Tag: Youth Unlimited

Food for Thought

Having just finished a humongous fudge-like brownie one night around 10:00pm, I was inspired to write about youth conventions, high school mission trips, camps, retreats and the like.

Earlier that day, I had a well-balanced meal complete with a side salad, broccoli and a great main course full of protein in the shape of a pulled pork sandwich. Therefore, my decision on the brownie was based on a desire to feed my sweet tooth. The brownie was so rich, I was enticed to have coffee with it (did I mention it was 10:00pm?) and then couldn’t sleep, thus, the analogy and this article.

When you plan to take your youth group on a faith-forming trip, what form of spiritual nourishment does it take?

The fudge-like brownie? This type of nourishment is full of empty calories that give a rush for a short time then leave students feeling down and spiritually sluggish after the superficial energy wears off. Does your faith-forming mission trip create spiritual cavities, holes of disillusionment, that need to be repaired later?

The garnish? No one eats that leaf placed on the plate for decoration. On a dare, I have watched a many 13 year olds eat it and wince with regret. When a youth group trip is placed on the calendar because it’s a tradition or an expectation, it can be a great looking symbol but lack substance, leaving a bitter taste. Make sure it is on the calendar because of God’s leading or don’t put it on at all.

The main course? I might pity this situation more than the others mentioned so far because so many eggs are in this basket (sorry to introduce breakfast into the analogy – now I’m hungry again). The youth leaders with this mentality believe the short experience stands on its own. Their group goes, grows and comes back, but the experience isn’t tied into anything before or after. The summer youth trip was viewed as a complete spiritual meal like a TV Dinner – just pop the students into the microwave discipleship of a van ride, confined space and compressed relationships then return them to everyday life.

A compliment or supplement? Here’s where I think the experience (or event) belongs. You serve up main courses all through the year – at youth group meetings, bible studies, Sunday services, Profession of Faith classes, etc. Through mentoring relationships and service opportunities, in their own community, students have well-rounded, regular “meals”. They even get the dessert or fast food now and then as you live life in community as Christ-followers. Then, the faith-forming event is a supplement or a compliment to their spiritual intake. It’s meant to give them a boost so you make the most of the momentum, integrating what they learned from new ideals and experiences into every day life.

They can take this supplement four to five times per year through mission trips like Serve, attending a convention like Live It and then your own fall retreat or camps as well.

The ideal is that your students would enjoy full spiritual meals with you every week of the year.

Faces of ThereforeGo – Kandace Brands, Barry Foster and Dawn Klein

Faces of ThereforeGo – Planning Team Member Edition

Kandace Brands

Q. Serving and volunteering on a ThereforeGo planning team is a huge commitment, why do you do it?

A. For the lives being touched for Christ! I know this is the obvious answer, but truly it is our heart of the planning team. It is not about the work that we accomplish through the week. It is about relationships. It is about seeing people in their humanness. It is about reaching out to the needs of people right here around us. It is about just being with others and learning from each other, growing together in life.

Q. If your fellow planning team members described you in five words or less, what would they say?

A. Organized, committed, timely, planner, willing

Q. Why should a youth worker take students to your event?

A. We truly believe that our event has nothing to do with us as a planning team, organizing the event, but about what God wants to do through us at our event. This last year, we thought we had the best event planned, and then God just completely changed it. It turned out better than what we could ever imagine! We were so blessed and blown away by our meager offering. We felt like the little boy who offered two small fish and five loaves and bread and it fed the multitudes. So if your group would like to join some humble people who are hoping to serve others in our community with the help of the Holy Spirit, come on out to Prairie Serve 2015!

Q. What’s your favorite part of the event?

A. Hands down, my favorite part of Prairie Serve is the last night worship time. It was such a blessing to hear the student’s and leader’s testimonies from the week. So many lives were touched and blessed through our week. It was so great to hear the end result of all the work put into planning, and it was so worth all the time and effort!

