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Making a Little Young Life History
On October 19th, we had our very FIRST club meeting with middle school students, a ministry that we call WyldLife. And on November 6, we had our SECOND club meeting. We had about 20 middle school students at each one. We will continue to have club meetings on a monthly basis for the rest of the school year.**Why is so important?**In order to start and run a Young Life or a WyldLife club on a regular basis, you need volunteer leaders, committee members, parental and church support, and, of course, relationships with teenagers. The existence of a regular club meeting is the reflection of the relational and support networks that have been built up slowly over time.The beginning of WyldLife in Midtown Toronto is the result of collaboration between Young Life, several Midtown churches, and community parents dating back to last spring.
What Is a WyldLife Club Like?
Friday, November @ 5:45 PM:
Becky and I show up at Trinity Grace Church on Eglinton E. in Leaside. We unload a carful of club supplies, and I go next door to pick up pizza for our team meeting.
6:00:
Most of our leader team for the night has arrived for our pre-club team meeting and dinner. Tonight that team includes Becky and me, three university students, and eight high school students whom I invited to explore being junior leaders in this ministry. For seven of these eight students, this will be their first experience with Young Life. We scarf down some pizza, go over the schedule for the evening, and make sure everyone knows the part they are playing that evening.
6:50:
Parents start arriving to the church and dropping their students off. Kids head upstairs to make customized name tags and play ping pong, and foosball. The junior leaders initiate a large game of "Giant Uno" This portion of the night appears to be haphazard, but is actually carefully planned to allow kids to build relationships with each other and with leaders.
7:25:
Kids gather by the door to the club room downstairs, and when the doors open the leaders have formed a tunnel of high fives to welcome kids to club. What follows is a series of mixers, group games, and up front competitions. Things move quickly and transitions between games are quick and smooth to keep momentum. The big hit is the last game, in which we cover the faces of three leaders with shaving cream and kids take turns throwing cheeseballs at them (see below for the result!).
7:55
During the games, some committee members are standing by the back door, and some have been setting up a snack. We break and kids go grab a cookie and some water.
8:05:
Amy, one of the university student leaders, does a series of silly announcements (and one real one), and then introduces Becky, who is giving the talk for the evening. Becky takes about 10 minutes to invite kids to consider what it was like be in the boat with Jesus when he calmed the storm. Rather than drawing a moral or behavioral lesson out of the passage, Becky wants the students to consider that Jesus is a real person, and what it would be like to know him and be his friend.
8:16:
We finish a minute over our target, and kids head back upstairs to play ping pong before their parents arrive to pick them up at 8:30. Some of the leaders head up there, and some stay back in the "club room" to clean up (with the committee's help).
9:00:
We've packed up, had a post-club review meeting with the leader team, and Albert and Linda (YL Midtown committee and our hosts at the church) stay behind to turn the lights off and lock up.