7.3 How Can I Inspire Change?

As good as it is to be Irish we do have our flaws. If we're not making fun of something we're complaining about it. The weather gets a regular beating, we love a good rant about traffic, bad Wi-Fi, waiting in line, Mondays, double math class, when it doesn't snow on Christmas, when it does snow on Christmas, and for the love why are there never apple pies left in McDonald's!!! If only we could turn our complaining into a renewable energy source, we could light up the whole world. The church has also been at the end of some serious complaining. Now, some of this has been justified with the mistakes made but most of the complaining these days is about how boring church can be or how there's nothing for young people. We've recently been inspired by some young people who put their energy into being the change they wanted to see. I'm Ben and I'm Eva and welcome to 'Ballinteer Dandrum Youth.' This youth group has given us a great opportunity for me and my friends to grow in our faith as we share with people who are slightly younger than us. The group meets every two weeks and basically it's a space where the teens can continue their journey of faith and learning about God, learning about Jesus. I actually didn't really go to youth group when I was younger and that's part of the reason why I so much wanted to be involved with this one because it was something that I kind of felt a lack of. There was never really anything for youth in my church when I was younger but all that kind of changed around three years ago. There was a confirmation program and by the end of it, they said, we want more so we decided to start up a youth group. The most important thing for us about the youth group is it gives a space for the young people to ask questions, explore their faith, make authentic friendships and just to have a space where they can feel safe and feel like they can be themselves. A verse that's important to us is Galatians 6:2 and it says, 'Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.' We want to encourage you rather than looking at what your church doesn't have, maybe ask what you can offer. Churches are not buildings and they're not organizations, the church is the people and if it's the people then it's people like you and me who make it what it is. So, rather than being a spectator why not get in the game and see what you can do.