we be church

Proud of Our Youth

I thought I would write a post on how Im really proud of how our youth group, level-x. It has been great to see them growing and maturing in the past year. They have been taking on some big projects such as leading an Easter Sunday and putting on a Fashion Show with Auction to raise money for Compassion in Haiti. It would be fair to say that they are punching above their weight.
At our last Ignite (a monthly youth service) we got them to write down their questions about any thing related to God and the Bible and they came back with loads of great questions which we aim to get answer after the easter break. Hopefully this will become a regular feature and will create a culture of asking questions to the leaders in the future. Here are some of them below…

• What happened to Judas when he died? Did God plan this?
• What made God decide that Mary and Joseph were “the ones” to have the baby Jesus as their son?
• Is Goliath a descendant of the people who had sex with the angles in Genesis?
• Did Satan fall before Adam and Eve, during or after?
• If Adam was 800 years old why do people say the oldest person was 128?
• If it cost only one rib to get Eve, what would he have been given if he gave a whole arm?
• Did Abraham really hear from God when he thought he was told to sacrifice Isaac?
• Can Jesus/God read our thoughts and can people in heaven know what we’re doing like God can?
• Can God change anything he wants whenever he wants to? Is that how he answers people’s prayers?
• Why didn’t God make everyone equal? (Poverty)
• Why does he allow babies to die?
• Does God exist on other planets?
• If God is about love, why did he demand so many wars?
• What about other religions?
• If God is real how come we have so many floods and wars?
• Predestination?
• Why did God make us so we didn’t have to learn everything but know everything?
• Why did God allow the Israelites to pass through the red sea and allow the Egyptians to die?
• Why does God allow death?

First Night for Ignite – Changing the Landscape

So we have our first Ignite this Friday for our youth group called “Level-x” at County Church. Ignite is basically a youth service where we have a short game, worship and a talk with the youth having a chance to hang out at the end. We have about 20 young people coming regularly now, which is fantastic, with more lads which has been a answer to prayer. We have previously been meeting in the living rooms of generous people but have just moved to a hall on an housing estate which means our youth have more space but also means that we have a consistent place for our youth to meet which is near to them.

We have been living with the theme of Identity and have a series of related talks lined up. Some of our older youth have begun taking responsibility for leading in various ways which is mega awesome and I have been really proud to see them growing in this area. The growth we are experiencing means we need more practised leaders with time to serve, particularly a female leader for our young girls, we are praying and seeking someone who is called in this area.

As it’s our first event we are still learning what will work and wont work but in a typical youthful passion we are going for it! My prayer is that God meets with our youth and that it becomes a highlight in the monthly calendar for our young people. I continue to hold on to what James says “Draw near to God and he will draw near to you” there is absolutely no reason we can’t encourage our youth in this way. You can find out what is happening with our youth on our Level-x facebook page.

There is No Game Over with Jesus

Sometimes to switch off I design, its a way I can be in my element without pressure or demands. Over the past months on and off I have been designing three t-shirts for our youth group level-x. I thought I would post them here and get some feedback. Eventually the plan is that they will be made into stencils and the youth can bring their own coloured tees and print off their favorite design.