Where do we go from here…

Rock Solid has been running for 6 months. One of the problems we face is the fluctuation in the group size, from it being very consistent to now seeing big differences between weeks. I think partly this is because of the stop and start nature of breaking when schools break, and this term Monday’s being interrupted by bank holidays. Also we notice more and more that the young people have such increasingly busy lives, and more so in the summer term. All we can do is continue and encourage those who come regularly.

We need to work out how pastoral we can be outside of the confines of the group environment on Monday’s. I think part of this falls on the young people themselves, seeing them checking on peers and encouraging them. We’ve seen this to be more effective than the adults of the group; perhaps adults asking young people just seem too intimidating. We’ve had some big pastoral issues recently and the young people seem to be a rock for one another and this is so encouraging. I think often adults think we know best, where as this group allow young people to sometimes know best. This said we still have lots of cliques, we are trying to get over this boundary, but is this just a natural part of life or should we be trying to force more cohesion.

Two key things we still want to work through in the group is prayer and social awareness. Prayer has taken a bigger role this year, we pray at each group, sometimes with an adult leading prayer, and at other times written post it prayers. We are looking at having a prayer wall so everyone can write thanks, or requests so that others can see and pray for them, encouraging them to take responsibility for praying for one another but also helping those who want prayer but not sure how to go about it yet. We are aware that we still have divides between those who are ‘used’ to Christian ways of living and those who are still exploring.

Two areas to highlight for need to improve are;
-Engaging better with each other individually.
-Mentoring key people to take on more responsibility for the group.

Social awareness is also important, something we need to cover more this term, we would like to see the group giving something back to the local area, but also within the group, I want them to start to take responsibility for caring for one another more.

I recently read an article about learning styles through preaching in the YouthWork magazine, looking at three learning styles I wanted to think about how we at Rock Solid work these in so that we meet everyone’s learning styles.
The three styles are;
-Visual learners.
-Auditory learners
-Kinaesthetic learners.
Looking at these I think we often fall into the danger of audio learning. Though we spend little time talking at them, a lot of it is discussion based. As far as visual learning we often use illustrations through gospel magic or film clips. Kinaesthetic learning is probably the one which we struggle the most, we play games with a meaning but it is an area we need to look at more and grapple with.

Response

Well RS is continuing well, we've kept a steady group of young people which is great but it is more great that they are still inviting friends along with them! If only adults were the same! You know if something is working for a group if young people invite friends along...even when we talk about Jesus!

I've been really excited about the group this term, we have introduced more prayer and more opportunities for the everyone to respond to what we've been talking about, as an act of worship.

This week we looked at conflict and our ability to use words to be destructive. Using film, games, POD groups (their small groups within the session) and a short talk with illustrations. Conversations really opened up as people shared stories and feelings. It just so happened that siblings were fighting with on another this week! They left laughing with each other which can only be positive!

As a response we gave everyone an opportunity to write down a name or situation which they wanted God to deal with then put it ion a bin...a simple exercise but it needs involvement from us, I think often inherited church lacks in gaining our involvement, we know that young people need to be involved...and us adults have been getting a lot out of participating too.

Conflict is an interesting conversation when in many churches this is one of the main problems...I love the fact our place to worship and learn on a Monday night is full of joy and laughter, and supporting those who's life outside of Monday's isn't so joyful!

Prayer

A few weeks ago I commented on prayer. I thought I'd just write about what we did. We did a session on prayer, why Christian's pray and how we can do it...getting rid of the idea that you can only pray when your eyes are closed and hands together!

At the end of the session we gave each person a post-it, the idea was to put down a prayer in one words, or a few if they wanted. It could be anything, something they wanted, something they were worried about or something they were thankful for. We were a little apprehensive about doing this, we've only started to pray in the group over the past few weeks. Once they had written their prayers we came and stuck them to a big paper cross on the wall. We said they weren't to read these, only some leaders might (so that we can pray for the group...support our church). I've been reading through the notes, almost everyone participated, some were general names, one prayed for drumming, some were an opener to what goes on in their lives, bullying, parents loosing jobs, moving. I hope that they felt good that they prayed. We'll try some more inventive ways to pray over the coming weeks.

