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The Anglican Church in Tasmania Search |
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a healthy church...transformingLIFE |
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August 2006 |
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Youth ministrySo is everything hopeless? No. Stephen Carnaby has a good news story. In the June edition of Tasmanian Anglican we read Chris Bowditch’s Synod report on the state of youth ministry in the Anglican Church in Tasmania. It made for sobering reading, telling of only a handful of parishes with youth ministries (or any young people at all!) A far cry from 20–30 years ago when youth ministries were plentiful. It is not all hopeless …and you can do something too!At the end of April, with the support of the five Anglican parishes on Hobart’s Eastern Shore, a new youth ministry was started for Grades 5–9. Since then, 20 new kids have attended, with an average of about 10–12 each time. We mix social activities with talks about God. Last Sunday afternoon we counted 17 more young people at an outreach event. We have already branched out beyond ‘church kids’ to a number of their friends and are planning for two groups in 2007 (Grades 3–6 and 7–9) Each church has contributed, even though most have very few, if any, young people. Bellerive has provided a place to meet (and put up with the inevitable mess and a broken window!) There are five leaders from Sandford, Bellerive and BayWest – thanks to BayWest for their generosity in helping kick-start this new ministry. All the Eastern Shore Anglican church leaders have committed to pray for us, and to publicise the group amongst their contacts. So how can you do it too?• Firstly: decide that it’s really important – unless you do this, nothing will happen. We have leaders from different churches giving their time and energy for this when they could be doing other important things. And time spent on this means less time for other ministries (which the parishes have to sacrifice – but the sacrifice is worth it.) We also have a parish council and others giving money to support it. • Secondly: decide where you have contacts – what has God given you? We started with Grades 5–9 because that’s where we had possibilities; even though it might not fit the ideal graded youth group, it’s a place to start. • Thirdly: work together with others. Bellerive could not have done this alone, and neither could the other parishes; but together we’ve made a great start, and also built some new friendships by doing mission together. • Fourthly: ask for help. If you don’t know how, ask. We’d be happy to give advice from our experiences. There are some strong youth ministries in Anglican churches, with leaders who are always happy to give advice and support. Scripture Union and other organisations can help too. So yes, Chris’ report was a shocker, a wake-up call. But God is still working, and we can too.
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