It’s been a bit of a strange experience stepping down as the Youth Minister, as for all intents and purposes, I’m really just going back to what I was before I took on the role – one of the youth leaders and a mother of two teenagers. I have been involved in the youth ministry at St Mary’s for over 11 years now, but as the Youth Minister I developed a new appreciation for how faithful and steadfast our church family are at discipling the young people and praying for them, and how invested the staff team are in every ministry. It has been a blessing to spend time with parents, crying together as we watch our kids hurting and rejoicing together when we see them growing in their love and trust of the Lord Jesus.
We have a lot going on at St Mary’s for the young people, all of which involves deep teaching from the Bible, challenging questions, a fair amount of competition and whole lot of craziness! God has blessed us with teenagers who are hungry to know more of Jesus and we have opportunities to point them to the one who has the words of eternal life. None of this is stopping, so please continue to pray for our young people, all the leaders, the staff team and of course that God will provide a faithful and effective Youth Minister.
And from me, a big thank you to all of you who have been prayerful, encouraging and supportive – especially those who have taken on more responsibility as I step down. I praise God for you as my ‘fellow workers in Christ’. I am also very grateful to all who contributed to my gift – I feel very loved.
Melinda