At the beginning of 2011, we challenged our youth to Get Real. As the leaders of the youth group, we shared with the youth the real stories of how we came to know Christ. This allowed the Spirit to move in a new way in our youth group. We are committed to living an authentic life — a life of following the biblical example of Christ.
One way we are trying to do that is by adding a service- or mission-oriented project to our calendar every month. Instead of only doing a big annual mission trip, we are looking around our church and community for things we can do right where we are.
In conjunction with Valentine’s Day, we wondered what we could do to show the love to our church family. Our church has a lot of families with young children, so what better way to show love than offer the parents a night of free child care so they could enjoy a night out on Valentine’s weekend?
On the Saturday night before Valentine’s Day, the youth used their talents to entertain the children. We offered music led by the youth. The kids made Valentine crafts to take home to their parents. The youth planned and lead games for the kids. This may seem like such a simple thing, but as a parent myself, I know the value of having a trusted place for my kids to go, and when it is offered as a service…that’s even better!
So, even though Valentine’s Day is for many people about romantic love, we still can use it as an opportunity to get others thinking about those in their community and how we can be examples of Christ and show the love!
