Each year around this time, youth leaders start preparing for the transition of Year 6 children into the youth fellowship in September. Although they officially join the fellowship in September, we hope for a smooth transition to help these young people adapt more easily to life in the youth fellowship. Both the children’s and youth leaders begin various preparations around this time each year. For example, they arrange for the transitioning members to participate in youth fellowship activities, allowing them to experience the differences from children’s Sunday school and get to know the youth leaders. The children’s Sunday school teachers also hold one-on-one meetings with each child to understand their faith status and address any faith-related questions, helping them clarify their beliefs before moving up. They then pass on information about the children’s status to the youth leaders to ensure proper follow-up after the transition.
In addition to these preparations, youth leaders face a significant challenge each year: figuring out how to incorporate these “newcomers” into an already full youth fellowship. These newcomers include not only the students moving up but also new friends who have been on the waiting list for a while. This year, there are 14 and 10 Year 6 students transitioning from the Saturday and Sunday children’s Sunday schools respectively, plus those on the waiting list. The number of new members far exceeds the number of youths leaving the fellowship to go to university (a situation likely similar in Trafford, Warrington and Cheadle Hulme), meaning there aren’t many spots available for newcomers. With limited space and leaders, we are struggling to properly accommodate everyone. At our last leaders’ meeting, I joked that we should give up and discuss it next time. Of course, neither I nor the youth leaders will give up! Despite the challenges, we will continue to find ways to meet the youth’s need for the Gospel. Recently, I’ve been trying new methods to reach out to different young people outside the church and bring the Gospel to them. When we have exhausted all options, it reminds us to turn back to God and pray to Him. We ask Him to prepare places for us, provide leaders, and bring us young people who are eager to have their lives transformed by the Gospel.
Brothers and sisters, if you feel moved to serve in youth ministry, I encourage you to first learn more about the needs of each location from the pastoral staff and open yourself up to pray to God, seeing how He responds to your prayers.
Finally, please pray for the 128 participants of the youth camp “HIGHLIGHT.” Pray that God speaks to them during the camp and teaches them how to be His blameless children in this dark age, shining like lights in the world.
Pastor Benjamin