1 Cor. 9:22
To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some.
Wednesday night we viewed a documentary on the youth and young adult ministry of Hillsong Church in Sydney, Australia. The United praise and worship band just released their newest CD – United We Stand. Again, they’ve outdone themselves with more than music. There’s such a sense of God’s involvement in their work.
As we viewed the video I took note of their humility, unity and genuine passion for God. That attitude has carried them from a local church youth group with a band that knew only three songs- to a worldwide worship movement. We talked about the desire to emulate the attitude that God blesses in our own youth church. After watching the video we asked students what they got out of it. Because of time limitations we had to cut things short, so I asked students and leaders to email their comments. Here are some of the comments. Please, offer your opinion so others can be inspired.
PLEASE KEEP YOUR CRITICISM TO A MINIMUM and don’t even offer it unless it’s done in a constructive way with possible solutions presented. Keep a good heart.
8 comments:
I thought the video was great and I KNOW that the Verge has the potential to do awesome things as well, through God. While watching the video on United, the thing that stuck out at me the most was how they got everyone around them involved in the church. They got people from school. Like Tierra pointed out, we need to get teenagers from school into church. For me, I think that that's easier said than done. I'm a shy person and I don't have a lot of close friends, so it's difficult for me to ask random people to go to church with me. All of the friends I have, I have invited them to church. Either they still go, or they didn't like it and don't want to go.
I'm not trying to make excuses for myself. I guess what my point is, I think that we should have a closer youth group and should have some sort of meeting where we come up with a "plan" to get people to come to church and to know God. Whether it be, putting flyers up around school, throwing a special concert for people who don't know God and are curious, or anything else. A lot of people don't want to go to church because they are going to feel uncomfortable, out of place, confused, and even judged (even though that's not the case). One of my friends who is unsaved is interested in church and has tons of questions that I don't know the answers to. I don't need all of the answers because I have faith, but I have brought her to the verge in the past and she felt like she was being criticized for everything she does. This was a while back, so I'm trying to get her to come back again because I don't feel like that is how the Verge is AT ALL. The only thing I really dont know is when to bring her. Sometimes the sermons are about teaching people who have already been saved... she hasn't been saved and these sermons will mean nothing to her. Is there any possible way we could get a fore-warning on what the next sermon will be about, so we can know if it's appropriate? Some sermons could turn a non-believer away.
Also, I'm concerned with the youth at other churches. I used to go to a church that was really conservative (full of elderly people singing out of Hymn books) and I DREADED going to church on Sunday mornings. I never went to youth group because it was cliquey and I felt unwelcome. I stopped going to church for a couple years because I couldn't FEEL Jesus alive in my heart. Now that I've been at Lighthouse and the Verge, my life has changed and I wish I had known about how alive this church is (and that there are churches that are alive) and how wonderful the presense of God is. The point is, I feel that God is putting it on my heart to get OTHER youth groups into this. Not to get them to abandon their church, but to UNITE us all. This isn't battle of the churches and who can be the most fun. It's about becoming united and abandoning cliques, making everyone feel welcome, so that they can open their hearts to God. When people are self-conscious or feel un-welcome, that's what their mind is thinking about and they aren't thinking about God and His AWESOMENESS! It takes away from them opening up their hearts.
I'm not sure if this is what you wanted in an email... maybe I went off topic.. email me back if you wanted something different. Haha.
Peace!
Melissa
Dear, Pastor Mark,
I can appreciate Melissa's e-mail for sure. I have a few comments.
I work in a popular convenience store where I serve all age groups daily. My biggest burden is for the young people that come in to purchase their coffee and cigarettes. I have to proof everyone who doesn't look 30 years old. Alot of them look drawn, have shakey hands and basically carry themselves like they are my age! This is Satan's gift to our youth, stress, nervousness, addiction, etc. I guess what I'm trying to say is that Jesus didn't call us to bring our friends and neighbors to church. He called us to "go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature, making disciples of all nations..." The people we meet are looking for answers, even the youth! We have the answer, and that is the good news. If this is a heavy for some, sorry, been there. Pray for unconditional love for the people you have contact with. That's the kind of love that gives you the burden to see past the facade to where they are really at and gets rid of the "ME" factor. (What if they don't like me?) Pray for the Words of the Holy Spirit -- sometimes there are no words. Sometimes, it takes time to build trust between you and them because life has skrewed them so badly. And sometimes, you can see perfectly, hear the voice of God and have the Words that will give them hope again! It is beautiful to watch despair leave a person's face and hope grow right before your eyes!
Much love,
Mary
Here's a follow up comment from Melissa concerning our discussion Wednesday night.
That's cool, though not as cool as Melissa's email address. That's just plain hilarious.
