Oakham youth

Hello, if you are from the Oakham youth group than this applies to you.

As the youth work progresses i feel that there are certain discrepancies which must be rectified in order for us to have a successful and fruitful future.
First i feel that as a leadership we must not be too pushy. The weekend away is a good example of this. We had lots of fun and it was all positive, accept that on the meeting on the night it seemed too pushy. Some people did make a comitment, however the follow up work was not conducted at all. Therefore it seems unfruitful. This is because of two main reasons, first, there was no personal development already made with the people and so it was like strangers talking and so no background knowledge of their lives was known. Second if no one was there with the appropriate skills to council then no one should have done it! Next we see that there has been a sense of pushing for particular things such as praying out loud. This is no big deal. This is just a confidence thing. I have been a christian for 9 years, i never prayed out loud until i spoke for the first time about 18 months ago. Do not feel pushed into it, but just tackle it when it comes, as with anyhting in life dont let any one push you into things.

The next problem is a feeling that the youth group are not spiritual enough. This is a major MISCONCEPTION, of the word, the individual and the state to which it is applied.
It is not ones personal opinion to whether other people are spiritual or not spiritual, it is a feeling within ones own heart which no-one can see but God!
if one meaning of spirituality is used to determine whether a person posses the gifts of the spirit, than this is wrong and that person needs to read thier bible. The gifts of the spirit are given to and taken away by God alone, a person cannot turn them on or off at will. These gift are given for times when it is necessarry and taken away when they are not needed. If you do not posses any of them, this is nothing to worry about, as you may never neeed them, God will give you the tools needed in your life. This yearning to posses gifts is a yearning for the gift not the giver, it is not biblical!
To me spirituality is when you arrive early for an event to set up and leave late after the event to pack away. This is the real way to show a servents heart to the local community. It says in the bible that you will be known by the works that you do, this doesnot mean a literal sense with qoutas for crossing old ladys across the road but it means that if people in communitys see how the church reaches out and acts as servents for them they will be more likely to find out about God because all these loverly people go to churhc, etc etc.

lastly i see that there are several cliques within the youth and if the work is to progress fruitfully than we must try to break down these barriers. We must work together for the greater good rather than on our own. For instance JC's. This ebvent was set up by G.I.F.T. therefore it should be decided upon by G.I.F.T. not by individuals. This leads to people feeling pushed out, or not feeling good enough. Sadly this is all part of life and people tend to gravitate towards some people and not others. We should not take these things personally, but they inevitably do!
Myself i feel pushed out a little as i dont seem to be in any of these cliques, so i think that i can say these things as they apply to all the youth (including myself) and im not focusing on any individual but the whole, trying to point out the problems that are there without upsetting anyone.

If i have upset you then i am sorry, but these things needed to be said.
Feel free to leave a comment.
Peace out.