Everybody Wins

-


Thank you Emma, for this wonderful reflection on assignment and your time as a Summer Staff Coordinator!

Hi! My name is Emma.
I live in Northern California and have been involved with Young Life since I was given the opportunity to volunteer at a Capernaum Club when I was 15. I’m now on staff with Young Life College and had the privilege of serving as Summer Staff Coordinator at Woodleaf.

If I had to sum up all that I learned from my four weeks with the most wonderful Summer Staff crew, it would be this: When we intentionally include a diverse group of people in our community, everybody wins.

Back in February, I got a text asking if my session had any summer staffers that could be a coach for another summer staffer, named Ryan, who has Autism. I nearly jumped out of my seat with excitement knowing that the Lord was giving our team the gift of wholeness. We prayed, found a coach for Ryan, and the rest is history.

I valued everything about having Ryan on our team. When I think about our Summer
Staff, I think of 1 Corinthians 12. I think of the significance of each part of the body of Christ.
“Every part dependent on every other part.” Our team needed Ryan. We depended on him for his attention to detail. We needed his loyalty, focus, and heart. We needed Ryan’s commitment to our community. Having Ryan on our team gave us all the opportunity to
embrace one another’s differences. I watched Elijah pull up a chair for Ryan so they could sit and watch the sunset together. I watched Abby sit and listen to her Latina friends from California talk about how they’ve felt marginalized. I watched Kaeli share her painful journey of persistent illness with her friends who are in good health. I watched a group of 48 strangers (all different in age, ethnicity, ability, socioeconomic status, etc.) become a family.

When we intentionally include a diverse group of people in our community, everybody wins. We all won by having Ryan on our team. We left Woodleaf as better and more whole versions of ourselves because we got to spend a month with people who weren’t like us. 

The sum of 48 people who are very different from one another coming together to serve Jesus and kids created the most beautiful and clear picture of the Kingdom of Heaven. I believe with every ounce of my being that every Work Crew, Summer Staff, and Assignment Team would greatly benefit from being made up of people who look like the kids YL reaches.

“The way God designed our bodies is a model for understanding our lives together as a church: every part dependent on every other part, the parts we mention and the parts we don’t, the parts we see and the parts we don’t. If one part hurts, every other part is involved in the hurt, and in the healing. If one part flourishes, every other part enters into the exuberance.” 1 Corinthians 12:26-27


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