YL Capernaum Everywhere

A great activity to go with a Person of Christ talk from the  Mark 2:1-12  talk series!  Thanks Orlando! What we need?   Five Stations Loves Knows Listens Heals Cares Picture Symbols (5 Symbols) x (~30 friends) 5 bags, cups, buckets (something to hold pictures) Glue sticks “Jesus…” Paper to glue pictures 4/5 piece puzzle 6 buddies Bed Sheet 5 Cones Bandana (blind fold) Streamers Goals of activity: 1. Desire to reach someone. (Similar to how people were drawn to Jesus) 2. Visual reminder that Jesus: Loves, Knows, Listens, Heals, Cares (Answers question, Why?) 3. ****Get into celebrating! Make it a BIG deal when our friends reach their leader. It may feel repetitive to you but it will help our friends become more and more excited about reaching their leader as they move through stations. We want them experience a desire to reach someone. Like being drawn to Jesus.**** Estimated Time: (~10-15min) 1. After the message, friends will disperse to different s...

A guest post by Nick Palermo.... In May of 1987 we finished our first Capernaum club school year. One of our Capernaum friends was graduating from high school. Her mother asked us ‘So, what happens to her now? Are you kicking her out?’ As you can imagine, this was quite disarming. We hadn’t even thought of this need or the reality of this step.   In a moment of time, Beyond Capernaum was born. Being the longest tenured (first ever) Young Life Capernaum ministry, this would not be the first time this question would come up. Beyond Capernaum, as it was called then, grew. Big. It wasn’t that we were trying to become their church, but in the 80s, disability ministry was brand-new everywhere. Young Life was on the cutting edge of outreach to people who had disabilities. Few churches were even beginning to consider children with disabilities for Sunday school, let alone our young adult friends. We searched for churches, and many times the response was ‘of course you are welcomed her...

A great club talk idea coming at you from Highland Park, TX! Highland Park is spending the entire semester (club and campaigners) looking at Jesus' encounter with Zacchaeus.  For their first talk, they spent some time talking about introductions and how they are the beginning of every great friendship.   Artwork from The Jesus Storybook Bible Lauren had a few of her friends stand up and introduce themselves, and then she introduced herself as the club speaker. After that, they introduced Jesus to everyone. They talked about how an introduction is the first thing that happens in a friendship. Jesus wants to hang out with us and be friends, so first we have to be introduced to him!  Their friends loved this idea and it was really clear to them why they were being quiet and reading from the Bible.

Some great mixers happening around the mission in Capernaum! Group Questions -  Have a series of questions with four answers to each question, posted around the room.  Call out the question and have people move to the answer that best fits them.   Costume Circle -  Have everyone circle up within the club room.  Pass around a big bag of props, when the music stops whoever is holding the bag pulls something out and wears it!  Do you want to build a snowman? - Break the room into four or five teams, providing them with supplies to build an Olaf!  

Coming at you from around the mission, here are some favorite club games taking place this fall! Banana Jab - Two students have their left hands tied together. With only their right hands, they must each peel a banana and then "jab" the other person with the banana like fencing.  Lunchtime Selfie! Selfies All Around - Give each contestant a disposable camera.  With a time limit, send them around the room to take as many selfies as possible with friends in the room.  Try it with an iPhone and show the photos on the screen after the game!   Turkey Bowling - Bring out those Special Olympic bowling skills by freezing a turkey, drilling holes in it and setting up some bowling pins!  Let your friends have at it and throw some strikes, maybe even three in a row for a turkey! Try them in your club and send us your photos of your friends!

A guest post by Christen Morrow Ara... From moment of birth and/or diagnosis of a child’s disability, the list of rights and services available to them and their family begins. This list may include physical, occupational, speech, recreational therapies, one-on-one assistants for school, nursing at home or school, durable medical equipment ranging from walkers and wheelchairs to machines that assist with breathing, communication, and personal care. Transportation, free school lunches, after school care and respite hours may be a few more services offered. Having lived overseas in a developing country, these lists and services take on new value and meaning to me. I am in awe and gratitude for a country, state, and even private health insurance that offer many of these services.   I’ve often helped parents advocate for the full range of services and continue to do so… however, a gnawing awareness of something being very, very wrong grows inside of me. Entitlement. It’s a wor...

This is AWESOME!  What a stunning way that we are seeing Mark 2 come to life...  check out our friends from VA Beach learning how to surf during their Surf Day Camp! Thanks VA Beach for helping your friends experience adventure, community and joy!

You may have seen the sweet photo on the Young Life Leader Instagram from Memphis Capernaum, announcing Club Tonight with sign language!   Grab the background photo here to put your own typeface over it to advertise your club! Another great element that Memphis is doing is teaching all of their friends a welcoming phrase in sign language, so if anyone comes to club that uses sign, they will welcome immediately! Thanks Memphis for welcoming EVERY KID!

Our friends in Raleigh, NC have started a new tradition by gathering at their local Chick-Fil-A on the last Thursday of every month to have dinner with their friends.   But, not only do they invite their friends, they ask their friends to bring along their parents, siblings and their friends.   They spend the evening enjoying a meal together, meeting new kids, building relationships with parents and being a part of the community! Plus they get to eat waffle fries and Chick-Fil-A sauce!  A lot of wins in one night!    Thanks for the great idea Raleigh!

Our friends in Fayetteville, Arkansas recently gathered their female leaders and invited five of their Capernaum friends over for a cooking class. The leaders taught their friends how to make salsa.  As they added each ingredient they discussed how each ingredient, although individually different from one another, all come together into one bowl to make a delicious food.    They talked about how each of them (our friends and leaders) are different but all come together to represent the whole body (or "delicious spicy bowl") of Christ. Thanks Fayetteville!  We're on our way with some chips!