It reminds me, that not only churches full of adults have people with heavy hearts, maybe Rock Solid provides a place to search and off load their troubles by having some fun.

I heard these lyrics by the Streets-Never Went to Church;

'We never went to church,Just get on with work and sometimes things'll hurt,But it's hit me since you left us,And it's so hard not to search......'

'....I never cared about God when life was sailin' in the calm,So I said I'd get my head down and I'd deal with the ache in my heart,And for that if God exists I'd reckon he'd pay me regard,Mum says me and you are the same from the start.'

May be this means just as much now, may be young people don't find themselves able to walk into a 'church' but seek the same assurance from the same God.

Amazing transformations...

I've had a really exciting week and felt the need to share. We're being told that the church is in decline...but we aren't told that people are finding God all the time! This has been proven to me this week.

On Sunday a came across a young person who I have had contact with through my job in the past doing Christian lunches in school, she has found Jesus along with her friend, through the positive witnesses of a Christian teacher and others. Then, I was doing a lesson yesterday in one of my schools and a young person who I had contact with last year in her old school came up to me and told me she gave her life to Christ 2 months ago, when i asked her how she told me through prayer, she discovered prayer, and how amazing it was in her life! WOW! No church, no people, just God and a thirst for spiritual fulfilment!

It's really exciting and got me more enthusiastic about how to reach young people and their thirst to experience something different and more meaningful. I'm reading 'The Godbearing Life' at the moment by Kenda Creasy dean and Ron Foster, so hopefully will share more soon!

An interesting article...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7853494.stm

New Term

Just a quick note. We started back on Monday with RS, encouraged to see so many of the usuals there. I was a little apprehensive that we may have lost a lot of the positive feelings and growth we had from last term with such a long break but it was brilliant to see the group back together, mixing and asking more questions than ever. Something seems to have happened over the break. May be when a community is broken over time the quest to bring it back together is bigger.

At the end of the meeting on Monday we ended with a spoken prayer and it was encouraging to see them apparently engaging with it...something to develop on in the coming weeks.

We're really excited about what's ahead this term as we look at bigger issues, looking at creative ways to bring prayer into the group is particularly exciting.

End of term

One of the problems with our group, our church is the fact we run within school term, so at this point we take a break for a couple of weeks, some may see this as being problematic, though who says church must be weekly, we agree that it must be regular, but taking a break gives us a chance to reevaluate.

I have been truly encouraged by the last few weeks and how this grew from nothing to us having a core group, larger than we expected, with a good mix, with signs of young people really exploring, seeing how they are learning to grow as a group from all their different schools, some from churches and friendship groups.

Last night we had a social, a number of challenges to gain points in teams. The aim was to have fun, to show that we can learn from one another doing different things. We split them up with others they didn't know to see them grow in teams, relying on others and showing each other encouragement. It was great to see. Great to see children of God showing each other love and respect, in a time when young people get so much bad press!

We were short on adults to help lead the night, but the young people are taking charge more and more, in some ways scary. They initiate their own games at the start, take responsibility for checking who's there, set up and clear up. They are serving one another in their own group even if they're not using the word 'serving'.

We saw parents and guardians come at the end fro tea and mince pies, a chance for us to talk to them, for them to see a little of what goes on and to forge important relationships. We weer thrilled by how many came.

I'm looking forward to next term as we look at including prayer more in different ways, offering more chances to delve deeper using questions and hope to get them thinking about the wider community.

For some they will see this group as a youth group, but as we become a closer community, both adults and young people, as we seek to explore, pray and reach out we show signs of becoming a form of church which is exciting and relavent for so many who think that church must be boring.