YOUTHWORX EAST AFRICA PRAYER UPDATE. OCTOBER 2010
In team time the other week we were looking at Psalm 91. Before I talk about our training work please look with us at the encouragement this Psalm offers. Where do you dwell? The security and comfort that is offered is for those who chose to live in His shelter, looking to Him for refuge. Notice especially verses 14 to 16. “Because he loves me,” says the Lord. Then look at the promises to those of us who do love Him.
On a more mundane but equally valuable level, the week before we looked at Luke 9: 1 to 6. We were challenged by the simplicity of the early disciples as they moved around involved in ministry. Take nothing with you, expect hospitality. Is this austerity and economy realistic in our situation? Maybe we cannot live quite like this with the 21st century expectations we exist in, but how can we get closer to this way of life? Already we travel light and look to stretch our resources, but is God challenging us to go one step further?
Several of you have asked about our training workshops:
In many ways this is the back bone of our work and is
set to expand further with Prosper taking on direct responsibility for it.
Firstly, what are we aiming to achieve? We are looking in all our work to build Christ centred young leaders with a heart for discipleship. We recognize that this is especially needed in the rural up country areas of the region. We also believe that it is the local church on the ground that needs to bring about this transformation.
Stage one of our training is what we like to call our “Clinic”. We meet with the leaders and youth team of a potential church partner and discuss their vision for youth ministry, the challenges they meet and the strengths/weaknesses they experience. This helps us to assess whether we should work in a particular place and how we can help. Usually in the clinic we will plan the next step of how we can get involved in their youth programmes and what training we can offer.
Our training is very practical and simple. We need to gauge it to allow for many up country youth workers who have not gone beyond primary education. We like to offer basic youth ministry training at first. This looks at the young people they are working with, trying to understand the psychology of these youth and what makes them tick. We also pay a lot of attention to youth relevant communication methods and the importance of interaction/involvement of the youth in activities. The culture in East Africa is for up country teaching/preaching with minimal discussion. We try and encourage our partners to move away from this and try more effective methods.
As we progress with training in a particular place we begin to discuss on a deeper level the needs of the local youth. Often we end up going away and writing specific training modules based on these needs. Most organisations have a set curriculum they use. We have avoided this so that hopefully all of our work hits the right spot with those we are training.
The topics we cover include both spiritual growth, basics of faith etc and also important life skills that the youth need. In a previous month we mentioned that many of the young people we work with have grown up in child headed households and do not have good adult role models. This means that some of the very practical life issues we may take for granted need to be covered to help holistic growth.
Key areas that we teach time and time again: How to have a personal friendship with God. Understanding Gods Grace, Servant Leadership, Becoming a Living Sacrifice, The Holy Spirit, Honesty, Integrity and Humility, How to read, understand and interpret the Bible. And so many more.
In terms of Life Skills: Healthy Friendships and Relationships, Peer pressure, Self Esteem, Accountability, Good leadership skills, Conflict Resolution, Entrepreneurship, Good Work Ethics, HIV/AIDS prevention. That is just the beginning.
All our teaching is designed to be fun and discussion based. Even when we tackle serious or emotional issues we try and keep it youth friendly with games and exercise integrated. This has the extra benefit of teaching the youth new games. In most places we work children have grown up with limited opportunities to play and often only know football.
Girls are generally reluctant to get involved at first because they have not
been included culturally, but as we introduce simple fun games they
begin to join in and love it. We always include plenty of time for
questions and counsel for those we are training.
Our partnerships are never hit and run. Our aim in all of this is to build a long term relationship where we walk alongside the youth team of the local church and help see their vision realised. Often we are invited to participate in conferences/camps and retreats they plan and we try and meet for updates as often as possible to continue discussing how the work is developing.
This methodology for training has grown over nearly 14 years. In this time we have tried and tested different ways of doing things. We now feel confident we have adopted a method that works well, is effective and culturally appropriate for the region we work in.
Please do email me if you want to know more about this very important aspect of our ministry. Also do please let me know what other areas you would love to have covered in future newsletters. November is open to suggestions……………..
Prayer requests:
- Please pray for safety and fun as we go hiking next week with the youth of KIC up in the hills and lakes of Western Uganda.
- For the resources and energy for an unusually busy season from mid November to early February.
- For wisdom as we review team roles and responsibilities and plan for the future in relation to our ongoing Strategic Planning process (our aim is for this process to be completed by March 2011)
- For all of us at YEA to keep our eyes focussed on where God is taking us and to live Psalm 91 and Luke 9: 1 to 6.
God bless you all until we next meet here in November.
Ian
