Today I got to sit down Nynka and Yohan. They are on a two week trip touring churches and having conversations about youth ministry with leaders here in the states. There next stop is Saddleback so I got a chance to set the bar for Doug and Josh before Nynka and Yohan arrive.
We were able to share with them how we create environments for non-believing students to come to that engage them where they are at and connect them with Christ. At length we talked about our house communities and student led small groups we host through the Gathering.
On their end it was interesting to hear their points of pain and what they are faced with. It reminds me that universally Satan loves to take teenagers and tell them they are worthless, unworthy of love, and hopeless. He also loves to wrap them up in crippling pain through addiction and abuse forcing them to grow callous to God and defensive, reluctant, even bitter towards people who want to help.
Nynka and her team are connecting with students in Holland and are networked with churches to reach out to broken and hurting kids through relationships and caring adults.
At the same time Nynka is challenged right now to get the team and program simplified. "We have too many programs." The temptation to do everything is always present. The reality is that you have to choose to do two to three things really well as opposed to doing a dozen to thirty things marginally. For us it's creating relational community and helping students take next steps spiritually.
It was cool to learn and share at the table today. I now hand them over to Doug and Josh.
0 comments:
Post a Comment