| | The La Mesa Mennonite youth group has been experiencing some exciting changes recently. It started with our retreat back at the beginning of the month. We took 25 youth to a small church in a small town about an hour away. The pastor, Luz Mary, and her three daughters live there, and there were probably 8 other people around that weekend. Since there was only one shower, the boys had to bathe in the river down the hill.
It was an intense weekend focused on spiritual renewal. As leaders with Martin and Elsy, we led devotional times each morning, and had some structured group activities. Especially meaningful was the day we talked about confession. I led a Bible study on Psalm 51, opening up the topic for the day. Martin later expanded on the theme, inviting them to make things right with God and with others. After lunch we took the group to a quiet place by the river and everyone had half an hour to write personal confessions and make a commitment to change. Amazingly, there were some smoldering ashes by the river where someone must have had a fire earlier that day. We used these (and a few matches!) to light our lists of sins and leave them behind. Then we each found a stone or other object to serve as a reminder of the covenant we were making with God. It was a special time.
Just as special were the three worship sessions led by our hosts. One evening and two mornings we had long, emotionally-charged times of singing led by Luz Mary's gifted daughters, followed by short but powerful messages, and "ministry" times. At the end of one session, youth were invited to come forward to receive empowerment by the Spirit to live the Christian life. In another, they were invited to receive healing for emotional scars and release from spiritual bondage. A number of youth had vivid encounters of the presence of God as they responded to these invitations. Some wept as we laid hands on them and prayed. Others were overwhelmed by the Spirit and collapsed to the floor. A couple of the youth even had more violent reactions, crying out and thrashing on the floor as if there was a spiritual struggle going on inside.
Before you write us off as a bunch of charismatic kooks, please realize that we did not prep the youth about what to do or lay any expectations on them beforehand. We simply encouraged them to come with a desire to grow closer to God. I knew that Luz Mary would encourage openness to the work of the Holy Spirit. I was pleased to see, however, that she never forced or manipulated anyone during the retreat. She simply radiated love and care for the youth, and wanted them to have a genuine encounter with God.
One of the youth group members, Sebastian, later shared how he didn't even believe things like "being slain in the Spirit" were real, but he responded to the altar call anyway. Laura remembers praying, Lord, make yourself real to him, and a moment later when Luz Mary laid her hands on him and prayed, he fell down instantly, overcome by the Spirit's presence. He said later that he felt like he became a Christian for the first time that weekend, even though he had attended the church since he was a child.
If the weekend had consisted of ecstatic religious experiences and nothing more, I would have seriously doubted its usefulness. But the transformation that we've seen in the lives of the youth since the retreat has convinced us of the authenticity of their encounters with God. Several youth members who had personal conflicts with each other were reconciled during the weekend. Others have shared that they have a new vitality in their prayer life, or that God has given them strength to break bad habits. As a group, they have a new sense of purpose and show a desire to grow in discipleship. Several are pursuing baptism classes so they can become members of the church. A few even sense a call to pastoral ministry.
We pray this new enthusiasm continues and grows contagious to the rest of the congregation, and beyond. |
| | Posted 11/22/2006 10:51 PM - 38 Views - 2 eProps - 1 Comment
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