I love my church. Every time I come back from College, I relish walking back into the front door and to the youth Sabbath School. What is beautiful about my Sabbath School is that anyone and everyone is welcome. The youth age range is anyone who can make it down the stairs, and houses members aged 18-70. Afterwards, I head to the church service, where children are invited to play in the church band. I then go to the church hall to share lunch and fellowship with my church.
I used to be frustrated at the fact that my church was full of older people. I looked at the other churches in Sydney and felt jealous. I imagined what I could get from their worship services and how much better it would be to able to talk to people my age, but as I got older, this began to shift. I began to realise the beauty in my church community.
Several people took an interest in my family and me. They genuinely cared and still do! More than that, they began to hand over the keys. When I was thirteen, my Sabbath school leader went overseas for a quarter. She left me to run the entire children’s Sabbath School by myself! I do not think I understood just how much trust she had in me at the time. Each week I organised the lesson, the songs and the craft for me and six others. I decorated the room into a ‘secret agent’ theme and administered the memory verse tests each week. Through watching and talking to the Sabbath School leader, I had picked up what I needed to do and implemented it. She was the perfect mentor. She believed in my teaching ability and encouraged me to continue to develop my skills, leading in part to the completion of my degree in Secondary teaching!
I began to become more and more involved in Sabbath School. As I grew older, I moved up to the next Sabbath schools and made it to the ‘youth’ room. I got to hear personal stories from people in all walks of life. What stood out to me was just how much these people loved Jesus and could see his influence in their lives. The leader asked me if I would be interested in taking the lesson a few times per year. I was amazed that they even wanted to hear from me! I talked to my dad, and I learned how to lead a proper Bible study. When I got to college, I started leading my own Bible study group.
At my church, the Elder’s act as the ‘faces’ of the program, doing the welcome and the prayer for the church, but there is also plenty of ‘behind the scenes’ work. The Elder’s also liaise with the preacher to organise each element of the church service every few weeks. One of the Elder’s began to take an interest in me while I was still in High School. He would step me through how to organise the church program and eventually he said that I was ready to coordinate the services myself. What is fantastic about this is that this Elder became a mentor to me in my ministry. Each week we would talk and catch up, and he would ask me how I was going with my roles at Church. Just this year, I accepted the position of Church Elder; it cannot be denied that this Elder and his training had a significant impact in that. I now feel a sense of belonging in my church- I’m now trusted with a voice in meetings and am on the church board. More than that, getting to work in the position of Elder has helped to affirm my plan to start studying Ministry and Theology.
My Church was the perfect garden for me to grow in my ministry! Without the mentors that God used in my Church, I am sure that I would have ended up in a different career path and have a different faith if any. The people at my church and their trust in me kept me going to church.
These people did not just help me in my ministry, and in the development of my leadership capabilities, they also became people that I could trust and confide in. My extended family lives all over the country, and as a result, we do not see them very often. My siblings and I also never knew our grandparents well. I consider the members of my church a part of my family. Many of them are my grandparents and some of them my aunts, uncles, and cousins.
In Hebrews 12:1 it says “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” Think of your church as a place to grow in faith from the examples of others. There is so much knowledge to be gained from listening to people of all ages in your community. We are surrounded by absolute faith-affirming brilliance! We need mentors to help us to grow and develop in our ministries. We need mentors to call us out and tell us when we should be doing better. We need to be surrounded by people who are running towards God so that we can run alongside them.
If you do not have a mentor, I encourage you to talk to your pastor or work on intentionally developing a relationship with an older person in your church. If you have had fantastic mentorship, then I challenge you to start looking for people in your church or community that you can mentor and empower for the benefit of God’s Kingdom.
WRITER: Kira-leigh Josey, attends Thornleigh Church NSW.