I share in this section three ministry resources I have prepared during my program.
1– Storytelling sessions in Youth Ministry
Testimony of Life and Faith
Have you ever experienced a storytelling that empowered, challenged, and inspired you in your life? In youth ministry, this is a good tool to use recommended for youth workers.
In his book Saying is Believing, Andrew Root says that “engaging the practice of testimony develops and deepens authentic Christian faith for adolescents.”[1] Moreover, giving a space to them to share their stories is a meaning of love relationship[2] and presence to share with their life.
The purpose of this project is to make a space for teenagers to share their stories of life and faith and to hear the others’ stories as well. This is to engage them to hear and reflect on their own and other stories as a way to the formation of hope[3] in finding meaning in life and with Jesus for the flourishing of the whole person to reach their goals. It is an act of devotion as well to proclaim the work of God in our lives and “Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples” (Psalms 96:3 NRSV).
The group is composed of young people from the church who have been confirmed and are attending high school with those in the ninth grade of the confirmation class. There are also some friends of theirs who are invited.
This project is done in three sections: the testimony of faith of the leaders of the group, the life story of the teenagers, and the testimony of faith of all group. We regularly meet for 2:30 hours in each session from 5:30 pm to 8:00 pm every other month and try to meet in a different place to make the sharing alive not too much boring. We start the fellowship in preparing dinner organized by the church for 30 minutes, eating together for 1hour, and do the sharing for 1hour. We want to have a good relationship with the kids in our fellowship to build trust. All sessions are announced one month before so that they are prepared in the participation and have time to invite their friends. The rules are always the respect, validation and confidentiality.
1st Session
Testimony of life and faith by the two leaders of the group, the Pastor of the church and me:
● The Pastor shared about herself why Christianity, Seminary, and ministry?
● Norolala also shared about how she becomes a Christian, Why Luther Seminary, and
why her ministry.
Then, the group is free to ask questions and give feed-back with the sharing. Any new discussion generated through the questions are welcome.
2nd Session
The second session is about life story. This is an opportunity and opened-space for the teenagers to share about their life stories in a closed group. It is opened to everybody who wants to share, and there is no obligation or judgement for those who are not ready yet. The focus is to share the strength and vulnerability in the family relationship. The guiding questions are:
- How is my relationship with my parents? My siblings at home?
- How and when did I feel lonely?
- How do I experience my confirmation class?
Questions and feed-back are always following the sharing.
3rd Session
This last session is a sharing about the answered prayer or the impact of faith and church in life.
There is a moment of a silent prayer to open the session, then a reading from the book and Bible to remind the purpose of this moment, and every person in the group, leaders and members, are invited to share about his experience how God was present in their lives.
Between the sharing, there is a song and reading of Psalms to praise God and honor him in his work to his people.
This last session is closed with a short prayer from each individual as a gratitude to God.
Bibliography
Drury, Amanda Hontz. Saying is Believing: The Necessity of Testimony in Adolescent Spiritual
Development. Downers Grove, IL: Inner Varsity Press, 2015.
Root, Andrew. Relationships Unfiltered: Help for Youth Workers, Volunteers, and Parents on
Creating Authentic Relationships. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2009.
Wimberly, Anne E. Streaty and Sarah Frances Farmer. Raising Hope: Four Paths to Courageous
Living for Black Youth. Nashville:Wesley’s Foundery Books, 2017.
[1]Amanda Hontz Drury, Saying is Believing: The Necessity of Testimony in Adolescent Spiritual
Development (Downers Grove, IL: Inner Varsity Press, 2015), 19.
[2]Andrew Root, Relationships Unfiltered: Help for Youth Workers, Volunteers, and Parents on
Creating Authentic Relationships (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2009), 54.
[3]Anne Wimberly, E. Streaty and Sarah Frances Farmer, Raising Hope: Four Paths to Courageous Living for Black Youth (Nashville: Wesley’s Foundery Books, 2017), 118.
2- A Supporting Letter
This letter is to organize my thoughts as a kind of exercise, suggested in my CYF class, to prepare my visit of a young girl in the hospital who is paralyzed by an accident and requesting pastoral counsel. She is a Christian, and quoted the scripture in Matthew 8: 8 as a promise of answered prayer but after praying for a long time, she was not healed. She is afraid that God abandoned her because of the lack of faith and commitment.
