Impromptu Youth Ministry at Logoba
August 24, 2009 No Comments
Satan wants to kill, steal, divide, and destroy. He was up to no good today at our Logoba community when the youth were suffering from all sorts of gossip and rumors and it was causing divisions and false accusations. The youth were expecting our leaders to get demoted, our youth group to get cancelled, and people’s feelings were being hurt. When I heard of this, I had that uneasy feeling in my stomach, that feeling of not knowing what to do in such a big mess.
We prayed that humility and brokenness would abound. We read Psalm 51:10 and on where David is praying to create in me a clean heart. We prayed for a Spirit of unity. We prayed for wisdom from heaven, not worldly wisdom. We didn’t know what else to do, other than to trust in God.
Once we arrived, the boys wanted to talk to me (Mark) privately and the girls wanted to talk to Kay privately, to hear them out, and to hear all of the rumors that have been taking place. We had to say no to their plans, and decide to bring everybody together and address them all at one time. I had to clarify some things that were causing a lot of confusion. I had confronted two of our youth boys for some continual sin in their lives. Using the Biblical model of confronting sin in private, I told them that if they didn’t change, I would take them to our leaders, and if they still didn’t change, I would take them in front of the whole youth group, and if still they didn’t change, I would ask them to stop coming to youth group.
During this confrontation, they spilled the beans to me as to what all the other boys and girls were doing (bad behaviors). I took everything lightly, knowing that there’s a chance that they could be twisting the truth. Well, word got out that they shared a bunch of stuff with me, and then everyone was afraid of the worst happening. Then the blame game erupted, with insults, accusations, and rumors growing.
I addressed everyone, letting them know that my motive was out of love, that my intentions were to bring this youth group closer together and more in the image of the body of Christ. I reassured everyone that we weren’t demoting leaders and we weren’t cancelling the youth group. I encouraged everyone that of all the things the two boys shared, I will only consider them if on the account of two or more witnesses would confirm it, and only then would I confront the person privately.
After this, I encouraged a private counseling and confession from anyone who felt led to do so.
Youth boys of Logoba Community
One boy confessed to having a couple private girlfriends (ungodly relationships) and it was obviously bad behavior and he wanted to start living right before God and us. He then proceeded to make this a public confession to everyone present and they forgave him and accepted him with a clean slate. He then confessed to us that he had threatened to beat a girl because she refused to have an ungodly relationship with him. This girl stopped coming to youth group because of this. Now, the boy wants me to bring this girl back to youth group so that he can apologize to her in front of everybody.
Another boy confessed to us in private of having a temper problem when other boys mistreat him and he wants to get his knife and take revenge. He even told us that he almost stabbed another boy in the community, which would have cost him years in prison. He got caught with a knife at school, to which he was disciplined by the school with a standard beating. After this private confession and willingness to change, he made a public confession to everyone asking them for forgiveness for his bad behavior. Then this boy caught up with us again and told us that he did have a private girlfriend at school that was an ungodly relationship, and he was willing to break it off.
Another boy confessed to living a life of lies in order to get money for survival. He also told us that he had an ungodly relationship with a girl and that he wanted to break it off.
In the end of this impromptu youth meeting, when I entered it with an uneasy feeling in my stomach, we prayed, we spoke the truth clearly and with love, and in the end God gave us the gift of repentance, with so many hearts confessing, apologizing, showing a willingness to change, and rejoicing in unity.
We don’t take credit for any of this! Thank You God for Your work in the lives of our youth! It just shows us how important it is to counsel the youth, hear them out, and see where there is hurt in their lives and see how we can minister Jesus to them.
Thank you for your prayers. Working with these youth may sound like a fun thing we do on Saturday’s, but in reality it’s a daily ministry that is exhausting. Please pray for our periods of rest and recovery, of getting filled up in the presence of God so that we may minister more of God to the youth.
The 40 Days Drive Update – So far, there have been enough donations to supply 140 children with Care Packs (Bible, Blanket, Bread, and a Toy). Of the 16 CarePoints, there are 421 children in the Children’s Cup classrooms. It would be awesome to get every child in our classrooms a Care Pack. If you feel led to give, each Care Pack costs $33. Follow this link to the special page: 40 Days Drive Page: 40 Days Drive
Thank you for everything!
Mark and Kay Bojovic
Missionaries to Africa
40 Days of Prayer WITH the Children
