When did we break our young people?
So I've just returned from 5 days up at Glenarm Castle, which by the way is a fantastic and beautiful place which is really worth a visit. However I wasn't there for the craic or to admire the scenery I was up at Summer Madness serving on the staff team with around 200 other "nutters"as people called us. For 5 days the majority of us worked solidly, working 12 hour + days to ensure that the 3000 young people had a fantastic time and encountered God. When I say the majority of us there were a few hardcore guys who where actually working up there for two weeks, dedication.
Anyway back to the reason for this blog.
I left Summer Madness on Tuesday morning shattered yet feeling fulfilled. I have been asked by several people since I came home why I do it, especially when I have to pay for the privilege and also not work for 5 days. The answer is simply I am helping with 200 other like minded individuals to provide young people with a safe place where they can feel secure enough to be themselves and to express themselves and their faith and go to that deeper place of understanding with themselves and God.
I'll be honest there were a few points throughout the weekend when I wondered was I insane but watching how much the young people got out of it and seeing how thankful they were made it all worth it.
On Tuesday morning it really hit me when the estate manager got up and thanked each and every young person for the respect they had shown the community and the estate. The words that struck me the most was "You young people have restored this communities opinion and faith in young people today." That just stuck in my head as a call to go and move out from Glenarm and see the rest of the country and even the world have their faith restored in young people. Each and everyone of these kids had something different about them, they had something that members of the community wanted, they could see this "special aspect" of them. They could see God living and working in them. Because of this 2 people from the village walked up to Security on Sunday night and said we have seen your young people walking about and we want what they have, we want to become Christians. What an example!!!
Yet what worries me is the communities original opinion of young people and how we as a society let it get to that stage. Yes we can blame parents and I'll admit as a youth worker there are times when I have said that sweeping statement myself, however we all must take some aspect of responsibility for the worlds perception of young people today.
Life as a teenager in todays society is so much harder than it was even 10 years ago, Christianity is slowly becoming a subject of ridicule, young people are told they are stupid and worthless, that they won't amount to anything. Casual sex, drugs, drink, risk taking behaviours, depression, loneliness are becoming the norm and love it going out the window.
Yet maybe if each of us took a small portion of our week to invest in our young people then these problems would start to become less and God would be able to shine through us and we could have the same impact on our communities as these young people had on Glenarm.
These young people really where living out Ephesians 5, they where being Imitators of God. Maybe it's time we all took a look at ourselves and this scripture to see the impact we are making.
What struck me even more was that these young people where still going through the same struggles and issues as any other teenager, the difference was that they were doing something about trying to fix it and they new they had a God they could go to that would be able to help them through it.
The amount of young people who responded to the alter call on Tuesday morning for people feeling broken, useless, burdened down with struggles was unbelievable. As I sat there with tears slowly sliding down my face watching these kids, who the majority of which were in their early teens slowly getting up one by one and admitting to feeling like this a part of me broke and I realised that we need to do something about this.
So this may have been a slight rambling but my challenge to you is When did we let our young people get so broken? and what are we going to do about it?
After all if they can live out Ephesians 5 to a small community and restore their faith in young people surely we owe it to them to restore their faith in us as adults?
Anyway back to the reason for this blog.
I left Summer Madness on Tuesday morning shattered yet feeling fulfilled. I have been asked by several people since I came home why I do it, especially when I have to pay for the privilege and also not work for 5 days. The answer is simply I am helping with 200 other like minded individuals to provide young people with a safe place where they can feel secure enough to be themselves and to express themselves and their faith and go to that deeper place of understanding with themselves and God.
I'll be honest there were a few points throughout the weekend when I wondered was I insane but watching how much the young people got out of it and seeing how thankful they were made it all worth it.
On Tuesday morning it really hit me when the estate manager got up and thanked each and every young person for the respect they had shown the community and the estate. The words that struck me the most was "You young people have restored this communities opinion and faith in young people today." That just stuck in my head as a call to go and move out from Glenarm and see the rest of the country and even the world have their faith restored in young people. Each and everyone of these kids had something different about them, they had something that members of the community wanted, they could see this "special aspect" of them. They could see God living and working in them. Because of this 2 people from the village walked up to Security on Sunday night and said we have seen your young people walking about and we want what they have, we want to become Christians. What an example!!!
Yet what worries me is the communities original opinion of young people and how we as a society let it get to that stage. Yes we can blame parents and I'll admit as a youth worker there are times when I have said that sweeping statement myself, however we all must take some aspect of responsibility for the worlds perception of young people today.
Life as a teenager in todays society is so much harder than it was even 10 years ago, Christianity is slowly becoming a subject of ridicule, young people are told they are stupid and worthless, that they won't amount to anything. Casual sex, drugs, drink, risk taking behaviours, depression, loneliness are becoming the norm and love it going out the window.
Yet maybe if each of us took a small portion of our week to invest in our young people then these problems would start to become less and God would be able to shine through us and we could have the same impact on our communities as these young people had on Glenarm.
These young people really where living out Ephesians 5, they where being Imitators of God. Maybe it's time we all took a look at ourselves and this scripture to see the impact we are making.
What struck me even more was that these young people where still going through the same struggles and issues as any other teenager, the difference was that they were doing something about trying to fix it and they new they had a God they could go to that would be able to help them through it.
The amount of young people who responded to the alter call on Tuesday morning for people feeling broken, useless, burdened down with struggles was unbelievable. As I sat there with tears slowly sliding down my face watching these kids, who the majority of which were in their early teens slowly getting up one by one and admitting to feeling like this a part of me broke and I realised that we need to do something about this.
So this may have been a slight rambling but my challenge to you is When did we let our young people get so broken? and what are we going to do about it?
After all if they can live out Ephesians 5 to a small community and restore their faith in young people surely we owe it to them to restore their faith in us as adults?
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