Q. What is one website that you visit every day?

A. I know my answer should be something about youth ministry, but honestly it is probably Facebook.

Barry Foster

Q. What does a typical weekday look like when you’re not leading or planning for a YU event?

A. Weekends are packed with outreach Saturday events and three worship services on Sunday. Although I don’t preach on a regular basis I do take part in worship leadership. A big part of what I do on weekends is make sure all our “systems” are functioning well for our many community guests. From greeters in the parking lot to the time people leave worship and head home we strive to make their worship experience as memorable, meaningful and God-honoring as possible.

Q. What’s your favorite part of a Serve experience?

A. I love the testimonies – hearing what God is doing in the lives of the students as they venture into experiences out of their comfort zone. So often they come to Serve somewhat reserved and afraid to jump in. By Wednesday, you start hearing stories of what God is doing in their lives.

Q. Serving and volunteering on a ThereforeGo planning team is a huge commitment, why do you do it?

A. I do it because it’s through events like Serve that God can touch the lives of students and impact their lives for eternity.

Q. Why should a youth worker take students to your event?

A. Roselawn Serve will be ready to maximize your student’s mission trip experience. Our team focuses on helping students grow their faith while serving others. We strive to find work projects that our meaningful and allow the students to connect with local residents.

Q. Where would you like to travel someday?

A. Nature and animal photography is my thing so I love the national parks. Hope to visit Alaska on a photography adventure some day.

Dawn Klein

Q. What does a typical weekday look like when you’re not leading or planning for a YU event?

A. Well, I am up early to get my kids off to school. Then I make a cup of coffee and spend some time in Gods word & in prayer. As a youth group leader this is also the time that I organize bible lessons and events for our church youth group. Next are house chores & errands. Then, once the kids are home from school and settled it’s off to work for me. I am a dance teacher & choreographer. I teach & choreograph for children from the age of 2-18. I am very blessed to be able to use my God given talents and make a living doing something I love to do!

Q. Why should a youth worker take students to your event?

A. Live It is a powerful, life-changing event. Your youth groupers will grow in their relationship with God. They will learn to use their talents to serve him. They will make lasting friendships with fellow Christians from across the United States. Their hearts and souls will be filled with the love of Christ. Their lights will burn brighter than ever before!

Q. What’s your favorite part of the event?

A. When all of the teens and their leaders are together for worship. It is an awesome experience. You can feel the holy spirits presence just washing over them. It is so powerful and real that it has brought me to tears in the past.

Q. I’m never without __________________ while the event is happening?

A. My Bible, my phone, a cup of coffee, a smile and a hug to share.

Q. What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done for the sake of youth or youth ministry?

A. Anyone who knows me is aware of the fact that though I enjoy singing, I am not very good at it! I have never let the quality of my voice hold me back. I sing loud and proud with joy in my heart, all for the glory of our Lord. It is also not unusual to see me break out into a little dance while singing every now and then. Some may think I am being foolish, but I want our youth groupers to know that you don’t need an angelic voice to worship our Lord with song. He knows what’s in our heart and simply wants us to worship him. I believe that ff they can see (and hear) me singing then maybe they will loose their inhibitions and worship our Lord and Savior with that same joy!

Thoughts For Your Ministry

In a recent issue of a Youth Ministry magazine, I read Ned Erickson’s description of a relational (youth ministry) economy…

  • A round of Frisbee golf = a month of meetings
  • A milkshake out = a month of meetings
  • A day hike, camping trip or a weekend retreat = a semester of meetings
  • A weeklong camp or mission trip = a year of meetings

Over the years, I’ve heard many youth leaders place a very high value on taking students away from home as part of their strategic plan to help students meet Jesus and become a more mature disciple of Christ. As someone who has spent his entire life after college involved in youth ministry, I completely agree. It seems that these youth mission trip, convention or camp type experiences have the ingredients needed for the Holy Spirit to do a mighty work in a student’s life. Maybe this is because students get taken out of their daily routines and distractions of life and are given time to read God’s Word and discuss it with others as well as pray, worship and even serve others! Imagine if we were given the space to do these things every day of our lives. What impact would that have on our work place, our families, our churches, our schools and world?

Each fall, the Youth Unlimited team is intentional about stopping to reflect on the student and leader testimonies from the Serve and Live It experiences. It’s so exciting, humbling and gratifying to read what the Holy Spirit did in their lives. God is so good! Here are just a couple of the many testimonies from this summer:

I was struggling so much with my faith in Christ, not feeling close to him or significant to him, but this week helped me remember that I am vital in Christ. God does not make mistakes, and he made me.

