Youth ministry in our fellowship is divided into three principal areas: Young Adults (the name says it all), the Den (for high-school aged teens) and PALS (for primary-school children). Each operates reasonably independently, according to the needs of its members.

PALS - The primary activity of the group is held on Friday evenings. This takes the place of conventional Sunday school, and includes time slots for games, Bible teaching, missions, prayer and worship. The group of kids is divided into classes, based on age and gender. Each class follows its own curriculum, and it is the teacher's responsibility to determine content and programming. Other activities include an annual camp, and quarterly outings. The leadership consists of all of the teachers, and meets every two months under the chairmanship of Reuben Lee. John Sheridan and Michelle Mouton lead worship. Janis Mackenzie takes care of missions, and prayer is organised by Janis Mackenzie and Kerstin Sheridan.

DEN - The Den has implemented a commitment-level ministry model, and as such undertakes a number of activities. The primary activity is a Friday night youth group meeting, which cycles through a variety of activities aimed at targeting teenagers at different levels of commitment. The group's mission statement focuses on reaching and discipling young people, and helping them to impact their community. For this reason, a cell group-style ministry has been started, with specific emphasis on developing and discipling members who have made a commitment to Jesus. Moreover, members are encouraged to attend the regular services, particularly the Sunday evening service, which is based on a coffee-bar type format and is quite youth-friendly. Overall leadership of the Den is shared by Eugene and Wanda Oosthuizen and Alex and Sharon Smith. They are advised and assisted by the youth consultant, Mark Tittley. The various portfolios in the Den (Secretary/Treasurer, Transport, Caretaker, Care, Worship, Refreshments, social Events, Initial Contact and Prayer) are held largely by members of the group, with certain portfolios being taken up by the adult leaders. The cell groups are run independently from the main group. The idea is that members who reach a certain level of commitment will be funnelled into the cell group system to provide for their continued growth and discipleship. The cell group system provides for a high degree of interaction and development of relationships. Each group is led by a shepherd and an intern, who essentially facilitate discussion, worship and Bible study. We have found that there is a strong desire for outreach within these groups.

YOUNG ADULTS - The Young Adults group consists of people who have left school. There is no formal upper age limit. The group is led by a committee, the members of which take turns in organising group events. As well as a reasonably social event every two weeks, the Young Adults have a weekly Bible study and Friday morning prayer meeting. In terms of structure, this group has the least formal organisation. Most of the members are involved in ministry in the other groups or in the church generally, and mutual support and fellowship has become an important function of the Young Adults group.

Strengths and Weaknesses
This structure has certain inherent strengths and weaknesses. The first strength is based on the independence of each of the groups. This has allowed for wide differences in ministry style which is appropriate to the differing needs of the groups. A potential drawback of this is the potential lack of communication between the groups. Although the leadership of each of the groups is represented on the church's leadership committee, events where the various group members have an opportunity of interacting are few. This is potentially a problem, particularly to those people moving from one age group to another.

Another strength is the input of our youth consultant. This position, currently occupied by Mark Tittley, involves evaluating each of the groups and offering input at all levels. Although the style of ministry must necessarily differ between the groups, I feel that our use of a youth consultant will enable the various groups to develop a cohesion that is currently lacking, particularly in terms of the development and discipleship of young people as they move through the various age groups. I see the independence of the cell groups as being largely beneficial, as this creates an environment in which the members develop meaningful relationships and thus can feel comfortable discussing real subjects. This may, however, create a problem of developing cliques in the main group.

There are some significant gaps in our youth structure. Firstly, in terms of the Young Adults, little or no provision is made for evangelism or outreach - the focus is almost entirely on development and fellowship between committed Christians. This is perhaps unfortunate, as the members of the group are also involved in the workplace and universities and colleges - places where the need for this type of outreach is very clear. Another gap is the concentration on contact to growth phases of ministry at PALS - very little scope is there for impact and leadership by the members. Although this may be apparently due to the age groups involved, it is certainly true that some of those involved show the potential to operate at this level.

CHANGES

PALS - I would like to see an increasing development of discipleship and outreach opportunities for the children involved here. Although this may be difficult to implement in this age group, there are a number of discipleship/intercessor programmes which target these areas, and which the group is looking at becoming involved in. Another exciting development is the creation of Daniel Prayer Groups, small groups of children who will hold prayer meetings outside the context of PALS meetings. Naturally, this will require the creation of leadership structures to coordinate and manage these groups. I feel that this would be an ideal opportunity to involve certain members who show promise in leadership-level activity.

DEN - I would like to see greater interaction between the two cell groups, possibly by creating a structured, regular event. As the groups grow and multiply, additional management structures will need to be deployed to ensure that these groups remain on target in terms of their mission. I believe that the members of the Den have now developed to a point where greater impact-level activity is possible and desirable. The natural vessel for this activity is the cell group structure, and I would suggest that these groups become involved in regular outreach events.

YOUNG ADULTS - The organisation of this group needs to be expanded considerably. Although the existing services of the group are important, significant scope exists for activity targeted at non-believers or new believers who are not currently involved in the group. This creates the complementary need for greater involvement by group members in leadership-level activity. I think that the existing structure should be retained, and additional structures to facilitate bringing new people at a contact or seeker level should be implemented. Due to the current workloads of the Young Adults leadership, it will be necessary for other members to take on the leadership of these new structures. This in turn creates the need for a discipleship development programme, which is one of the aims of the group.

In terms of the overall structure of youth ministry in our fellowship, I feel that perhaps the boundaries between the groups are a little artificial. Granted that there are significant differences between people at primary school, high school and university, there is some danger of "culture shock" for people transitioning from one group to the other. I think a youth leadership forum should be set up where all involved youth leaders can meet and discuss youth ministry. This would not replace the youth leadership committee structures already in place, but provide a structure for cross-pollination between the various groups.