My first experience working with our Sr. High Youth Group and witnessing to strangers on dubious city streets both occurred during...

 

My first experience working with our Sr. High Youth Group and witnessing to strangers on dubious city streets both occurred during the week of July 19^th – the week in the FBC Summer Ministries schedule known as Philly Week.

The Basics: What is Philly Week, Exactly?
For those of you unfamiliar with the logistics, let me give you a quick overview.  On Sunday, July 19, about thirty high schoolers from our youth group, three college-aged FBC interns, four adult leaders, and two youth pastors departed from our church parking lot.  Our mission for the week was to conduct twelve different one-hour “Bible clubs” on the sidewalks of residential streets throughout Philadelphia, complete with songs, games, Scripture verses, and Bible stories.  In order to tackle this objective, our large group was split into six smaller groups (each comprised of five high schoolers and one adult leader) and each group was assigned two streets to cover for the week – one street where they would hold their “morning club,” and one street where they would hold their “afternoon club.” 

The idea is that by having the same group visit the same street at the same time throughout the week, children living on that street are able to make connections with familiar faces and be more willing to listen to their message.  And it works beautifully.  Each of the FBC high schoolers takes a turn leading the songs, organizing the games, teaching the Scripture verse, and telling the Bible story (and it really is telling – they are not allowed to read; it must be memorized so that they have the freedom to be more animated).  It is a time of amazing growth for everyone.  But as is so often the case, real growth is preceded by genuine hardship.

As you can maybe guess, not everyone is comfortable spilling out of a van with a cluster of their peers in matching orange T-shirts and then bouncing a basketball up and down a deserted city street in effort to draw a few kids out into the heat.  And that’s only where the discomfort begins for most.  Even after the first couple neighborhood kids have been awkwardly attracted to the blue tarp spread across their sidewalk, there is still a lesson to be taught, songs to be sung at the top of one’s lungs, and the Gospel to be presented one on one to a person who has lived a very different life than you have.  The environmental conditions don’t make things easier, either.  The city is hot – well above 90 most days, with very little opportunity for a breeze.  Many of the streets are littered with garbage and buzzing flies.  And a faint smell of sewage has been known to creep beneath a nose or two. 

The clubs are stretching, and the preparation for them each night is just as tiring.  Because the lessons are new each day, the same amount of preparation must be devoted to them each night.  After everyone has arrived back at our home base, a Christian school called Cedar Grove, we eat dinner, have a time of worship and devotional, and then spend the rest of the evening practicing our storytelling and gathering materials needed for another club.  No one can retreat to their air mattress until the next day’s lesson has been sufficiently rehearsed. 

This is what is meant by a challenging week.  It is stretching in every sense.  But on the other side of the challenge is the growth that progresses in every individual, young and old, who participates in this outreach.  God is faithful.  In the midst of the obstacles, His glory shines bright and His power is seen so clearly when, towards the end of the week, children from the clubs begin recognizing the problem of their own sin and seeing the solution in Christ.  There is nothing more rewarding than seeing hearts and minds turn toward our Savior – both those who are coming to know Him for the first time and those who are deepening their understanding of who He is.        

Home Base: Where Did We Sleep?
From Mt. Laurel, it takes about thirty minutes to arrive at our home base for the week: a two-story high school called Cedar Grove Christian Academy, right off of Route 1 Boulevard in Northeast Philly.  The school is decent looking enough, chosen for its central location to our club sites and the generosity of the folks who operate it.  Cedar Grove shares the block with a crab shack, corner store, and some modestly well-kept row homes.  Its clean, non-descript façade would probably comfort most parents who might surreptitiously drive past the school before sending their child to Philly Week.  And inside the school isn’t too bad, either.  The bathrooms have a bit of an odor, but the two classrooms designated for sleeping (one for boys and one for girls) are air-conditioned, and so is the cafeteria – if you keep all doors shut.  This is where we sleep, eat, and rest in between clubs, from Sunday afternoon until Friday evening, when we journey back across the bridge to a more familiar world. 

My Role as an Adult Leader
My role in all of this as an adult leader was primarily to be the “adult presence” on the street – and to drive my group to their club location.  I was not responsible for telling any stories or teaching any Scripture verses, although I did join in singing the songs and playing with the children before and after the lesson.  Indeed, the most stretching part for me wasn’t sitting on the tarp, watching my group members run club; it was driving the church van down obscure city streets plagued with one-way signs, reading and rereading the handwritten directions that were my lifeline.  I prayed every morning we climbed into the van that God would enable me to get us to our destination safely and without getting lost, even when it was the fifth time we were traveling that route.  And our Lord was good.  He allowed us to go thirty minutes out of our way on the first day – which only made me depend on Him more, of course! – but was very gracious the rest of the days and always kept us out of harm’s way.        

My Favorite Memories 

• Worshipping with everyone in the evenings, hearing stories from the day and the way God was miraculously working in the hearts of children in the clubs. 
• Getting to know the teens in my group – they are amazing and were of great encouragement to me throughout the week.  Shout out to Melanie, Karis, Maddie, Jed, and Joel!    
• Seeing first-hand the way the members of our FBC youth group love the Lord and can serve Him in incredible ways.   
• Experiencing God’s bigness in a variety of situations, creating new opportunities to praise Him and marvel at His goodness.