-Gallatin Valley Serve Student Participant

At the beginning, I thought I was just going to help someone, but in the end, I realized I learned so much about God and myself and about what it means to be someone with a disability. I really learned how through God’s eyes everyone is equal.

-Winnipeg Special Needs Serve Mentor

With this issue of the Youth Unlimited Magazine, my hope is you feel our heart and passion to serve and provide life and eternity changing experiences for your students. Be sure to also check out the 2014 Impact Report in the back.

As you find yourself in the middle of the youth ministry year, may your passion and commitment continue to be as strong as it was at the beginning!

The Questions God Asks

If you could ask God a question, what would it be?

Go ahead; write it in the comments of this blog below. Take time to ponder and wordsmith if you want, type it in and then press enter or just scribble it down on a piece of scrap paper, crumple it up and throw it away. Either way, you can’t really “send it” or “throw it”. The question lingers and hopefully the answer will eventually linger as well.

If there’s no answer right now, my prayer is that wondering or even doubting will lead to leaning further into God’s wisdom and not into discouragement or disillusion. (Proverbs 3:5-6) There’s a tension that God lets linger when questions are on the table. Why does he do that?

Sometimes when we express those deeper questions it reflects a longing for the world to be reconciled or made right. The world groans for that day according to Romans 8. It seems God would move us from groaning for our own “personal world” to be made right into a groaning for the world, his world, to be made right.

At times it’s as if God has said to me, “Go ahead and question; long for answers in your personal life and for your family and the things that matter to you. Then, let me show you how I long for the people that matter to me. Then, let’s make a difference together.”

Ask your questions. Plead, cry, grieve, doubt and deliberate. Ancients of the faith did. Then, in the aftermath of our own questions, listen for his.

It’s when we turn our attention to God’s questions that we find peace in the tension. It’s when we turn our desire for the answers into the desire for his perspective that we become hungry and thirsty for the right things.

If that sounds trite or churchy, it might be necessary to return to the first paragraph and continue working through your own questions and struggle. There is a deep work God wants to do in and through our struggles and questions.

I remember reading a book that urged me to make the most of suffering and I just wasn’t ready to. I put my bookmark in the page, shut the book hard and threw it across the room. Eventually, there is grace to work on our own struggles and co-labor with Christ in the world. Don’t rush your own process if you’re struggling today.

What are the questions God asks?

Going through the Gospels and making a note of everything Jesus asked in conversations would be a great study.

There is also an “at-a-glance” outline in Isaiah 58. God’s people are asking why it seems he is not listening to them and blessing them and moving heaven and earth to help them. He moves them into his questions which will lead to the deeper answers for which they long.

For a seven part youth group curriculum that guides students through dealing with their own troubles, celebrating God’s work through Christ, true worship, a true fast and “kingdom living in the middle of normal”, please download the Youth Unlimited Student Curriculum at www.thereforego.com/downloads.

Isaiah 58:5-9

NASB

“Is it a fast like this which I choose, a day for a man to humble himself?
Is it for bowing [b]one’s head like a reed
And for spreading out sackcloth and ashes as a bed?
Will you call this a fast, even an acceptable day to the Lord?
6 “Is this not the fast which I choose,
To loosen the bonds of wickedness,
To undo the bands of the yoke,
And to let the oppressed go free
And break every yoke?
7 “Is it not to divide your bread [c]with the hungry
And bring the homeless poor into the house;
When you see the naked, to cover him;
And not to hide yourself from your own flesh?
8 “Then your light will break out like the dawn,
And your recovery will speedily spring forth;
And your righteousness will go before you;
The glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.
9 “Then you will call, and the Lord will answer;
You will cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’

What questions are you asking God today?

What questions is God asking you?

Boondock Serve

Missional experiences to urban areas have been popular for years. Why is that? What attracts suburban student ministries to reach into the city for a week? Is it because they’ve noticed the strength of urban churches and desire to learn from their creativity, uniqueness and diversity? I hope that’s it and not the thought that the urban church lacks resources or has needs so much greater than “ours”. That would seem condescending and insulting.

