The Words of the Young Family
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The Words of the Young Family |
Greetings to all the parents in Lovin’ Life Ministries Ohio! We want to thank you for all of your support last year! As Garrun Abrahams begins his new position with EU STF, we wanted to update you on what is happening this year in the Youth Ministry. David Young and Trimon Lamson will be your Youth Ministers this year. Yoko Bihary, from Cleveland, will be a full time intern helping us at the church as well.
Recently, the “Equip U” educator’s conference was held in New York. Over 80 people, from more than 20 states attended. During this conference we were able to connect with the new vision for youth from the Headquarters Education Department. Jaga Gavin, the youth pastor at Lovin’ Life Ministries, deeply expressed five essential points for a successful youth ministry. Here they are:
1. Fun and Exciting: Youth Ministry has to be fun and exciting! Kids want to have fun. If the youth don’t want to come to programs, then you can’t teach them anything. The youth need to feel love and know that the principle can be exciting and cool.
2. Safe Atmosphere: Activities where the youth feel safe to be themselves is essential. Youth need to be together as much as possible to build true relationships. This requires the help and encouragement of all parents, elder second generation, and community as a whole.
3. The Message: Having a message is also extremely important. Young people need to hear God’s word through lectures and testimonies. However, we are always giving a message through our actions as well. So as a community we need to not only talk about love, we also need to share love.
4. Mentorship: A huge part of Youth Ministry is having a large community of Elder Brother/Sisters and Uncles/Aunts that the youth can connect to. Having more people involved means that young people have more opportunities to connect with someone they feel comfortable with. So as a Youth Ministry we need to be a family, and treat the youth like they are our younger brothers and sisters.
5. Develop Relationship with Parents: One of the Youth Ministries main goals is to develop the relationship between the parents and the children. Parents play the biggest role in a young person’s life. Without programs for developing a young person’s relationship with their parents, the Youth Ministry cannot be effective. 2009-2010 Year Goals
Based on these five principles, we have developed three goals for the 2009-2010 Youth Ministry:
Teach youth to become mature individuals who can inherit the true love of God and share it with those around them. Give youth the tools to improve their relationships with their parents, siblings, future spouses, and God.
Help kids to discover and nurture their talents to join the Generation of Peace to better the world.
Below is a summary of this year’s programs!
1. Get W.I.S.E.: Inspired from In Jin Nim’s sermon on “loving the World with Integrity, Service, and Excellence,” this program meets weekly on Wednesday, from 6 pm. to 8 pm. This meeting will combine an hour of fun activities and fellowship with an hour for a message and group discussion. Each message will follow a monthly theme such as: understanding the principle of creation, God’s heart, the fall, virtue, world religions, and being externally excellent.
2. Family Nights: Family nights are on the 2nd and 4th Saturday of every month from 6 pm. to 8 pm. All ages are welcome. These nights will be a great opportunity to bring your whole family for an enjoyable evening. There will be amusing activities and a message geared towards building healthy relationships for parents and children.
3. Monthly Newsletter: The Youth Ministry will be sending out a monthly newsletter and calendar to keep the community updated on Youth Ministry activities. The newsletters will also include testimonies, inspirational pieces, pictures, and reports. In addition, the newsletter will written and edited by youth volunteers from our own community!
4. BC Bash: This program takes place on the first Saturday of ever month from 4 pm to 8 pm. BC Bash is gathering for high school youth from the entire district. Aside from being a great opportunity for fellowship, young people can hear an inspirational message to start off the month.
5. City Visits: We are planning to make monthly visits to our surrounding communities. A team of youth will periodically visit other cities to host programs. This will be a chance for our Youth Ministry to have “give and take” with the youth in other communities.
6. Workshops: High school and middle Workshops will be held during the winter vacation and summer vacations. The elementary age children will have one workshop during the summer. The workshops are amazing opportunities for the children to experience God and have deep experiences with their brothers and sisters.
7. Big Brother, Big Sister: This is a new mentoring program in which youth can volunteer to have an elder brother/sister and a younger brother/sister assigned to them. For example, a high school brother will have a middle school younger brother, and a college aged elder brother. This program will help our second generation recognize that they are all one family under God and that elder youth are role models to their younger brothers/sisters.
8. Retreats: Retreats will be monthly events that will give the youth a chance to spend a day in nature with God’s creation. Retreats will also be fun and include many different activities.
9. Service Projects: We are working on creating long-term service projects to help the youth feel the value of serving their community and living for the sake of others.
10. Fundraisers: We will be working on monthly fundraising activities to help the youth take ownership of the Youth Ministry, and help support its programs at the same time.
11. Video Production: This group will work on creating inspirational shorts, workshop media, and other video projects for the Youth Ministry. The youth will gain hands-on experience with video production, editing, and the power of the media.
12. Guys and Girls Nights: This is a monthly program where girls can be girls, and the boys can be boys. Boys and girls will separate and spend a full evening for food, fellowship, and fun.
We are excited to get started with the 2009-2010 year and believe that it will be a great year for our community. Please check out the calendar on the next page to see all the activities! From the Youth Ministry, we would like to express our thanks and gratitude for your support!
Sincerely, Lovin’ Life Youth Ministry Staff