Young Adult Reflections

It has been a little over a year ago since I joined Northern Canada Evangelical Mission. There has been saddness, frustrations, joy, excitement, anger, love, disappointment, happiness, and confusion. This may be a lot of emotions, and seem like such a rollercoaster, but that's the cost of ministry. Thats the cost of doing life with other people and showing them who Jesus really is.

When I was in Prince Albert, we started with the excitement of starting a young adults Bible study. I was so excited to share Jesus with new people in Prince Albert and be able to grow in my own faith while preparing these studies! I started talking with the pastor of the local First Nations church and secured a night for us to meet, got a key and made some posters! The pastor let me know he had quite a few people in mind yo come to this Bible study and that grew my excitement that much more!

Then the first night came. We had one, singular gentleman come. It was awkward, and we had no idea what to talk about as we figured it would be a "get to know each other" night so I could figure out where the young adults were at. Unfortunately, this young man also felt the awkwardness and did not come back the next week. There was a feeling of "we could have done better" or "I wish we did this instead." I was disappointed, not in the Bible study, but in myself in that moment; questioning if I was following Gods lead, or doing what I thought was right.

The second Bible study came and although the first gentleman didn't come, a young girl came. She shared that she was previously addicted to meth and was a lesbian until the Lord got ahold of her. She let us know that she was vlean for over a month and super excited to dive into the word of God with other believers. This night was so exciting! It was a night where I was able to see God work through the Bible study even though only one girl showed up!

The week after that, the girl didn't come back as she moved out of the city (again with a feeling of disappointment), but instead we had three new people come! A new girl and two guys came! Oh boy Lord, how you used that night to start a fire! Little did we know that this would end up being our core group for the majority of the year.

The Lord grew these young adults and eventually brought some more who came and went and the forst gentleman eventually came back as well as the girl! The Lord starting giving each young adult clarity and direction and worked in their hearts through addictions and sin issues. I cannot say it was the easiest thing in the world, because there were definitely frustrations when sin started to seep back into lives or the world grasped hearts, but the Lord worked in and through that.

Without the Lord, this Bible study would have crashed and burned. I wouldn't have been able to handle the different personalities, the frustrations of sin, or the enemies work. But, we aren't meant to handle that. There is a reason why we are told to "give it all to Him."

I was very sad to see the group come to a close as I moved back to Regina, but I have kept in contact with most of them (8 total in the end) and have been able to continue encouraging and loving them from afar.

I am excited to start a new group, however, this fall! God willing, I be working with Good News Chapel in Regina, Sk to start a new Bible study directed at inner-city young adults! Please continue praying for this potential ministry and that the Lord starts softwning hearts and preparing the way before we start! Pray the Lord gives me the strengths to go through the rollercoaster of emotions as starting up another group and the joys and disappointing things that comes with it!