From the city of Austin, Texas to the Distillery District of Toronto, urban churches have hosted Serve. We have some great cities and incredible urban leaders in our community of Host Churches, but the Host Churches that sign up for Serve are far from cookie cutter. Each is unique as the day is long.

Suburbia Serve Sites are well represented in Houston, Peterborough, West Des Moines, Ripon, California, etc. There’s an abundance of places to go where economic status varies greatly while the spiritual needs remain constant.

It’s truly not about the place as much as the heart, and the heart of the matter is where the compassion of Jesus Christ converges with his image in an individual no matter what their needs or strengths may be. No matter where in the world we seek to serve it is about finding ourselves in Christ and seeing others in his image; even if that is in the sticks.

Rural Serves are gaining momentum and attention. It might be because we are realizing that rural poverty outweighs urban poverty in both Canada and the U.S. The challenges are clearly different but many of the principles are the same.

To fully embrace a rural “mission trip” we have to overcome some stereotypes. There are words used for “the sticks” that used to be tainted by insult but now carry respect. The redneck nation has grown. Trucker hats are in again and a farmer tan can be worn with pride.

So what do you call the Serve opportunities in western Minnesota, the Prairie of Iowa, Platte, South Dakota, Stephenville, Texas, Heartland, Kansas, etc.? Boondock Serve? You could. Or you could call them innovative, visionary and heart-felt. You could call them God-honoring.

Rural Serve

Check Wikipedia and you’ll see: Boondock is American slang used to refer to the countryside or any implicitly isolated rural/wilderness area, regardless of topography or vegetation. Similar slang or colloquial words are “the sticks”, “the chodes”, “the backblocks”, or “Woop Woop” in Australia and New Zealand.

A lot of us who live in rural areas have used, Podunk, Yokel and Middle of Nowhere. A new one for me is Waikikamukau out of New Zealand (pronounced much like “Walk-about-a-moo-cow).

It doesn’t matter what you call it, as long as you respect it. God is using his Church in rural areas to reach the masses. Churches are advancing and enhancing their community outreach and home missions by hosting Serve. The Gospel is being shared week after week as they gain better understanding for the strengths of their community and meet needs. We have at least five rural Serve Sites that are praying that the Lord of the harvest would send them laborers. Why not join church leaders in the boondocks and share the heart of Christ with them and for them in their community.

Maybe your group could be an answer to their prayer. If you’re from the burbs or a city, you’ll get a dose of fresh country air, some rural hospitality and a great view of the Kingdom.

Thank God, I’m a country boy.

Jerry grew up in the farmlands of the Midwest, helping on dairy and hog farms. The town he lived in during middle and high school had a population of 112. The town he lives in now is just passed “the sticks” and recently turned the blinking caution light at the town square into a full-fledged traffic light.

2015 Theme Summary – The Other 51

Happy (almost) New Year! At Youth Unlimited, 2015 is all about “The Other 51”, our theme for Live It and Serve this year. We are so excited for the many students whose lives will be changed through these faith-forming experiences and their interaction with The Other 51. To learn more about what these students will be learning and participating in, read below!

Key Passage:

John 20:21b, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you. Receive now the Holy Spirit.” (NRSV)

Live It and Serve are just one week of the year, and after that one week, students head back home. Then what?

Students don’t just go for that one week, though. They also go for the other 51. The other 51 weeks in the year matter too, and they know it. Serving God is not about going away for a weeklong “mission tourism” experience. It’s not just about hanging out, meeting new people, and seeing God in a different city. It’s about taking that experience, that one week, and making it their lives! It’s about participating in the Kingdom of God for one week in an intense way so that they can begin to (or continue to) see God’s amazing reign in the other 51 weeks of the year. It’s about seeing God in all aspects of what they do – all the time – The Other 51!

