Saturday Post -- 17/08/13

We'd mentioned last week as a prayer point that we've been having to deal with some 'difficult issues' in church. One of those over the past couple of months has been the youth ministry.

Regular readers will need no reminding of the stresses of the first few weeks of the school year, in February (well, it's stressful for me -- not really sure that anyone else is bothered). Staff and pupils return to a scene of anarchy, as the teachers don't concern themselves with sitting down and thrashing out a timetable until the first week of the semester. Furthermore, the biggest annual shindig here in Latin America, Carnaval, is just around the corner (picture, if you will, the school year in Europe and North America beginning in early December). Why, indeed, bother?

The pace picks up after the city recovers from its collective hangover and all is well until the end of June and the mid-year break. Because when classes return in mid-July, another major-league national holiday, Bolivian independence day on the 6th of August, is looming large. No problem with timetables etc. here -- the main hurdle is a parade in which all schools must participate, and three weeks of classes therefore disappear so that the students can practice marching to 'Ode to Joy' again. And again. And again.

Now usually, the winter break in July naturally impacts on attendance at the youth group during the two weeks of vacation. Many families choose to travel during this time. By the end of the month, normal service is resumed. But this year, we found ourselves down to around 15 young people (compared to an average of around 30) by early August, with the numbers having steadily fallen week-on-week. 

Now, of course, we as human beings have a tendency read success or failure numerically, and such circumstances give the devil much ammunition with which to discourage us. Our concern was not so much a drop in numbers as the sudden absence of many young people whom we have been discipling for a long time, and the vast majority of whom come from non-Christian homes. The 90 minutes or so they spend with us on a Saturday night is, in many cases, the only Christian input they'll receive in their week.

So at a leaders' meeting a couple of weeks back, we decided to do a little 'field work' and split up the long list of recent absentees between us, visiting their homes in our spare time. From this, we learned that one girl's parents had recently split, another girl's parents had told her she wasn't allowed to go any more and, of course, several of the young people were required to practice their marching at weekends too! But most were able to make a verbal commitment to coming back.

Well, wouldn't you know it? Last Saturday, almost all of them turned up again for an evening which was as encouraging for us as we think it was eye-opening and horizon-broadening for them. It was the last week of our series on prayer and, to round things up, we had an evening of prayer. The young people were divided into four groups and they spent the evening moving between four stations, at each of which, a different prayer focus, or prayer method, was presented and practiced. These touched on praying the Scriptures, worship in prayer, prayer for our city and country, and prayer for the persecuted church. I manned the persecuted church station and it was a privilege to give a presentation on this most important subject to the young people, most of whom would have had no clue as to such perils beforehand. Indeed, the theme turned out to be pretty relevant to what we've been going through as a group, as the young people were able to appreciate that being part of a faith community is, in fact, a great privilege.

So we're really thankful for the positive response to our visits and we'd appreciate your continued prayers for the youth group, particularly as we move on to the sensitive topic of sex and relationships over the next couple of weeks.

Prayer

• It's not long now till Amanda's mum and aunts arrive (two weeks tomorrow, in fact). We have a few last-minute preparations to make around the house. Pray that everything goes smoothly.
• Pray for the church band, who are beginning a fundraising drive this weekend to raise money to buy new equipment.
• For the youth group (see above).

Praise

• For the return of so many young people last Saturday to the group.

¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Craig & Amanda