Hey Pastor Mark,
Man, what an awesome video last night, it's amazing to see the passion and heart that they have for youth/music ministry. It was also pretty encouraging to hear how much United sucked in '98 haha. The thing that stuck with me the most from that video was when one of the guys said something like (in an Austrailian accent of course) "...It's funny to see where we started and where we are now, really any youth group can do this. There's nothing special about us, every youth group out there has the potential to get to this point..." I know that's not exactly what he said but it's the point he was driving. When I hear that I think, "Wow, The Verge has so much potential, if we just keep that humble heart and really get passionate, there's no telling where this could go." But then we have to ask ourselves, what's holding us back? My best answere is: ourselves.
Honestly, I haven't always been the most passionate person about getting the lost in church, I mean I've always had a heart for the lost, but sometimes it's easy to get in our little christian boxes and forget THAT PEOPLE ARE GOING TO HELL! Let's be real though, there's very few teenagers these days who have never had or seen any representation of Jesus at all, but the majority of teenagers have never had a relevant and true representation of what a relationship with Jesus is all about. My friend Sean, that I've been bringing to the Verge for several months, brought Micheal Tasky last night. I had never actually met Micheal before but I talked to him a little bit last night, a little at school and then some online today, here's an excerpt from our conversation...
skateguitar4ever (5:25:07 PM): man i love your church
guitarguyyy09 (5:25:16 PM): that's awesome!
guitarguyyy09 (5:25:26 PM): are you gonna come back?
skateguitar4ever (5:25:41 PM): oh yea ill try to come next wedensday
guitarguyyy09 (5:25:45 PM): sweet
skateguitar4ever (5:26:08 PM): man my church is so strict and we dont have any fun
skateguitar4ever (5:26:14 PM): its so boring
guitarguyyy09 (5:26:28 PM): I can't imagine going to a church like that
skateguitar4ever (5:27:24 PM): thats why im not as close to god i as i should be...
That was just a brief section but what I draw from that is that one of the biggest problems isn't the media, drugs, alcohol, etc. It's that the loudest voice of the church in our community isn't ours. Micheal obviously knows where he needs to be, and I feel a lot of people do, but without a place like the Verge to really experience God, which lifestyle is easier and more appealing to fall into? I'm not saying that every other church out there is wrong and that everyone in Gloucester has to be apart of the Verge, but what I am saying is that we are blessed with a youth an awesome youth group, an awesome Youth Pastor with great vision, and what are we doing with that blessing? Not enough. (I'm talking about myself as well)
Well since this email has been a little on the negative side, here's a little encouraging sentiment. God IS doing awesome things, in the past few months I've seen several new faces coming in to the Verge and coming back! Some of them are my friends that I've invited and I can tell the difference it's making, even if it's not a radical change at first. I've been told by someone at the Wave church that three years ago they had about thirty people in their youth ministry, and look at them now! I think they'er somewhere around 1000 people now! That's amazing, and it really goes to show what God can do with our ministry as long as we keep our end of it. There's no doubt in my mind that awesome things can and will happen at the Verge, I see the Verge reaching and impacting our entire community...(to borrow the phrase) if we can see it, we can be it. God is really doing a work in me, too. If you could just pray for me, I'm really trying to be the difference at school and with my friends, but it's hard sometimes. I don't have trouble with falling in to sin with them or anything like that, in fact I act pretty much the same way around my parents as I do at school, but then again am I trying to get my parents saved? So really I think if the current members of the Verge will step up to plate and get passionate, then great things will happen. We have to be Jesus to the people, I just thought of spin to throw on your phrase, If they can see it, they can be it. Meaning if we live radically for Jesus and it's evident to the world, they can follow our lead because...it really is the better life.
I'm really looking forward to service tomorrow and Saturday, I'm expecting great things.
God bless,
Brian.
When you are in a great church like the verge and God shows you how real he is, you get excited. People will say in school, Why are you so happy? Why are you always up? That's a great chance to invite people. I think adertising at school is ok but I think the christians should get together and pray and see who the Holy Spirit wants you as a "group" to invite, then all together or one after another invite that person and pray for them behind the scenes. When they finally say yes, they will have a powerful born again experience and then watch the fire spread at your school....
Remember this- Jesus went after the "marginlized" - the fringe- the outcasts.
I beg to differ, he started off even as a boy trying to reach the religious, then as his ministry progressed he came to realize that God had hidden these things from the wise and revealed them to babes. Talking to people who already have some religious knowledge can be an easier bridge to helping them find a relationship. Course God would have "all" men to be saved and he says preach the word in season and out of season, sow sparingly and you reap sparingly... etc...
I didn't say Jesus ONLY went after the marginalized. Neither did I imply that was His starting point.
My point was- high schools and communities are full of societal misfits-religious background or not- these kids are in need of belonging and if the church fails to reach out to them- they will often find a peer group that only reinforces their negative life-view- leading them down a road of destruction.
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