I am having a dilemma...need some help.
I feel the urge, calling, desire...whatever to help revive our failing youth program at church. It was a great feeling, I was going to help mold and shape these young people into lovely, decent God loving adults! Well, that was 2 years ago and I am disenchanted now.
We meet the 1st and 3rd Sunday after church. We have lunch, we talk, we discuss a bible lesson and then we think and plan local mission work....sounds great right???? NOT! We have the laziest bunch of kiddos ever. They want to function and do the things a big youth program gets to do, BUT are unwilling to bring friends, or tell others we are having a meeting or an event....
So I ask 'How are we supposed to grow the group?' Bigger group = better events.
Local missions...what does that mean? Well, we thought it would mean a community garden, picking up trash for the city and gleaning. We gleaned (2 of the kiddos and 4 adults) ONCE. We have dreamed and planned of the garden, BUT no one is willing to actually do anything. It was like pulling teeth to get participants for the gleaning....I don't want to think what I will have to do to get willing participants to start the garden, let along the weeding and harvesting in the heat of August...oi
Yesterday we participated in the local St. Patrick's Day parade.....it rained....more on that in a different post. These kids helped put together the float Saturday...they were involved and had a great time....come Sunday and the weather is not so great and all we heard was complaining. Get this...we had 3 youth and 8 adults plus 2 babies under 2....guess what they 3 youth did....sat, huddled under blankets and umbrellas in the bed of the truck. Hardly any waiving to the crowd, heaven-forbid they actually show some excitement to help encourage other people to join our small youth group.
So I find myself asking....what is the point? Do I keep trudging on hoping for a kiddo with some spirit and gung-ho-ness....or do I fold the towel and let them do what they want....sit around and gab about nothing in particular? I thought the point was to learn about and do God's work.
HELP!
Since the church I am currently attending is in between pastors and we don't have much of a 'youth' at the church I don't have much advice.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking, though, while reading this post that maybe you should find a different way to bring their attention to God's word. Don't just sit down, eat food, & go through a lesson. Think of a fun way to teach a lesson to the youth.
A church I went to with an ex-boyfriend had a huge youth..full of drama, but I LOVED going to youth group every wednesday. I learned something new about God and God's word each week. We didn't just sit in church & go through a chapter in the bible, they got us active & motivated to learn. We would sometimes 'act' out an scene.
Hope this advice {or rambling} helps!