The Promises of Answered Prayer
Dear Friend,
Thank you very so much for your trust that you chose me to be your confident and supporter in the hard time you are going through in this moment. I understand your sadness, distress, and your fear that God abandoned you because of your lack of faith and commitment resulting to the non-healing of your body. I send you this letter because I would like to explain to you the meaning of the promises of answered prayer, which is the revelation of the real life in Jesus and the presence of God making the impossible possible to bring peace in the midst of human suffering.
First of all, praying to God is like a relationship of parents and children. There is a conversation and love to communicate with him as we are God’s beloved children. We talk to him about our concern, desire, joy, and pain. Also, we listen to his voice, heart, and so willing to follow his way. As we pray, we communicate with trust and confidence, and we don’t have any fear in our relationship with him because of the great love God has for us. That is why we love him as well. God is not only a helper[1] when we need something and then, we don’t have to do anything with him after.
We always feel guilty, as human beings, because of our imperfection. Your fear to be abandoned is from the insecurity caused by your feeling of guilt. God is faithful in his love for us, and he never abandoned us. Even in our suffering from the wrongdoing, God is coming to us through his son Jesus Christ to die on the cross to carry all our imperfections. He showed grace in his humility to save us from our condemnation and reconciled us to him again[2]. The salvation of God frees us from sufferings and nothingness, and the love of God makes us, who was enemies, his friends and imparts his life in us. God loves you unconditionally and eternally. You can believe in his salvation and that is the faith you need to have. As you understand his love, you can be committed to love God also with all your heart to have communion with him, which is the real prayer. He can forgive your unbelief as you come to confess it, and the freedom gives new life and peace in you.
As you understand now about faith and embrace the love of God, you enjoy the relationship with him and you love him. You still suffer with the loss of your health and may ask the question- and where is the healing?
In God, there is a new life after death, a new beginning after the end[3]. The healing is the restoration of hope in us after the brokenness and despair in through difficult circumstances. Hope comes through faith, and it is the trust of the love of God that brings security in our heart that he is with us and take care of us. Having hope restored is the true healing in our lives. The important is that you don’t believe that your life is nothing or will stop there because you are paralyzed, but as you live, God will make a new thing for you. You will experience a new season in your life that God prepares and you need to trust that he will guide and bless you like a child with his father. You can trust in his love as you are his beloved children. As Jesus gave his life for you, he is suffering with your body also and wants to take care of you. You can surrender your life to him.
When we are praying, God can answer immediately, offering what we want to satisfy our desire, and giving us relief from the pain. Sometimes, we have to wait even for long time to get what we ask in our prayer. Also, there is a moment that we don’t get what we want or we get differently with what we ask. In this case, it doesn’t mean that God is not concerned in our pain or he is not with us. In the contrary, he is working for our best as he is a loving God. If he doesn’t give to us the right things we ask, it means God has another plan for our lives. There may be sufferings again, but as believers, until his coming we need to learn through our sufferings[4] in the journey of our lives. What is sure is that whatever his plan for us, his grace is enough. He loves and cares for us (Romans 8: 26).
Jesus was a man of suffering in his way of carrying the cross. He is our master, and all Christians should be familiar and embrace the sufferings like him. Christians need to face the pain to be able to come to the full life of healing. We need to be ready to confront all things that blocks our lives, then we can move forward after. That means you should not be afraid to face your situation, accept the loss[5] in your health and grieve in your pain. Then, your faith and hope in Jesus will move you to overcome the suffering into peace. Furthermore, in the cross Jesus paid the cost of our stubborn hearts, and in the sufferings, we also learn obedience[6] to be in his likeness and share with Jesus the suffering he experienced in his body[7] on the cross.
The answered prayer right now is the encounter of the truth about the love of God for you, which brings faith, trust, and confidence in God in your relationship with him. That is the important to know about prayer. The healing is the faith you have, which restore the new hope in you, and in the love of God you can receive forgiveness and life. Your youth is full of hope, and the healing also is the courage to face your pain here and now without fear, be ready to enter to the new future full of life God opens for you. He will show the way you can restart your life and you can discern what is the best for you and decide to act out of your decision in spite of the difficult situation.
Furthermore, the answered prayer is the presence of God that empower and support you in bearing the unbearable,[8] and conquering the battle within you. There is an intervention of the mighty God in the very hard times. You can rest in his faithfulness. In addition, with the garment of patience that the Holy Spirit gives, you can wait and watch[9] until the coming of Jesus, which is our final destination as Christians. I hope that you can understand why your father was reacting like that with you because he didn’t know about what I have explained to you. I hope you can forgive him. Now, you can pray that he Holy Spirit help him to understand also about the answered prayer, which is the presence of God bringing new hope and life in the midst of sufferings.
