YL Capernaum Everywhere

A guest post by Brittany Mazuchowski Starting and growing Capernaum in an area can feel overwhelming, to say the least. Sometimes it seems like there are endless amounts of people, businesses, groups, churches or organizations that you could be meeting with to invite them into the story of Capernaum. A Capernaum Sub-Committee can be an extremely helpful resource in praying for, promoting and, eventually, providing for your Capernaum ministry. Here are a few small tips about starting a sub-committee in your own area: - Subcommittee “Chair” – One member of your sub-committee should be a member of your greater area committee. Ask someone who is excited about your Capernaum ministry to serve as co-chair of the sub-committee with you. They will also be able to make reports to the greater committee. - Who to invite? A sub-committee made up of a diverse, well-rounded group of people will be the most helpful. You’ll want parents of guys and girls, parents of kids with varying disa...

A guest post by OJ Aldrich I believe this is one of the best times in the history of the church to be doing ministry with folks who have a disability. God is doing an amazing work and many churches are asking great questions around how to serve families who are impacted by a child with a disability. I work at a church and volunteer as a Capernaum leader. I’d like to share a couple of ideas I have found to be helpful about how to work with churches. Capernaum gives us one of the best avenues to partner with churches. Facilities are especially helpful for Capernaum club. Having a room large enough for wheelchairs and accessible bathrooms is a huge advantage. We also serve meals at club, so access to facilities for warming food and storing ice is great. Consistent meeting space is also helpful for our Caparnaum kids so they feel comfortable in the space, especially our friends with sensory issues and anxiety.  And here’s the great thing: most churches want their space to be...

A guest post by Pam Harmon, Young Life Capernaum's Executive Director.  My husband, Mark, and I have raised support for one or both of our ministries for our entire 34 years marriage. What do we value that we may not have experienced as often if we had “regular” jobs?     God is faithful . We have to keep asking ourselves - are we depending on God or on the latest tool we have learned at a fundraising training? Are we spending time praying and gathering people to pray? Are we depending on God, or do we think we can figure out a “trick” to fundraising? (Phil. 4:17-19)     Support raising is building relationships . There is mutuality in relationships with our donor friends. (2 Corin. 9:6-15) God has given us donor friends to inform, to thank, and to encourage. Donors care enough to give and they want to be informed and inspired regularly and personally. Donor friends want to know specific needs so that they can pray and give, and they want to ...

A guest post by Kaitlyn Ramon In choosing a scripture for our club talks, we have found it super beneficial to use the same scripture passage throughout the whole semester. At the start of a semester, our team will pray together and discuss a scripture that we’d love to share with our friends. We map out the gospel progression with the scripture on the club grid (i.e. Week 1: Come and See- Just like Zaccheaus was curious about Jesus, we get to be curious all semester long; Week 2: Person of Christ- Jesus is a friend to Zaccheaus and a friend to us., etc.). Camping out in the same club talk scripture has been great for our Capernaum friends. Repetition is good for us all; it engrains truth in us. Narratives from the Bible are pretty complicated- demon possessed pigs, a bleeding woman, a man being lowered through a roof! Rather than setting up and reading the story before we realize our window of time is up; we find ourselves with more time to dive deeper, like how Jesus raising J...

A guest post by Allen Guy About 8 years ago, I began two different volunteer projects: First, I became a leader with New Tampa Young Life. I also became actively involved with a ministry my church was starting for people with disabilities. When I learned about Capernaum, I was very excited. Through these two ministries I was developing a passion that intersected perfectly in Young Life’s ministry to teenagers with disabilities. With the help of few people with a heart for this ministry, we launched Capernaum here! We had a “built in” population from church, and also used resources to reach into the community. I knew some of our Young Life kids had a heart for that population by their involvement in Best Buddies, Special Olympics and Special Connections at church. I invited them to check out Capernaum and bring friends who might be interested. That is all it took! The YL students loved serving as buddies at Club and camp. I feel strongly that my relationship with our typical ...

A guest post by Nick Palermo The WORD became flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood.    (John 1:14 Message) There it is! The greatest example of contact work ever! If you have been around Young Life for any amount of time, you know this is at the core of what we do.   Entering into the world of kids and building friendships.   So I am not going to repeat what you may have already heard once or a thousand times. What I want to reflect on together is the mutuality of contact work with our Capernaum friends.   Because with-ness is at the core of our Capernaum values.   We go into a kid’s world to be with them and encounter Jesus together. Did not Jesus do this very thing? He entered our world in vulnerability and took the posture of receiving from his own creation.   But what could we possibly give to God in the flesh?   Until we read Hebrews 5:8.             ...