Youth ministries are equipping young people in their faith, to serve God and His people.
Indira Courtness, youth minister at Roseville Anglican and current student at Youthworks College, desires to see young people developed in the Christian faith. She and her team of volunteer leaders ran a weekend Winter Camp for their Friday night youth fellowship, an intentional program integrated into the yearly calendar of discipleship and evangelism.
The camp included activities focused on:
grounding youth in God’s Word through exegetical preaching;
building towards 5 non-parental godly role models around each young person;
giving them safe spaces to question faith and express doubts; and
opportunities to serve gospel causes beyond themselves.
Not only this, Indira and her team implemented activities that were specific to the youth serving others in their community. She says,
“For this winter camp, I decided to bring in an element of serving, gospel-minded acts of service and doing something practical for people in our community. We did that in a space that we called electives. And that was really seeking to help young people be outward focused, to look beyond themselves, seeking to love others as Jesus loves them...”
Indira was encouraged by the questions the youth were asking as they explored the book of Jonah and was particularly encouraged by one girl who was considering in making the decision for Jesus to be her Lord and Saviour.
“We looked at the book of Jonah and got stuck into thinking about God's merciful character and digging into what that means for us as disciples. We questioned whether we are prepared to go out and share the message of God's mercy towards us, to other people? I was really encouraged by the kinds of questions and wrestling that we saw in the young people.
“I personally had a conversation with a young person who is new to our youth ministry and came on camp which was great. She was considering whether Jesus is someone that she wants to follow and commit her life to, and that was a really encouraging conversation.”
Indira would love for you to pray for the youth at Roseville Anglican. She says,
“To see more and more young people be built into our family of believers, to see people come to know Jesus for the first time and continue growing in their faith. What I'm praying for is to see our young people grow in their maturity, and as they do that, to grow in their heart for wanting to serve God and His people, and to see other people come to know Jesus.”
Thank you for your generous support, which is helping ministry leaders, like Indira, disciple youth and equip them to grow in their faith, serve others in their community and share their love for Christ.
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