I have to address youth meetings and need advice!

Hello everyone,

My church is now starting (again) to have youth group meetings. It started like this:

In the past I took over the meetings (there were no meetings at all) but things didn't go as I expected. I was 19 (I'm 20 now) and inexperient in leading a meeting, and maybe (I don't know) the other youths didn't have confidence in me (I don't blame them or anything). Well it didn't have the results I expected, I didn't pray much either, and altho I was seeking it, I wasn't living very holy (lust and stuff) so the meetings ended.

Now, the meetings are back and I'm making a bigger effort and managing to live holy. I pray much more but still need to improve my prayer life and my love for the Lord. Well to make a long story short, our youth group had a meeting and decided to have meetings each saturday (20h). the first three saturdays are not "real" meetings. It's just like hanging out and entertainment. Hopefully that will change, I pray, if a hunger for God can be stirred in our hearts. The last saturday is a real meeting (like, a service) with worship, prayer, sermon, etc. Now, me and three more sisters and in charge of preparing and leading the meetings. We're suppose to meet each saturday at 19h at church to discuss and prepare it. I was wondering how was I going to do this. I have an idea of how I want to do things, but this time I'm not the only one deciding and we haven't met yet to discuss this so I don't know how they want to do this. This is a wonderful opportunity to make these young people be in love for God and seek Him with all their hearts and I don't want to make mistakes, so I remembered I have very good group of wise brothers and sisters at my disposal HERE on SI. So if someone could advise me on how to prepare the meetings, how to address the other leaders, and how to do any other thing I'm missing or something, PLEASE DO POST!

P.S. If I said something wrong or I'm making mistakes, don't hesitate in correcting me, I won't be offended.

God Bless you all,

thx in advance

-jt

My only advice would be to continue praying, and bring up your concerns about the entertainment to the others that are helping. Maybe each Sat one of you could prepare a good message to deliver to them. Let it be known to all who attend, that you want God and intend to have these meetings all about Him. If you take out the entertainment, you will know who really wants God. I can tell you a little more about how I came to this advice later if you want, but I have to go to work.
God Bless, I'll be praying

Hi Blinx,

This is a wonderful opportunity to make these young people be in love for God and seek Him with all their hearts and I don't want to make mistakes, so I remembered I have very good group of wise brothers and sisters at my disposal HERE on SI. So if someone could advise me on how to prepare the meetings, how to address the other leaders, and how to do any other thing I'm missing or something, PLEASE DO POST!

Issue #1: ALWAYS spend quality time in prayer before the service- praying for the service and getting yourself sensitive to God and in the right frame to minister. If you come in 'cold' you will struggle horribly and God may not move as you would wish. Prayer before service is absolutely essential. You need to touch God before you can rightly minister.

One thing we have done over the years is to have our youth service during the adult service during the midweek. We have worship with the main congregation and then dismiss for our service downstairs. We come together and take prayer requests. We pray for the needs. This is a good time for the youth to share. From there I generally have a sermon prepared or maybe some other person and we allow the Holy Spirit to move and minister. I may speak for a while and as the Lord leads open up for others to begin to share.

Issue #2: The youth need to feel the environment is safe to ask for prayer or be semi-vulnerable. It is not really a setting to go into everyones problems, but it is a wonderful setting to allow the Holy Spirit to minister to the youth as a group and individually. Sometimes youth share their struggles and we gather around to pray and comfort them. Sometimes they need instruction. Sometimes we just need to listen. The average person only listens 17 seconds before the reply with a solution. Some folk are not looking for solutions- they are looking for understanding and love.

As the Holy Spirit begins to minister the word and the Spirit will change their lives. Live the life before them and don't get caught in the TRAPS that destroy your credibility in their eyes. They need to be shepherded. The need to be loved. They need direction. they need [i]gentle[/i] correction. The law of kindness should ever be before our eyes. Preaching with unction will make a hard message easier to swallow. It's not about setting everyone strait- its about leading to a place where God will change them. This takes much time in prayer and the word. It takes the mind of Christ and the Spirit of God manifest in the fruits and gifts.

Be willing to grow into the position as God works on you. Always be willing to change. We don't have it 'all together' and God needs to work on us as much as he does the youth themselves. Understanding this will keep you from the pitfall of pride and arrogance. 'Titles' can puff up and so will knowledge- but charity [i]edifies[/i] (builds up).

God Bless,

-Robert

Thanks.

Concerning prayer:

How do I pray with power? You know? I want to be able to pray like that. In the past, my prayers felt like they hit ceiling and comeback. Maybe it's pride? Yesterday I came home from school earlier to pray for forgiveness and help not to be proud. I listened to two sermons on pride (on the way home in my mp3) one from TSChurch from Pr. Carter and the other I don't know who it was, but anyway I prayed and cried out to God for one hour aprox. and really made an effort to repent (and I think I did repent) and I'm trying not to be proud (I really hate it). But maybe that's why my prayers felt like that (God resists the proud)? I really would like to have more spirit of prayer when I pray. I feel an anguish for the brothers in my church (I suffer for them, for real) and I know it's the will of God that I specificly pray for them but then when I tried to pray, in the past, it felt like what I described above. Plus, I need to love the Lord more, and I need to know Him better, but I also need to pray for my brothers. Help. Advice?

i could give many advice brother :-) but instead listened to this sermon by Zac Poonen.
https://www.sermonindex.net/modules/mydownloads/singlefile.php?lid=4272&commentView=itemComments

I also recommend you read E.M Bounds works.... great on prayer and read G.Muller.....great men of Prayer that has "encouraged" me in my prayer life, also if you haven't read the diary and life of David Brainerd ..... You can find many of not all of these writings here on SI if you do a little digging.

Friends, I ask for your prayers so that the youths will follow hard after God instead of entertainment. We were supposed to have at 19h each saturday a meeting with the organization members (me and 3 more sisters) and then there was an entertainment meeting (optional) and on the last saturday there was a youth meeting (like sunday service). So, we're now meeting at 20h in a mall, we do the organization meeting there on some tables around everybody, and then the entertainment meeting is in a circus. It's now 12h17m (GMT) here and I'm going to have a prayer session by myself about my youth brothers and sisters, and I ask of you all if you could pray too for them to follow hard after God. I know it's hard to pray for something you don't feel burning in your heart, but I ask anyway. Thanks in advance.