By Johnny Brown, Youth Director
I like to think of myself as a creative person. It’s pretty much a necessity to be in youth ministry. Through my almost 20 years on this journey, I’ve seen a lot of shiny new “toys” come and go in the world of youth ministry. Music has changed so much over the years, technology created a new world when it comes to reaching youth. We are constantly seeking out new and effective ways to engage youth for Christ.
But I have never seen such a dramatic, quick change as we have seen in the past 5-6 months. Online Youth Group.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been working with online ministry in some way for 15 years. I still remember the first night that I sat at my computer, chatting on yahoo instant messenger with a youth about the problems she was facing in her world. I recall thinking how cool it was to have a new medium to connect with youth.
But through this pandemic, we have had to learn to keep connected without being able to meet in person. What a blessing Zoom has been! We have been able to see each other, to talk and laugh with each other. We’ve continued to explore how God works and IS working through our lives.
And we’ve gotten pretty creative with it…
Youth continues…
We have shared art with the group, we’ve dressed up, had a talent show.
One night there was even trash thrown all over the floor of my kitchen as the kids were laughing! But every online meeting ends with talking about what God wants for our lives!
Starting September 13th, we will add a Sunday evening Bible study to our Zoom calendar. This will be a time spent working our way through scripture. It will serve as our Sunday School until our Session makes the decision for us to have in person Sunday School again.
I want to say thank you to our youth and their parents. It’s clear that as families, they have made our weekly meeting time a priority, because every week, we have most of our group tuned in. Thank you for being there and being consistent! Thank you to Cathy Glass – for being there – for subbing for me – for sharing creative, fun ideas!
And thank you to our church family! Thank you for your prayers and the support that you show this ministry and for me and my family as well.
Paul said in 1st Corinthians 9:22 – "May we continue to become “all things” – Be creative – as we point people to Jesus!"
I can’t wait to see you all in person again!