Ministry to Children and Youth

It was in about January 2013 that I first started talking with NETS (Namibia Evangelical Theological Seminary) about the possibility of teaching Youth Ministry courses at the seminary. On August 18th, nearly 20 months later, that vision was finally realized. I arrived at school early, around 7am, to make sure I had everything printed and could get my computer connected to the projector. I had 11 students signed up for the course, all 2nd and 3rd year residential students at NETS. Most of them had been or will be involved in some form of church or para-church youth ministry, so I hoped the material would be applicable.

After some brief introductions we started off going through the course syllabus. That was an easy start, getting the feet wet. Then we jumped right in. The general outline for the course was that your purpose plus your target group within a given context equals your program. So we spent the first day discussing the purpose of the church and a Biblical and theological basis for youth ministry. The next day we spent talking about youth and childhood development, looking at physical, emotional, psychosocial and spiritual development. This was to get a good handle on understanding our target group.

The minefield of issues that youth in Namibia are facing.

The next two days we spent looking at youth culture and the context in which today’s students are growing up. We talked about many different issues including postmodernity, family structure, media discernment, social networking, sexuality, substance abuse, depression, suicide, and more. Those were perhaps the two most depressing, but exciting days of the course. Depressing because our youth are walking through a minefield of issues and they aren’t making it through unscathed. But exciting because the church is uniquely positioned to speak the hope of Christ into those situations.

Then once we understood where we’re headed, who we’re dealing with, and the context in which we’re working, we finally talked about developing the program. We looked at challenges to programming, some characteristics of good programs and then tried it out with a few scenarios.

Overall it was a great group of students who were very interactive and taught me a bit about youth ministry in the Namibian context. This was only the first 5 days of an 8 day course. Our remaining 3 days of class are spread out once a month throughout the rest of the semester. That course format allows them to get a bulk of information, then go practice it and come back with more questions. I’m looking forward to seeing how they use what they’ve learned and what new questions they will come back with next time.

Visitors

There's nothing to help procrastination like getting visitors! My parents came to visit for a week with Dan, one of the pastors from their church back home. My parents have been here quite a few times over the years, but it was Dan's first time in Africa. Most of our time together was spent visiting different ministries to show Dan some of the different things God's doing in Namibia and to introduce him to some of the ministry leaders.

We spent the first weekend visiting Children of Promise Ministries and Eagle Christian Center in Arandis. We enjoyed spending time with the church youth group on Friday night. They ended the night sharing jokes using different accents, so Dad chimed in with a Swedish accent telling a Jan and Sven joke. On Saturday we hung out with some ministry families and visited the church plot where they've begun construction on a perimeter fence. The church is currently meeting at the outdoor amphitheater because the Town Hall, where they usually meet, is undergoing renovations. So Sunday morning Dad, Dan and I joined some of the church guys to set up a shade covering over some of the benches, however that morning was quite windy. After much effort and engineering we managed a makeshift tent that wouldn't blow away in the wind. Monday morning we helped lead the assembly at Talitha Kumi Christian Academy with a puppet rendition of the Noah's ark story. My job was the special effects including lightning, sound effects and real rain! :)

After Arandis, we spent some time visiting friends and ministries in Okahandja. We went to a community center located in a squatter's camp area where a missionary couple is helping train women in making beads and jewelry. From there we walked a few streets over until the joyful sound of children singing could be heard emerging from a large building made of wooden pallet slats. This was one of almost 30 preschools throughout the whole city started by local teachers who our friend Joan has helped train. Six of her teachers have since gone on to receive official certification and are now teaching in public schools.

We also spent a day in Windhoek visiting NETS. We sat in on morning chapel and a freshman class on Understanding the Bible. In class we played a few games, students-vs-visitors, in which we prevailed, but probably our collective over-100 yrs of church background gave us a bit of an edge. We also got to visit with my SIM leader and the director at Campus Crusade for Christ.

In addition to ministry visits, we made sure Dan got to experience a bit of Africa since it was his first time. He got to try the world-famous Walvis Bay oysters, see the dunes of the Namib desert, watch the sun set over the Atlantic, barter at the wood carvers markets, and even see some wildlife on a safari game drive. Overall it was a great time having them around. It's always nice to have visitors with whom you can share the new things and experiences you've grown to love. So who's coming next??