Wednesday, July 24, 2013

The woes of 3rd world youth ministry

So it all started with me trying to pump up our youth group with a few new ideas... I was all stoked on them... I thought they would work beautifully...and well.... I was wrong. Our youth group has been booming but lately the life has kind of been sucked out, we've hit a rut... a big one. I've done the necessary personal reflection on whether there may be sin in my life that is hindering the ministry, but other than my over reaction out bursts that I'm trying to control, I'm doing pretty ok. So then that leads me to the next step, looking at what changes God may want to implement because like I said in the first sentence of this post, it was kind of all me. You know the ideas weren't bad, but they maybe weren't what God had in mind. It's been all this figurative spinning of wheels that got me on the quest that I now find myself embarking upon... HOW TO HAVE A HEALTHY, MATURE, THRIVING YOUTH MINISTRY IN THE HEART OF AFRICA.

I've been online looking at what the different sites have to offer, there are some killer sites about how to do ministry in the States... like really if only those sites were around 10 years ago. But well... they don't really cut it with ministry here. You face a whole other gamut of problems and situations. For instance, youth group is on Saturdays at 4... but these days more and more of my students are having school all day on Saturday, and even if they get out by 4, by then they're exhausted. Not to mention, that even the students who don't have school sometimes don't even reach until 4:30 because well... this is Africa. Well, why don't you change the day then? You might ask... well, Sundays are their only day to get stuff done, to wash their uniforms, help around the house, and study... they also like going for main service. We also can't do it later on Saturday because absolutely no teenager in the town of Jinja owns a car, so they all have to be able to walk home (some as many as a couple of miles) before it gets dark.

I go into the schools and teach, I'm hoping to maybe add another one next term that is a school more of my students go to, but we'll see. At Jinja SS, I get 45 min twice a week with the students who come but at my other two schools: loco primary and St. Peters, I only get 15 minutes to teach due to time constraints... Ughh! I'm blessed to get in the school at all, but really to make disciples, you need more than 15min a week.

I read awesome articles about how you need to pour into your students, invest in them in small groups and one-on-one discipleship... that's great... when you have evenings and weekends that they're available to do that. Can you tell I'm a little frustrated? I know God knows and that these students are His and He has a plan on how to pour into them... I just wish I knew what it was... now.

All this to say, please be lifting up our youth ministry in prayer. Be praying for us to have vision... His vision. Pray for us to make plans... His plans. Pray that we execute them in a way that glorifies Him. Pray that we don't get so hung up on the numbers that we get discouraged but instead focus on the one. Pray for creativity. Pray for God to raise up other people with the passion for the youth of Jinja we can join arms with. It's times like this, that the 17 million goal seems unreachable, but again I have to remind myself, "with God, NOTHING is impossible."

The woes of 3rd world youth ministry

So it all started with me trying to pump up our youth group with a few new ideas... I was all stoked on them... I thought they would work beautifully...and well.... I was wrong. Our youth group has been booming but lately the life has kind of been sucked out, we've hit a rut... a big one. I've done the necessary personal reflection on whether there may be sin in my life that is hindering the ministry, but other than my over reaction out bursts that I'm trying to control, I'm doing pretty ok. So then that leads me to the next step, looking at what changes God may want to implement because like I said in the first sentence of this post, it was kind of all me. You know the ideas weren't bad, but they maybe weren't what God had in mind. It's been all this figurative spinning of wheels that got me on the quest that I now find myself embarking upon... HOW TO HAVE A HEALTHY, MATURE, THRIVING YOUTH MINISTRY IN THE HEART OF AFRICA.

I've been online looking at what the different sites have to offer, there are some killer sites about how to do ministry in the States... like really if only those sites were around 10 years ago. But well... they don't really cut it with ministry here. You face a whole other gamut of problems and situations. For instance, youth group is on Saturdays at 4... but these days more and more of my students are having school all day on Saturday, and even if they get out by 4, by then they're exhausted. Not to mention, that even the students who don't have school sometimes don't even reach until 4:30 because well... this is Africa. Well, why don't you change the day then? You might ask... well, Sundays are their only day to get stuff done, to wash their uniforms, help around the house, and study... they also like going for main service. We also can't do it later on Saturday because absolutely no teenager in the town of Jinja owns a car, so they all have to be able to walk home (some as many as a couple of miles) before it gets dark.

