emmanuel

ministries

• Children
• Children's World
• Youth
• Young adults
• Men
• Women
• Seniors
• Missions
• Music

Vision: What are we trying to achieve?

Our vision is to grow in God’s Word, to evangelise and to serve, so that God might use us to build His church and impact on our world – creating a Christian community totally sold out for Christ.

Disciples for Christ who will remain for the long term.

Mission: How are we going to do it?

Our Mission is to love young people by building relationships and teaching Christ, so that young people will be equipped for a lifestyle of evangelism, biblical relationship, discipleship and service, all supported by prayer.

Good solid Christian content – loving Christian relationships within the group – and having a great time doing it!

Friday Youth

Our programs are designed around God’s Word and relationships. We are not going to draw teenagers through entertainment, because we cannot compete with the entertainment they can get from worldly things. We want to draw teens through real relationships, and use the good relationship between leader and teen as a platform to teach God’s Word to them, not only in group Bible study time, but through activities and socializing.

Friday programs include:
- Bible study: This year we will go through the book of Mark (same as Young Adults)
- Singing
- Social / Coffee time where teens can relax, build relationship, play pool / table tennis
- Testimony
- Prayer
- Bible Game/Activity
- Missions Activities (E.g. Phone Agenbags, Get Missionaries to share their stories; Pray)
- Q & A
- Topical talks

Confirmation Classes

The aim is to take teenagers who feel they are ready to publicly profess their faith through a course where they can grow as a Christian.

Sunday Youth

The Vision / Mission is the same as above, but added to that, we want to make sure that the Sunday School Children continue to come to church when they finish Primary School. We also want our Friday teens to be coming to church. We plan to draw them in the same way, through relationships and interesting Bible teaching.

The program will look different to a Friday in that there will not be small groups, so the teaching will happen through Talks, Q & A’s, Bible studies or topical DVD’s. There will also be time for Testimonies, Prayer, Memory Verses, etc.

This will be mainly aimed at Grade 8 & 9’s, but everyone in High School is welcome to come, until they feel ready to move to the main church meeting.

About 40% of our Friday teens are not affiliated to Emmanuel Church, so this is also an effort to get them and their families to join our fellowship.

Youth Services

We want to encourage teens to come to church and create a culture of coming to church on a Sunday and a Friday, not just a Friday. This service will be a bit different to a normal Sunday night, in that teens will be involved in the service, and more aimed at them.

Holiday Programs

In the holidays we continue to organise activities for the teenagers to encourage them to continue to meet together. This usually takes the form of a Wednesday afternoon Bible study, a Friday night social and other social events in the day like going to the beach.

Youth EE

Last year we ran a Youth EE course for teenagers who were keen to learn how to share the gospel with others. The EE course will be offered annually.

Leadership Training

Each new Youth Leader goes through a leadership training course which happens on a Friday night for 8 weeks. This is to introduce them to the philosophy of Youth ministry, and to equip them in serving in this vital ministry. We work through a book called ‘No Guts No Glory’, which turns away from the ‘Entertainment model’ and encourages a model based on the Bible, where Bible teaching and building relationships are the top priorities.

Once a year all the C.E.S.A. Youth workers get together for training in Youth ministry. Every year you will move up to the next level of training, depending how long you have been a Youth Leader for. Topics vary from Biblical Theology to ‘How to deal with your Youth’s Parents’.

Every Monday night the Teaching Leaders meet together with the Young Adult Leaders to receive Bible training on the Bible study they will do on the Friday. This also equips them to read the Bible for themselves and to prepare a Bible study on their own.

Commitment / Criteria for Youth Leaders

We have a high level of commitment for leaders wanting to be involved in Youth ministry. It is important that we have high standards, so that we can achieve our vision / mission.

Love Rules

We also have some rules with its motivation in Jesus’ Words, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment’ and the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself’.” This is to ensure the smooth running of a Friday night and enable us to fulfill our vision / mission.