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SUPPORTERS’
LINK September 2006 |
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Links
Synod
Adventure Race – KPC Team
OUR MISSON is
to TOUCH the lives of unbelievers,
to RECEIVE them into God’s family,
to TEACH them Jesus’ ways,
to help them SERVE one another,
so as to GLORIFY God together, forever!
Worshipping our Lord!
Shooting hoops
Searching for clues
Taking a break in MRT
Contacts
Presbyterian youths unite! |
Dear Parents and Friends, One
important reason why my KPC experience is great so far is you. While your honest
feedbacks keep my feet on the ground, your words of encouragement keep my
feet light! Let’s always work together with love as our common denominator. In
this newsletter, the youth ministry would like to share with you: a)
Perspectives: Help! My youth’s not attending worship
service! b)
Events forecast: Highlights in youth ministry c)
Youth news: 400 smiles in the making! d)
Highlight: IMPART
holiday attachment program Yours sincerely, Ps Kuo
Yung |
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HELP! MY YOUTH’S NOT ATTENDING
WORSHIP SERVICE! Did I just hear you saying that in exasperation? I may not fully understand how you feel - because my
children are young. But I could imagine myself saying that in 10 years time! As Christian parents, we wanted to see our children
embracing our faith in God. And a clear sign of that is their attending the
worship service with us faithfully. When they were kids, going to Sunday School doesn’t
seem to be much of a problem. The kids are less questioning and they accepted
Sunday School as part of their lives. But when they graduated from the Sunday
School, it just seems like they are not fitting nicely into the “worshipping
God every Sunday” culture. What is the problem? The truth is, there are many “problems”. Youths have
to cross huge hurdles before they can “settle” nicely in our Sunday worship
service. Let me list them: 1) The
cultural hurdle: Attending Sunday School and attending worship
service are very different things. In the former, children get to interact
socially with their friends and teachers. But in the latter, the main interaction
is mental, that is, they have to appreciate and understand the hymns,
prayers, sermons, etc. 2) The
faith hurdle: Youths are in a stage where they are gaining
independence in their thoughts and opinion. A worship service is after all an
expression of one’s faith in God. Therefore, if a youth is still struggling
in his belief in God, the worship service may seem a meaningless activity to
him. 3) The
peer pressure hurdle: Interestingly, while youths try to gain
independence mentally, they “stick to herds” socially in order to gain
personal identity. If their close friends are not attending worship service,
they’ll find it difficult to stand out as one who does. Who’s responsible for improving this situation then?
The correct answer is of course a group of people:
the youths themselves, the family, the church and God! The family and church
should work hand-in-hand to help youths discover the relevance of Christian
faith in their lives. This will mean good role-modeling at home and in
church, family devotions, disciplinary actions, relevant programs, etc. And
the Holy Spirit will use these to touch the youths who will response in
genuine conversion. Hence I can only come to a conclusion that we as
parents and youth workers need to have two important traits: perseverance and
patience. While we must make our concerns known to them, let us not “lose our
cool” over our youths who seem rebellious to us. If we are already doing our
part in the youths’ lives, then we must wait patiently for results from God. One day, in God’s perfect timing, our children will
be touched and turn to Him. On that day, you will find your children in
church, worshipping God in all enthusiasm. In the mean time, two key words for you and me –
“perseverance” and “patience”. |
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Hey,
we got a real reason to smile, ok? The
youth ministry has taken to collecting photos of our youths and adult
servants in their smiley moments. The above are but just a few. To see more, click here. This
is a growing online portfolio that reflects real active people in our youth
ministry today. More faces will appear here. We hope that one day, we get all
400 smiles! |
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IMPART: KPC’S
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