Young Adults - Following the Waymaker
He Never Stops Working
If you were to ask our young adults what they would say their highlight of the year was, you would likely hear them talking about our worship nights. Each worship night seemed to be rich in its own way.
It started out under the stars, with 100 young adults sitting around a campfire up on cliffs overlooking the Red Deer River. It hopped around in locations from the worship room, to the new foyer at the church, to the Dream Center. Each time our young adults seemed to walk away with the understanding that “it was good to shift our focus off of ourselves and onto God”.
This year, we heard a repeating message from God. “I am your way-maker”. We heard it in testimony time, in worship, from our 9 guest speakers, and in our chats around food. This was not a planned theme, but one God seemed to be on about. And while COVID-19 stopped much of what we did in community together, God only seemed to ramp up His message.
A couple weeks into the isolation shutdown, I was incredibly frustrated at how hard it had become to engage with young adults in meaningful ways. I was on a walk venting to God about how annoyed I was with this situation; about how every way I turned I seemed to run into restrictions and blocks. When I was done my rant, I just walked - I walked quietly with God because I had run out of things to say. Then, this picture came to mind. I was stuck outside a room with a sort of top-down view into it. Inside the room there was a young adult working on something. Next to them was Jesus and he was looking over at me. I felt God say to me, “look where I am and look where you are.”
It clicked. God was still working. I got stopped but He did not! He was still there making a way. So, during this isolation season I picture God going exclusive with our young adults. I am excited about what He is saying and teaching them, and I pray that each of them would allow Him to impact them deeply.
We still reach out with teaching videos, with Zoom chat times, and messages back and forth, but probably the most helpful thing I do these days is pray. I pray that the Way-maker draws our young adults close to Him during, and also that I’ll take Him up on his offer to be close to me.
What does next year look like?
Well I’m not sure the details but these two points will guide us:
- We push towards Jesus and get as close as we can get.
- We become outwardly focused.
Your prayers for this ministry are always treasured. Your asks of Him matter as they have direct results on us. Please continue to pray that God reaches each of our young adults and teaches them to make changes in their lives as He directs.
Rob Mudde, Pastor of Young Adult & Student Ministries
