The sign in Ed's hands reads "The cleanliness of this room is the responsibility of EVERYONE. Please clean up dishes, spills, food, etc. Thank You."
Yesterday was a day of dread around the office. It's been a day we've known was coming for about six weeks now. You see, we have what we call "The Worship Room" in our youth area. It's a big empty room, the only furniture is the stage and the table we set the sound equipment on. It's the room responsible for making the floor shake on Wednesday nights. It's where we always hope heavenly mosh-pits erupt weekly. But because it is nothing but a big empty space, and because it remains largely unused during the summer, after each and every trip we dump everything out of the church bus into that room and leave it "for later."
Later began yesterday. We're still not done.
We haven't yet discovered any living creatures under the mess, though that has happened in years past. Again though, we only got about halfway through yesterday, so there's hope for today.
I think it's good that youth ministry runs in seasons. Usually by the end of the school year, after almost 40 weeks of youth ministry on a regular basis, I'm ready to take a break. I'm ready to have my Wednesday nights to myself, to be able to spend a bit more time with my wife during the week. But as I was sitting in the worship room yesterday, watching as the mess started to disappear, my mind started to wander into what we could do to improve the room. It started to wander into dreams and plans and visions for the upcoming year. It started to wander into who was coming back for this new year of ministry, and what new faces we might see this time around. Now, all of a sudden, after three months of break, I simply cannot wait to dive back in to a youth ministry season.
Like I posted a few days ago, this feeling of church home is very important to me. And as I was looking around the worship room, dreaming about what we could do with that space this year, I was wondering if our students felt at home here at Westminster. Does this space invite them to feelings of safety and encouragement in the presence of God? Does this space exist as a hiding place for them when things aren't going well? Does this space represent a place to celebrate joy and encouragement in times of excitement? In what ways does the space itself do those things? In what ways do the people who fill the space do those things?
I realize not everybody has a youth wing. We are blessed beyond what even I think is reasonable. But I've done youth ministry in a single room in my home church. I've seen friends who do youth ministry out of a residential house, because that's the space God has given them. Maybe you don't even have a typical meeting space, maybe you meet students in whatever coffee shop or fast food joint will have you. But before the season ramps up, before we get things going, perhaps its a good time to ask if your students feel at home in your space? Perhaps it's a time to work with that space to make it more inviting, to make it a safe space.
Even if that means a two day cleaning spree...
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