Work Week: A Week that Changes Lives

-
When we begin inviting kids with disabilities into YL, everything about what we do is ALL about them!  We build friendships with them, we take them on adventures, and we build club and small groups around them.  We take them from a world where they can often feel forgotten and we put the spotlight on them for the gift of seeing who they are in Christ and the beauty of a relationship with Him!

I remember when Young Life was all about me in high school.  Just as clearly, I remember going to camp for the first time not as a camper.  I remember my leader helping me see other kids on our trip that hadn’t yet seen and experienced the deep love of Jesus.  I remember leaving high school and beginning to learn about being a leader and about sharing my faith.  I imagine that you can remember those very moments as well.  And those moments never go away since one of the beautiful aspects of growing in our relationships with Jesus means always learning to think less about ourselves and more about others. 

Just like everyone else, our friends need the space and intentional opportunities to transition from their faith (and YL) being all about them, to it also being about sharing Jesus with others.

Young Life’s Work Weeks are one of the greatest ways that our friends with disabilities can go to Young Life camp and begin to take steps towards that amazing camp experience going from being only about them to it being about hundreds, even thousands of other campers.    These weeks provide   They are given the chance to work hard, to be a part of a team, to be needed and to be celebrated as they get camp ready! 
our friends the chance to be around peers, peers who are also beginning to have their faith be about loving and serving others.

The days are filled with projects, laughter, community and friendships!  The nights are filled with amazing Young Life clubs, hilarious program characters and a gospel message that helps them to continue to grow in their faith! 

It’s discipleship, it’s beauty, and it’s an incredible next step for many of our friends.  Oh and did I mention that it’s free and even includes a camp t-shirt?!  Yes, that’s right, you just pay for transportation.  How about that for camp cost?! 

Check out this link to see where and when Work Weeks are happening around the mission!  We hope you’ll join us and give some of your friends with disabilities this amazing experience to serve and grow in their faith!


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Christmas/Winter Club Game Ideas

-
Image
  Mixer Q-tip war: Split room in half with tape down the middle. Pass out straws and Q-tips (make sure you test that the Q-tips fit before hand). You will shoot the Q-tips across the line via placing the Q-tip in the straw and blowing. Keep this going for a while and then stop the music and pick a winning side (one with the least amount of Q-tips). 12 days of Christmas: divide the room up into 12 groups (numbers in group vary based on size of club) Each group is a day of the 12 days. Give them some time to think of a motion/dance move that represents their day. Then perform the whole song! Dice Doubles: Have prepared a gift (candy from dollar store goes over great!). Wrap it in MANY layers, including tape! Sit the group in a circle. If you have more than 20, it’s best for multiples circles to play the game. Place the wrapped gift, gloves, a Santa hat and dice in the center (from playing this game with Capernaum many times, I’ve actually learned that one dice with each side
Read more

Great Visual for Club Talk on Sin

-
Image
During club recently, Katey and her friends were talking about sin and the cross during their club talk. They created this great visual that ended up being so helpful for their friends to understand how sin effects us and how the cross offers us such a beautiful way to live instead! They had 5 boxes- one large box named “SIN”, one large box named “GOD”, one medium box named “ME”, one tiny box named “SIN” and one tiny box named “GOD”. They explained how God created us to live in perfect relationship with Him where we live in Him (put the “ME” box in the large “GOD” box) and where He lives in us (put the tiny “GOD” box in the medium “ME” box). Then, take everything out. They then explained how because of sin (with explanation of sin) it looks like this: put the tiny “SIN” box in the “ME” box and then put the “ME” box in the large “SIN” box. They explained how there is nothing that we can do on our own to get sin out of us and there is nothing we can do on our own to get ourselves out
Read more

Valentine's Day Club

-
Image
Mixer Couple Match-up: You will need stacks of two different colored sticky notes (let’s say one green stack and one pink). You will write couple pairs that your friends know on these. For example, on a green write Minnie Mouse and on pink Mickey Mouse. Place the pink on the backs of your friends and greens on the back of leaders/buddies…no cheating! Don’t let them see who is on their back. Once everyone is ready inform them that they are to find their “couple pair.” They will do this by walking around the room and having friends describe their character WITHOUT saying the name! Once you know who you are you can find your pair. The reason it’s important to have the buddies and leaders be the matches is so they can help their friends out! Once you find your match sit down! Game Heart Target: Place heart shaped paper on the floor, walls, or wherever you want. The person playing the game will be handed a balloon, not tied off! They will release the balloon trying to get it to land on one
Read more