You can share your faith about the answered prayer full of peace and life to your father when you start to experience it in you communion with the father God and the relationship with Jesus in your prayer time.
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are my ways your ways, says the Lord” (Isa.55 : 8 NRSV).
The peace of the Lord be with you.
Norolala.
[1]Essay 5-Jorgen Moltman “What are We Doing When We Pray?” (p.125-144) in Source of Life. The writer said that God is more than just a helper. He is a father, and praying is a love relationship with us in expressing our heart as his children and listening to God’s heart also.
[2]Essay 2- Karl Barth “The Proclamation of Jesus Christ” (p. 635-647) in Theological Foundations for ministry. The writer is talking about the judgment of God for the humanity in letting Jesus Christ to be judged and dead in the cross to redeem and reconcile us to God because of our sins and guilt.
[3]Jurgen Moltman, In the End the Beginning, was talking about the way of God in always making a new beginning after the end, life after death, and his testimony about his own life how God restored him after the disaster he experienced. So, in God the impossible become possible to make a new way for our lives. Whatever our destruction, God is great to restore us.
[4]Douglas John Hall “The Church: Community of Suffering and hope” in God and Human Suffering, was stressing that facing suffering is to come face to face to whatever blocks us from life, and that is the beginning of the move towards real life. Also, according to him, suffering is the cost involved to disciple us with our stubborn heart to become in the likeness of Jesus. Matthew 19:23. It is a sign of our integration in his body and participation of his suffering in the cross.
[5]Ibid.
[6]Ibid.
[7]Ibid.
[8]God and Human Suffering. P.134.
[9]The Source of Life. P.142.
This is about one session Bible Study for a Sunday morning forum in the church, after the service, with 20 adults during 50 minutes.
3-Plan of Bible Study on John 9
Theme: The Light in the Darkness
Timing
5mn- Welcome and opening
5mn- Introduction of the topic
20mn- Giving information and group work
15mn- Sharing feed-back to the big group
5mn- Hymn and prayer
-There will be projection of the light in the darkness in the place of forum
-Hand out with the readings John 9:1-41 and the lyrics of the song “Amazing Grace” will be provided to the group.
-The bible study will be done in four groups of 5 people.
Flow of the Session
Welcome
Sharing hand out
Opening prayer
Introduction of the topic
John chapter 6 is talking about the feeding of five thousand people. In this passage, Jesus was satisfying the physical need of food in human life, but he shows also that he is the bread of life that God provides for us to give the fullness of our lives.
In John 9, Jesus is healing the born blind man in the Sabbath to do an act of mercy to the needy and poor man as giving life to people is the priority for him, and at the same time he wants to make known the work of God in humanity in being the light in darkness.
Practice
All are invited to close their eyes for a few seconds. Then everybody will share to the people next to him his experience of darkness in the blindness.
1-7 Read and explained by the leader
This passage is showing two works of God (v.3) to the humanity through Jesus: to be the light of the world (v.5) in the darkness they live, and healing the physical blindness (v.7) to restore the suffering body.
Question
● What was the purpose of the healing of this blind man?
God reveals the salvation of Jesus in the sinful world.
- Leader shares information
-The neighbors were curious, interested, and anxious with the healing of this born blind on Sabbath (14).
-The man was trustful, obedient to Jesus and believe in him as Son of God. (He is a prophet v.17, Lord, I believe v.38).
-The Jews were jealous, and they don’t want to recognize Jesus as prophet and Son of God (v.24).
35-41 Read and discuss in the group
Breaking into four groups of five people, each group will read the text and start to have reflection on it through the guiding questions:
● How do you understand the v. 41? How was the blindness of the Jews a sin?
● What is the unbelief in your own life that needs to bring in the light of Jesus so that you can receive fulfillment in your life, name it? (personal)
Everyone is encouraged to share his opinion and reflect on his sin.
After 15 minutes, everyone will join the big group to hear the feed-back. One person will share the insights from his group.
To close, the group will sing the hymn:
Amazing Grace It was grace that taught
How sweet the sound My heart to fear
That saved a wretch like me And grace my fears relieved
I once was lost but now I’m found How precious did that grace appear
Was blind but now I see The hour I first believe
Blessing from the Pastor.