So, get ready for 2015! The one-week youth mission experiences at Serve and Live It are going to change students! Our purpose for this one week is to prepare them for the other 51. We are going to ask, “What would the world look like with a good God revealed in Jesus Christ in charge of it?” That’s God’s plan: to show his reign, his Kingdom, revealed in Jesus to all humanity, and God wants to use students to do it! In these one week experiences, students are going to hear about the size of God’s plan, which is so much bigger than they could imagine. They are going to hear about the people involved in God’s plan, being so many more than they probably thought. They’ll receive some “tools” for working in the Kingdom, and they are going to experience a taste of God’s Kingdom already alive on earth as it is in Heaven – so that they may desire to taste that Kingdom again and again – for the other 51 weeks.

So these one-week you mission experiences are just the beginning. The students who participate are continuing a journey, but not just for that one week. Jesus never asked for one week. He never asked for a little bit of their lives. He asked for it all. “As the Father has sent me, so I send you. Receive now the Holy Spirit.” Are you ready for 2015?

Welcome To The Table

While serving a remote village in the mountains of Haiti, I spent an afternoon inviting people to church. The most common response: “I don’t have nice enough clothing.” The heart of this response keeps people away in every culture: the fear of judgment, the rags of shame and the scars of old stones.

The Jesus-revolution launched a new way and a new community, an upside-down kingdom where all are invited to the table. It is a place where the poor are treasured and orphans find a home. It is a feast where earthly royalty and blue-collar tradesmen are peers. Every man-made hierarchy is crushed under the shared need to be born again and saved by grace.

I challenge you to read the gospels and note the times that Jesus is at a table or sharing a meal. Consider one example from the Gospel of Matthew:

“As Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples.” Matthew 9:10

The table where Jesus wanted to be and the people he attracted and welcomed were not just the well-dressed and well-adjusted. This new community is radically different from old models, simply because everyone is invited: the religious leader and the woman caught in adultery; the wealthy tax agent and the widow who gave a penny.

Most expected the promised Messiah to wage a physical war against political oppression. Instead, Jesus pursued our hearts and laid ruin to the walls of prejudice and pride.

“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Colossians 3:28 & 29

This is unconditional love. This mosaic of grace defines us; it does not count every idea as equal or imply that we don not stand on a strong foundation of truth. Rather, it means that we are united not by our backgrounds, preferences or ideals, but in the fact that we are all broken people in need of the unconditional love of God.

The great equalizer is our need. The great provision is unconditional love. Jesus destroys the hierarchies of this world and sets a chair for everyone at the feast. You need not be from the right background, have nice clothes or have kept the rules to be invited. Come as you are. The table is available to you.

A passionate worship leader and gifted songwriter, Andy Needham is a devoted champion for the local church. Beyond his role with the Andy Needham Band he serves as a speaker, consultant, coach and worship leader. In 2015, the Andy Needham Band will serve as the Worship Band at Youth Unlimited’s Live It.

My 51

For decades there has been an ebb and flow of unity among churches in New England. It seems the water is rising again!

 

Student ministries gathered for a few hours to advance unity and intentionally create synergy among churches.

 

It sounds way too cliché to paint the evening as an event full of fun, food and fellowship, but those were on the surface the entire time and it just felt right. There was a sense of belonging and affirmation. It seemed like everyone in the room that Friday night was saying, “This is my night. This is my time with the Body of Christ. This is my act of worship. This is my life for him. This is one week I will end in praise.”

 

What about the other 51 weeks of the year? That was the challenge. How do we live a life of true worship and help others grow close to Christ?

 

If fellowship was on the surface that night, then true worship and the Word were present on the deeper level.

 

Bryan Weigers of New England Chapel spoke from his heart that night emphasizing, “You are loved.” He shared his own hard times. Recently, one of his daughters needed 11 surgeries in one year. His other daughter broke her back. He suffered a broken neck. All this took place within months of each other. Yet God saw his family through the hard times. Bryan urged students to sign on for a “4G Experience With God” for every week of the year.

 

  1. Grieve when you’re going through a hard time.
  2. Group up with other followers of Christ. Make sure you don’t isolate yourself.
  3. Give it up to God. Dedicate the struggle to him. Even give thanks for how he is working when you can’t yet see how he is.
  4. Give to others. Even when you’re hurting you have much to give and God will use you to help others.

 

The Andy Needham Band led worship, introducing a new song that became an anthem for the night called, “Love is the Song”. Another song that resounded with the message of the evening was “O Great Love”, which is a great reminder that the deep and abiding love of God has far reaching effects on our lives. To listen to the song, watch the video below.

