One of the more enjoyable youth programmes I've ever run is with a small group of young people who were eager to dive into Scripture verse by verse and grow closer to God. We called it the Timothy Club and we simply sat in a circle, read a portion of 1 and then 2 Timothy and allowed conversation to flow.
Why 1 & 2 Timothy? Because these are letters from an older more experienced leader (Paul) to a young leader (Timothy), just starting out. As such these books provide ideal fuel for mentoring young people who are hungry to grow in faith and leadership.
One of the emphases CCCNZ Youth want to promote is the value of youth pastors and key leaders developing the leadership potential of young people in their youth groups. Leaders come in all sorts of "shapes and sizes" - or should we say, personalities and giftings.
Some may go on to take up visible and significant leadership roles in the years ahead, while others will exercise significant leadership as parents, discipling their own children to be followers of Jesus.
Wherever God may direct them, it's our responsibility to call out the leadership ability within and invest in these young lives.
This is the reason we're launching FIRST Training in 2019. We're encouraging you to set up your own leadership development programme and work with emerging leaders throughout the year.
Another way we can help you with this is through "Time with Timothy". This will be a weekly blog post in which we'll work through 1 & 2 Timothy a few verses at a time, looking at whatever relevant leadership lessons we can find and posing a question or two for reflection.
As we post these share them with your leaders and emerging leaders via social media. You may even want to use them as discussion points when you meet together. The posts won't be long - it will only take them a few minutes to read through and reflect on, but it will be time well used.
I look forward to spending Time in Timothy with you and your leaders starting next Monday!
