YOUNG PEOPLE’S WORK REPORT

It Club

“Now you are the body of Christ and each one of you is a part of it.”
1 Corinthians 12.

In August last year, as an expanded team of volunteers (coaches), we looked to also expand and deepen the ministry among the 11-16 year olds on a Friday night, following a vision of unity. This unity, was to be:

Expressed through Diversity (1 Cor . 12)

We recognised that as coaches we all brought different strengths and abilities to the group. To make the most of this, we acknowledged that we all had different parts to play in the running of It Club. Similarly, the young people had different strengths and interests of their own. To run an It Club that would be truly enjoyed and relevant to all, we would need to cater to these diversities while finding ways to bring the whole group together. As a result of these intentions, we have run a programme that has allowed young people to take part in different activities through the evening – sports, dancing, playing instruments together, baking, simply socialising – in the different areas of the church building available to us (lounge, upstairs hall, small hall, kitchen), before bringing everyone together for one large shared activity and a discussion, talk or sharing time, along biblical themes (more below). These ‘together times’ have been presented by different individuals, both adults and children and have varied greatly depending on the individual presenting them. Some of the most enjoyed times at It Club have been times when the young people themselves have dazzled us with their creativity. The idea of sharing our strengths seems to have caught on particularly with our dancing contingent who frequently offer to share a dance they’ve created. Of special note was our Burns night celebration – a real Ceilidh with a modern twist. Many members of the group came ready with a dance,
a poem (written by one of the group!) an instrumental piece and even videos they had made!
Brought about by God’s Transcendence (1 Cor. 12: 12-13)
We recognised that at the beginning of the year, this was a group of disparate age ranges and interests. The only way that this group would be truly be brought together was by God’s breaking through these barriers. In many ways we have seen God’s breaking through at work. The club is much more of a cohesive group than at the beginning of the year, though we recognise that there is still some way to go in breaking down barriers between different factions within the group.
Bound together in God’s love (John 17)
We have focused on developing positive relationship between ourselves as adults, before we even think to show God’s love to the young people. We have adopted the term coaches to describe our relationship with the young people, as ones who seek to come alongside, encourage, motivate and inspire them. It has been a pleasure to see relationships between both adults and young people develop and grow. It has also been a pleasure to welcome in new members who have come from the friendship groups of the S3 girls in particular and to see how they became involved right at the heart of the group.
We have had three major themes this year at It Club.
Join the Journey
In which we looked at the lives of the Jewish patriarchs and the Israelites in Egypt, and considering how we could follow their examples of faith.
Compassion for the Homeless
We explored the complex issues surrounding homelessness and how we could show God’s love to people in such situations. Practical outworkings of this have seen a small group of It Clubbers attend the annual Big Sleepout on the Royal Mile to raise money and awareness for Bethany Christian Trust and the beginnings of a video project aiming at raising awareness and challenging people’s attitudes towards the homeless.
The Revolutionary Kingdom
In which we viewed the Kingdom of God as being like a revolution that challenges the values and lifestyles of the world around us. This has led us into presenting the young people to use their creative skills to show us what the Kingdom would look like in our own lives.

Special events this year have included Ice-skating, a Japanese themed evening, bowling and movie nights. Our Coaches this year have been: Doreen Williamson, Pamela Graham, Sveta Barclay, Adam Connell, David Polland, James Trimble, Joshua Williamson, Matt Baines, Sam Kawamura and Yannick Onifade. Remarkable dedication has been shown by this group in aiding in the running of the It Club and developing of relationships with young people. Even though at times the amount of adults present at the club has been equal to (and on occasion greater than) the number of young people, this has by no means been a bad thing: It Club is more than a conventional youth club. It seems to work best as a group of young people from high school age to middle age, coming together to enjoy each other’s company and learn more about God.

We are sad to say goodbye to several coaches at the end of this term. Josh and Doreen have been the heart and soul of our team this year. Their characteristic combination of warmth and energy will be greatly missed when they return to the States. Yannick is leaving for Manchester University, where we wish him all the best and look forward to his visits home. As the coaches we would appreciate prayer and consideration as we look for God to add to our numbers and join our rota of coaches.


Encounter

Encounter, the youth group for 14 – 18 year olds that meets during Sunday evening services, has entered its second year of existence recently. At the beginning of this school year we were meeting weekly, but due to a greatly varying attendance, we decided by Christmas to revert to our previous fortnightly pattern. This was done in the hopes that although the meetings would be less frequent, we would see more of the group at the same time. I want to note that although this move has been met with mixed results – some weeks have seen a full turn-out, others have been very small – that these young people are on the whole coming to this group at a very busy and crucial time in their schooling. Overall, commitment to continued attendance has been very high. The group has grown over this year with younger teens joining the group. It is a very mixed group with young people from both within and out-with the church in attendance.

Much of the growth in relationships in the group has been due to time spent together outside the group, within It Club, over meals, lifts home and even in taking sandwiches to the homeless!

Many different topics have been covered in our studies together – the recurring theme being faith.

This group has a real need for adult support, with Josh and Doreen moving on again and Sally anticipating being heavily engaged in her studies this coming year. Please pray for the strengthening and growing of this group.

Matt Baines