 

 

Annika Bangsma, a catalyst for the event, said,

 

“It has been my prayer that ‘youth ministry’ wouldn’t consist of just one lone youth worker striving to do the impossible, but a community endeavor both within and between churches to help adopt teens into the body of Christ—and thus become an endeavor full of relationships, accountability, joy and belonging.

 

It is for this reason that Bryan and I are both big fans of Youth Unlimited events, as we feel that they are great opportunities for students to grow in their relationships with Christ and with others.

 

Bryan and I had already planned to attend the Youth Unlimited Live It convention this summer with our groups, and thus when we found out that Andy Needham Band was booked to be the band at Live It, God stirred us a little further. If ANB was coming from our area to go to Chicago, what if we could take all that good stuff that was going to be happening in Chicago this summer –and give our area a little taste of it?

 

The theme for Live It in Chicago this summer is “The Other 51”, therefore, we decided to take some ownership of that theme, and thus, “My 51” was born: we would plan a night to showcase the band and the opportunities that exist through the Live It experience, while also bringing together area church youth groups and youth groups from throughout our classis (Vermont, Connecticut) for an exciting night of relationship building – both with one another and with our Savior—just like at Live It.  As such, we used some basics from the Live It playbook – a dynamic night of worship, telling Christ’s story, and social time for youth to connect with one another and their leaders; and were very excited at the results.

 

Many from the group in Massachusetts and the Andy Needham Band plan to meet at Youth Unlimited’s Live It which is a one week convention beginning July 21, 2015, at Trinity Christian College.

 

For a free download of “O Great Love” by the Andy Needham Band to help inspire others through their 51, fill out the form below.

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Brighton’s Serve Journey

Brighton’s Serve Journey begins 10 years ago when our youth went on a Serve youth mission trip in 2005 – It’s amazing how the Lord works! He has been preparing us for the last 10 years to now come to this point of hosting Serve in Brighton.

 

Each year, we send a team of youth to participate in communities all across North America for one week. We have helped people struggling with finances, disabilities and life issues, people from different faiths or different walks of life and we have cared for God’s creation – people, all creatures and His world. We have been the hands and feet of Jesus and it has turned our lives around!

 

Two years ago during Serve in Orillia, our Pastor received a call to another church. Before we even came home from Serve, thoughts of hosting strongly came to mind. Our youth have always been saying that we should host in Brighton. Knowing the huge commitment involved, it was never an idea that stuck – until now. So, we came back from our mountain top experience and shared the idea with many in our Brighton congregation. Our church family responded with a very excited yes. We knew it would require a great community effort, especially when we would be without a senior pastor.

 

Brighton Fellowship is a church of ‘doers’. They are the greatest support to our youth group. Months earlier we did a mini visioning for our church and a real passion was to serve the Brighton community, but how does that look? Hosting a Serve project was a great way to help the church do just that.

 

The journey continued. Council gave their blessing and stands with us for the three year commitment. We made a sign-up board and the response has been amazing. Our church prays for Serve every week and reminds us all how we can make a difference as a church family. We job shadowed the Ajax Serve site this past summer and again were truly blessed. We have contacted potential job sites – the youth drop in centre in Brighton, the New Life Girls Home in Consecon, Community Care, Presquile Provincial Park, the local schools, the two senior homes in Brighton, the low income housing development, etc. Members of our church already help out individually but we look forward to sharing the love of Christ as a church for the Serve week and the ‘other 51 weeks’.

 

Last week we invited the congregation to join us for the Serve 101 teaching session and 38 people showed up, which is amazing after the short notice they received! After the teaching session, a church member came up to us and said his company would like to donate for the next three years! God is good! We are still without a senior pastor, but our church family has stepped up to the plate. We know the Lord goes before us, beside us, above us, below us and behind us. He truly is with us! We are an excited group and we look forward to hosting Serve…

 

Let the journey continue!

 

For more on the outcomes of Serve, click here to download a one-page summary.

