Wednesday night (before Confirmation Sunday) I showed up in the church Commons with twenty five other adults from within our congregation.  I got the sense that everyone was a little on edge as we anxiously awaited meeting our prayer partners for the first time.  I looked up to see a large group of energetic young men and women walking down the ramp toward us in their pristine white robes.  Nervous excitement, anticipation, and fear, all rolled into one.  Can you feel it?  If you’ve ever adopted a pet you may be able to relate. 

Pastor Phil took the floor and helped to set everyone at ease.  He talked to us about being family in Christ.  He encouraged us to spend some time with each other, and he gave us two questions to get the ball rolling.  Over thirty minutes passed.  Time full of kindness, joy, and a bunch of other emotions.  It was wonderful to see so many people engaged in meaningful conversation.  Adults of all ages, had been secretly praying for the Holy Spirit to take root in the lives of these confirmation students all year.  We were able to share part of our story, and they shared a part of theirs.  Walking out of church that evening, I thought to myself, “This is what church is supposed to be like, this is Sticky Faith kind of stuff in action!”   

Stories like that one inspire us to continue supporting youth and children’s ministry in very tangible ways.  

Here is an update on the work being done by our renovation team.  The renovation team is a small group of volunteers that works closely with our consultants to accomplish tasks to build sustainable youth ministry, and equip parents.

• Developing a child protection policy for your youth and children’s ministries

• Identifying volunteer needs and assist in recruiting people

• Create major event binders to provide extensive notes at times of transition

• Develop “Faith at Home” curriculum designed to equip parents

• Refresh the Youth Room

• Develop a better communication strategy for leaders and participants

This group has been tasked with a dozen other things, but in a year of transition some of those items have been moved to the back burner.  As stated in the beginning of this process, we need to see the Youth Ministry Initiative as a marathon not a sprint.  We may not be running yet, but rest assured that we are moving in the right direction.  The tweaks that we see today may take months, or years to fully develop.  Ask God how you can take a more active role to support our young people.