Angie is one of our teen leaders, working with the teen girls. A year or two ago, we only had one girl disciple in our teen ministry. There were other teen girls, but only one had yet made the decision to follow Christ. Last year, through much prayer, faith, love and God's working on their hearts, three more girls were baptized.
Angie reminded them that they were the begining of something new in our church. That meant that they had the chance to build the ministry that they want, to lay a strong foundation. Something for them now and for their younger siblings to look forward too. Something that will honor God and that will be fun to be a part of. Angie says that when she said that, their eyes brightened. I can imagine that the whole range of possibilities flashed through their mind. Possibilities that maybe they had longed for and dreamed about, but had perhaps didn't think they were up to.
Since then, the girls have made plans, goals and dreams for a teen ministry that will last and honor God. They are working together, building lasting relationships and planning their own times of fellowship and sharing their faith. Angie says she tells them that she is not here to tell them what to do or how to be. Rather, she wants to know what they want to do for God with what He's given them. If they'll tell her where they want to go, she'll help them get there. Two of them love to sing, and in December they performed a duet for the church. They made it a goal to connect with other teen ministries with our sister churches throughout Ohio by hosting an event here in Columbus, which they did in October. They've said they want to mentor the pre-teen girls and help them find their way, so they're working that out. Recently, they decided that this year they want to make birthday cards & cookies for everyone in the church. (Angie says they're going to do that with the pre-teens, killing two birds with one cookie, if you will.) Two of the teen girls are serving as ushers now and when you get to church they greet you with the biggest smile ever as they open the door.
Even to one, like me, outside the teen ministry, the change in these girls is obvious. They stand a little taller and smile a little bigger. They've been transformed, not by focused teaching and specific instruction (although I'm sure there was some of that), but because Angie believed in them, inspired them to dream their own dreams as big as their God and helped them to live them out.
Angie has proven that if you give folks vision and hope and get out of their way, they'll do far more than what you could have thought to tell them. She's moved to Philly this week to take a new job with HOPEworldwide. She will be very much missed (especially by those girls and their parents), but thankfully she's left four little pieces of herself behind.
Maria and I have just taken on the role of leading a small group in our church. As I look to this new leadership role, I want to be like Angie.
Doug:
This post was very helpful to me. I am getting ready to start teaching and leading the teens in my congregation (I know thats a scary thought to some of you probably). I've been focused on what to study with them and such, and I am definatly going to take what you wrote and try to apply it to our group of teens.
-Clarke