I recently started volunteering with a Girls club in my church called GEMS. (Girls Everywhere Meeting the Saviour) I grew up attending GEMS, during highschool I volunteered with GEMS, and now as an unemployed boomerang I have been asked to serve as a GEMS counsellor. (Until I get a job that takes me somewhere else of course.) When asked I was a little surprised, I didn't really consider myself grownup enough to be a counsellor. And though I have time right now, I can't commit to anything long term. But my church was in desperate need of new counsellors and for better or worse I was recruited.
So now I am a counsellor, along with several ladies who were GEMS counsellors when I was a Gem. And I have been having lots of "I'm an adult now" realizations. Like for instance last week- we were headed to Laser Quest with the cadets. I showed up at the church and was greeted by expectant faces looking for me to tell them what to do and where to go. AHH! On the bus I quickly realized I must be an adult when I found the noise level of 30+ kids aged 8-14 a little overwhelming. It took a moment for me to remember that
I was the one responsible for reminding the kids to keep their heads and hands inside the bus, not yell, not fight, put their phones away, be nice, etc. Most of the other counsellors have real life experience as parents- Me, I still live with my parents.
Somehow we all survived. Surprisingly enough I think some of the kids like me even though I don't know half of their names. Some of them even think I am funny because I told them a story of that time I licked a slug..... I still feel weird about calling adults by their first names instead of calling them Mrs. or Mr. So-and-So like I have been calling them all my life. And I have to remind myself that I need to remind the girls of the rules and even try to follow them myself. (What are the rules again??) But you have to start somewhere.
My denomination has been having discussions on how to engage young adults in the church. My denomination has a fairly "young" demographic compared to other churches in Canada. I grew up with a large number of children my age in my church (approx 15 born the same year as me alone.) And there were lots of programs to keep us involved in the church Sunday school, Vacation Bible school, Cadets, GEMS, Youthgroup, and Catechism to name a few. But all of these programs had one focus: to entertain and educate
US in the faith. Others gave, We received.
For a church to survive and for these programs to continue something vital has to occur. Sometime after profession of faith and church membership we need to switch our focus. We can't expect to solely receive anymore, we need to focus on serving. It is a hard transition to make. We need to start acting like adults even though we might not actually feel grownup. (Because who really ever feels grownup anyway??)
Most young adults do profession of faith near the end of highschool just before they head off to university or college. Shortly after professing their faith and committing themselves to a community of faith they may find themselves ripped out and transplanted into another one. The following years are busy filled with much change and adjustment. Some young adults like myself may find themselves moving repeatedly for the next 5-10 years after their profession of faith.
That makes it hard to be involved in a church community! But it is NOT an excuse for inaction! Serving a church community draws you in and provides some stabilization amongst the riotous (and exciting!) surf of the young adult years. (YES I threw in a kayaking metaphor!) However it can help if churches are ready to encourage us with a variety of service opportunities that take into consideration our varying abilities to commit. (just like you may need different kayaks for different water conditions, river kayaks, sea kayaks .... okay I'll stop now.)
Anyhow in Summary:
Serving = Scary but awesome, I totally recommend it
Growing up = Weird, and I guess I am not quite there yet but possibly making more progress than I realized
Church community = necessary even/especially amidst chaos
Kayaking = wish it wasn't so cold and rainy, where did summer go?
