So Unpredictable!

This was a video I got from Jamie Hernandez Facebook and thought it was outstanding. I used this for our 3rd Sunday and taught about getting our lives stripped back to the bare minimum and starting to rebuild with what's most important being the focus of our lives.

If there is one thing I have learned these past weeks it is this... Ministry is so unpredictable! I am guessing this is how it should be when God is in the driving seat, but out of despair there is always hope! We have been a part of some amazing ministry and some very challenging ministry this past while. We are seeing growth in our primary school age classes, which is great and this is something we have been working on the past month. We created a flyer to distribute around the schools and the results are good. We have seen 4 new kids start on Monday nights! Monday's are a true blessing and there is real stability in the class structure and the atmosphere. There is a good balance of fun and faith. We came up with a new slogan that goes onto the bottom of our letters and printed stuff - "Encouraging Fun, Encouraging Friendship and Encouraging Faith." A week on Saturday we have organized a trip for the whole group to the local swimming pool. We have hired the pool for the evening and will enjoy some fun with the inflatable assault course and the diving boards. The good thing that has come from this outing is that our recently started Mother and Toddlers group headed up by Emma-Jane Jones, Ann and Robert Stephen and Grace and Donald Rossie have a bunch coming out with us. Should make for a brilliant night.

We have struggled with our Friday night class these past weeks and have been prayerfully working through some issues. In a nut shell the issues we are dealing with are the result of growth. We are continually having new kids show up and as a result we are struggling to find a format for the class time of the evening. Our problem is simple - we have teens who have been coming for up to 8 years and are ready and desiring spiritual food and on the other hand we have a bunch of newcomers who are struggling to handle the lessons because they can't quite connect with them. This has led to some trying times as far as keeping discipline in the class time and caused a bit of strain. We don't have limitless volunteer help so we can't just set up another class and there are not enough nights in the week to make this a workable solution. To begin working through all this we changed the class last Friday night and simply asked the question, "Why do you come here." The reason we asked this question was to get the whole group to know what the others are expecting when they come. We split the class into 3 groups, The older teens 4th year and above, 3rd years and 1and 2nd years. The older teens we left to discuss themselves, but with the younger ones we had Alex and John lead up the middle group and I took the Youngest ones (the newcomers). The class was amazing! We started sharing what the youngest ones enjoyed first, then the middle and the older ones last. You could see the progression in depth of faith and desire for the spiritual side of the class coming as the older classed shared their reasons for coming. I have no doubt God was active throughout and we had a class to remember, however we still have to work out how to connect with the newcomers more effectively. Funny all this - as I am writing I am reminded of our struggles when we first began our ministry almost 9 years ago and trying to come up with material and ideas that connect with the un-churched. Looks like we have come full circle! Looks like we may have to use the old faithful "Divide and Conquer" principle and have teach newcomers in a different way.

I mentioned in the title of this blog how "Unpredictable" ministry is, let me give you an example. On Wednesday night last week I had my class lesson prepared and began with the question, "Ask the group a question that makes us thing a little deeper." I did this simply to get the class into a thinking mode ready for the lesson, however from that question the whole class took of in a Spirit led diversion! Shaun Main stunned me when his hand shot up instantly. His question was this, "What passage in the bible helps you get through life?" Well, to be honest I was not expecting that depth right from the off! C.J. Cowie responded right away with Jeremiah, "I know the plans I have for you..." I was sitting in my seat trying to take all this in and had to acknowledge there was something special going on. Things heated up with Ryan Geddes Question which was directed at me, "Who do you think will be the next to become a Christian?" As if I could have been any more surprised at the course of this class. I responded saying I have stopped trying to guage where they all are in their faith and I can't wait to see who will be next. The next thing was, all the teens began to express who they though was closest to the kingdom and why they thought it! I was flabbergasted at all the comments and expressions of faith that they saw in each other. I left the building totally in AWE of God and with my heart filled to the brim of hope and anticipation. Friday night comes and during the lesson Thomas and Shaun disappear for a noticeably long time. I go out to check what they were doing and find the two of them talking in the toilet. I thought nothing of it and asked then to come and join the class. Little did I know what they had bee discussing! After the lesson time Shaun come to me and said we need to talk and Thomas needed to come too. We went into a classroom and Shaun began to express his need to become a Christian! I have no doubt that Shaun has thought all this through and is ready for the commitment he is about to make, but we will study some this week and meet up with his mum and dad to make sure they are supportive of his decision. God willing my next entry in here will be sharing the news that we have a new brother in Christ!

Take care and God bless!