I go into the schools and teach, I'm hoping to maybe add another one next term that is a school more of my students go to, but we'll see. At Jinja SS, I get 45 min twice a week with the students who come but at my other two schools: loco primary and St. Peters, I only get 15 minutes to teach due to time constraints... Ughh! I'm blessed to get in the school at all, but really to make disciples, you need more than 15min a week.

I read awesome articles about how you need to pour into your students, invest in them in small groups and one-on-one discipleship... that's great... when you have evenings and weekends that they're available to do that. Can you tell I'm a little frustrated? I know God knows and that these students are His and He has a plan on how to pour into them... I just wish I knew what it was... now.

All this to say, please be lifting up our youth ministry in prayer. Be praying for us to have vision... His vision. Pray for us to make plans... His plans. Pray that we execute them in a way that glorifies Him. Pray that we don't get so hung up on the numbers that we get discouraged but instead focus on the one. Pray for creativity. Pray for God to raise up other people with the passion for the youth of Jinja we can join arms with. It's times like this, that the 17 million goal seems unreachable, but again I have to remind myself, "with God, NOTHING is impossible."

Saturday, July 6, 2013

Unanswered Prayers


When Davis and I had our first dance, we got in touch with our inner 1990 and danced to Unanswered Prayers by Garth Brooks (100% Davis’ suggestion I promise). It was so funny how he suggested it because honestly that song couldn’t ring more true for me as much as it did for him. I look back at my life of crushes and heartbreaks of liking someone and praying fervently that they would fall head over heels for me. I over analyzed and manipulated and tried to rock some strategery to try and make them see that I was the girl of their dreams (it’s embarrassing to admit, but all you girls reading understand what I’m talking about). Only to hear of them asking out a friend of mine or having that awkward conversation of “you’re like a sister to me”. It hurt… bad. I would see friends with their boyfriends and spouses and basically ask the question “what’s wrong with me!?” (don’t answer that one… ). Those “unanswered prayers”, God was responding no to because He knew He had a much better plan than what I thought was right for my life. The guys of my past are all great guys and I now see them being great husbands and fathers and they’re still good friends of mine, but they weren’t the one that God had made for me.

Now as I lie next to my husband at night after a whopping 4 months of marriage ☺ I still find myself looking at Davis and can’t believe I have such an amazing man that I know God made for me and me for him. I could go through the gamut of things Davis does that makes him so awesome but I don’t want to get all the husbands out there in trouble for not doing them. But really… I didn’t know guys like Davis existed out there. I always would tell people that chick flicks set us girls up for unrealistic expectations… which in some ways is true, but this is a note of encouragement to all of you who feel like your “love life” is full of “unanswered prayers”. When you wait for God to bring you the guy He made for you, he’s way better than any Ryan Goessling or Nicholas Sparks character (as hard as that may be to believe). God was saying “no” because He loved me so much and knew He had something way better in store for me… someone unimaginably more than I could ever ask for or imagine.

My husband is not perfect, I know that, but he’s perfect for me. There is no man on this planet who could handle all my “Kelliness” with the sass, the anger, the jokes, the passion with such patience and strength like my husband can. He’s definitely “the better half” as much as you might try to offer the “no… Kelli, you’re both amazing!” One day you will meet him and realize I’m not being overly humble it’s just a fact… I’ve done the research and it’s true. He makes me more into the woman God made me to be and is a huge way God is softening so many of my rough edges so I can more effectively do His work. So take heart friends… don’t be discouraged or dismayed at the “no’s”. His ways are AWESOMELY and INFANITELY above our ways. And those “unanswered prayers” are God’s way of showing you “I’ve got this taken care of”.

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