I make. It sounds simple and that’s probably because it is
simple. More of God in our lives means we will see more of God in the lives of
the people we meet as the Holy Spirit is at work in us.
Of course there will be times when what we are hoping for is not
what happens but that's where the 'do not be discouraged' part comes in.
Keep fighting the fight and don't give up. The banter is important for
me because it initiates conversation and helps start a relationship, but
if I just stick to banter and don't move on then I'm unlikely to make a
life-changing impact.
I really believe that God can work in any situation and I
trust that in the times when I haven’t gotten past the banter that God can
still do amazing things, that the people I meet will see something different in
me and whether it is 5, 10, 15, or however many years later, something will
switch inside their head and they will want to know more about Jesus.
The most important thing though, is that I don't just hope
that God will work later in their life, but instead I take time to invest
now, that I move past the banter and challenge myself to challenge other
people. If God goes before us then we have nothing to worry about!
Youth Ministry in action:
I recently met up with a young person who had come on the Youth
Alpha course that we ran last year. Quite often our conversations had been all
about the banter and topics that were easy to have a casual chat about. This
time I wanted to break the barrier and go a bit deeper. When we did it was
great and we had some great conversations about various different things and
how God can work in their life. We discussed some of the big questions
that came about from Alpha and hopefully we can now move forward to really
seeking God in new ways.
It might not have happened if I wasn't willing to bring a bit of
meaning to the banter.
