Auburn Youth Group in Term 2, 2017

Dear Parents,

Thank you for welcoming me so warmly into my new role as Youth Pastor here at ABC/WDCCC.  I have spent first term getting to know the youth ministry and your teenagers, and after a planning meeting last week with the leadership team I look forward to slowly start working more closely with the group as we explore issues of the faith.  To do this, there will be some changes to the way Friday night youth group runs.

  1. Starting from term 2 (beginning 5th May 2017), we will begin each week with dinner together. We ask that each member of the youth group bring their own dinner each week.  This does not have to be anything special – simply pack up whatever they would normally eat before youth and have them bring that.  They will be able to heat up their food at the church and we will eat together as a group.  Through this we hope to encourage deeper friendships between the group and the leaders which will allow us to minister to them more personally.
  2. Teaching next term will focus heavily on living out our faith in the way that Jesus did. We will look at issues of social justice as well as how we can be active in combating such issues.  Although we love to be a part of the spiritual formation of your children, we recognise that you, as parents, are the biggest influence on their spiritual lives.  Because of this, we encourage you to support us by taking an interest in what your children are learning at youth, and discussing it further at home.  If you have any questions, or you would like to know more about what we will be teaching, please speak to me and I will be happy to give you some more information.

Sunday mornings will continue to run normally at this stage.  The teaching plan for Sunday mornings in term 2 has been carefully planned, based on the questions your children have been asking.  These questions revolve mainly around two big issues – prayer, and homosexuality.  Both issues are extremely important and it is critical that Christians have a firm understanding of them.  For the first part of the semester, we will look at prayer – what it is, how it works, why we do it, and how we do it.  After this, we will move on to the very current issue of homosexuality.  We will look at what the world says, what the Bible says, and what that means for us.  We will specifically look at how we can react to people we may meet who identify as homosexual and how we can minister to them.  I realise that this is a sensitive issue, and if you have any questions I urge you to speak to me about them.  Rest assured that both topics will be treated with care, and that both are vital for the development of your children’s faith.  Any materials I use in preparing these topics will be available to you and your children for further discussion.

Finally, I want to let you know how you can support us in prayer.  Please be praying for our leadership team.  Ideally we would like to find two more leaders (one male, one female) by the end of this year, as well as doing some team building and leadership training.  Pray also for those doing their HSC this year.  This is a stressful time and we hope to be able to support and encourage them through it.  We would also appreciate prayer that we will continue to be guided by the Spirit in all that we do for and with your children.

Thank you again for your care and support.

Blessings,

Rachel Stuhr
(Youth Pastor)

Auburn Youth Group | Youth Ministry of Auburn Baptist Church and Western District Chinese Christian Church