Community at Community CRC

Fulfilling the Great Commission is the desire of most churches. After all, what church would say they didn’t want to reach out to the lost?
However, fulfilling the Great Commission is easier said than done. How does a church become part of the community rather than just reaching into the community?  For a church to be recognized as a positive and valuable influence, even by those who do not attend, speaks volumes to the church’s efforts to be part of its community.
Community CRC has always had outreach as part of its DNA. Established as a mission chapel over 50 years ago in Roselawn, Indiana, it has always sought to connect with the community.  Now, Community CRC is a growing church and is still asking the question, ” What can we do for our community?” or, “What will this decision do to help reach the lost and hurting?”
Hosting a Serve week is a natural extension of an already full slate of outreach events during “the other 51” weeks of the year. In the summer, a free Christian rock concert is held in the parking lot of the local food store. In October, a Fall Festival Trunk or Treat attracts 800. January is time for a Wild Game Dinner that draws over 500 and in the spring, there’s a Celebrate Marriage event with a comedian and a prime rib dinner. Other community outreach methods include Kids Hope, VBS, Food Pantry, Thanksgiving baskets, Stephen Ministry, music concerts for all types of music lovers, scores of phone calls and follow-up contacts. Our growing list of community outreach methods makes Sunday morning worship filled with a mix of seekers, new believers, people rooted deep in their faith, people with addictions, people recovering from addictions, very poor worshippers and very wealthy worshippers.
For more information on The Other 51 and Serve 2015, click here.
Big events are important for attracting people to our church, but what happens on Sunday morning is really important. Community CRC has been known for welcoming everyone and anyone when they walk through the doors. A casual and blended worship style helps people feel at home. Our Connections Coordinator makes sure a welcome bag is presented and contact information is gathered.
The Roselawn, Indiana community is not well off. Many families deal with broken homes and addictions. Hurting people matter to our Lord and they matter to Community Church. Help us connect with families that need an expression of love through home improvement projects and other services.
Roselawn Serve 2

How Many Students Does it Take

I’m often asked how many students participate in Serve each summer. Here’s the short but powerful answer:

First, recognize that students and adults participate in Serve and the three major points of impact include:

  • The Host Church- The Host Church prays about how to creatively share the Gospel with their community and mobilize their congregation into the community. This isn’t just a one-week outreach or even three months of planning. Community outreach and home missions is written into the DNA of the Host Church, so the student workforce during this one week helps to enhance and advance what the congregation does throughout the year.
  • The Community – Persons in every community across North America are praying that God would meet their needs. Some of those needs are tangible, work-related projects that have a significant bearing on that person’s financial, social and emotional well being. Those people and organizations see the Church in action. They see teenagers as doers of the Word and not hearers only. Plus, the people receiving the work share their life story and perspective so their strengths are seen and not just their needs.
  • The Students and Youth Leaders – The Students and Youth Leaders who register have been praying about how to expand their worldview and fulfill the Great Commission. They are invited to serve the Host Church and community for one week then urged to go back and engage more fully with their own congregation to reach people down the street and around the world.

For more on Serve Outcomes in these areas of impact, click here to download a one-page summary.

Now here’s the break down of participants. These are approximates and on the conservative side (I never like to be “evangelistic” in my numbers):

  • 1,700 students and youth leaders
  • 400 Host Church volunteers
  • 1,700 Host Church Prayer Partners
  • 2,400 Sending Church Prayer and Financial Partners
  • 5,600 people receiving help and sharing their life perspective with students

10,000 plus participate in Serve each summer directly connected to a church.

That last part, “directly connected to a church”, is vital to Youth Unlimited. Serve is not a student mission trip where student groups “show up, blow up and blow out”. Everyone participating is or can be relationally connected to a long-term ministry. With Youth Unlimited, it’s all about faith for life.

If you’ve been on Youth Unlimited’s Serve and have a story of impact you’d like to share, please email Mandi at Mandi@youthunlimited.org.

 

 

A Look Ahead to Live It 2015

Youth Unlimited is excited for Live It 2015 and the opportunity to engage with high school age students at their point of interests and passions once again so they can learn about their value in Christ while exploring how to use their talents to spread God’s love to their friends, community and world. Watch the video below for a look ahead to Live It 2015!

Want to know the latest information about SERVE and ThereforeGo Ministries?