We Are The Future.

As the youth of St. Paul’s, we can say that we are, at least in theory, the future of St. Paul’s. We’ve had some good initiatives going since Matt and Angela took over the Youth Group: the 30 Hour Famines, the Spaghetti Supper and the like. It’s a good thing we’ve got going. But, for those of you who have noticed—or maybe you haven’t?—the church is dying. We’re in serious economic trouble. We’re losing numbers of attendees. Anyone remember the time when the pews used to be full, even in the balcony? I barely can.

We’re a new kind of Youth Group. We’re pretty active in the congregation, and the “old folks” love us young people just as much as ever. We’re in a position where we can do a lot. But are we doing enough?

Personally, I feel that God has given me a mandate, a purpose for the gifts with which I have been blessed. I feel that God has put us in this place of favour so that we may act in accordance to His will, and His will is this: that we breathe new life and new direction into St. Paul’s.

This might sound really weird to some of you, or maybe it doesn’t. However, I know that two years ago, I would have been pretty weirded out by someone saying something like that, even in church, especially coming from a teenager. Two years ago, I was an atheist. Church was a place to come, sit through an hour of boredom, read some words that were supposed to be prayers, and then go up to Sanderson Hall for cookies and juice. God was an abstraction that I knew I didn’t have to believe in.

Then I got confirmed, and I knew I was just lying to myself. I started thinking that maybe there was something beyond my lie that I believed in God. So I started experimenting, reading books about Christian teens (by the way, the books are now on the Youth Group bookshelf), and I even joined a small Christian club at my school. It was through the club that I ended up at a youth service at another church, and suddenly I realized what I’d been missing. The church I’d grown up with had become so monotonous and empty that it was hard to conceive of the God behind it all.

After two years, I know now that God is calling me to bring about some sort of...change. I don’t know how to do it, and I know that I have to put my faith in the Holy Spirit to guide me and give me strength.

We are the youth. We are the future of this church and of Brampton and of the world, and we can’t let God fall through the cracks of what religion has become.

There’s a lot of reform that needs to happen in this church if it’s to survive into our generation...not just economically, but maybe even spiritually. I don’t know if I’m the only one, but I think St. Paul’s needs to be reminded of the love of God, and His call to action for all of us.

So I’d like to hear from you guys. Does anyone agree with me? Does anyone think I’m crazy? Does anyone think I’m out of line here? Email me, comment, Facebook me, whatever.

Regardless of if you agree or disagree, the future of St. Paul’s is up to us.

--Hillary.

Welcome Back!

I hope everyone had a great summer! Now that summer jobs are winding down and school is winding up, I thought it should be time to do another blog post to look back at last year, and get excited for the upcoming year.

Since our first meeting last October, we have accomplished quite a bit as a group. Firstly, we managed to have a room in the church designated as a Youth Room, and we have furnished and painted it... and thanks to Jim Gougeon and Jack Drew have been able to secure it!

In April, we did the 30-Hour Famine... more than 15 of us were locked in the church overnight, and didn't break anything! And more importantly, we raised $1180.00 for World Vision! Congrats to our top fundraisers, Hillary Flinn and Jeff Freyters, and thanks to the St. Paul's congregation for your generous contributions!

Our next initiative, taking place in late May was our annual fundraiser with a twist. Our Spaghetti Dinner was a huge success, and we had fun with the Murder Mystery aspect. We raised just under $1000 for youth group use. With this money we purchased a desk for the youth room, and helped to subsidize a canoe trip in Algonquin Park. Thanks again to those who donated their time to help us: Mark Drew, Karen Aucoin, Sharon Morrison, The Taylor Family, all of the parents who helped with clean-up, and of course our Yard Boss, Jack Drew. Also, thanks to our generous sponsors: A&P (Brampton Mall Location) and Coffee Culture.

To cap off the year, Angela organized a wonderful trip with Creative Toolbox to Algonquin Park. We canoed out from Canoe Lake, went up to Sunbeam lake, and returned through Burnt Island Lake. It was amazing to see how all of the participants grew individually and as a group through this 5-day adventure.

So, what's coming up? We need to have a meeting to discuss some of what you want to do, but here are some of my goals for the group for the upcoming year:

• Host a youth-run service
• Raise $1500 for World Vision through the 30-Hour Famine
• Host another dinner, with 2 sittings!
• Go on a Service Trip next summer (More on this at the next meeting)

Our first meeting of the year will be held this Sunday, September 20 following the service from noon to 1:00... Lunch will be provided. The meeting is open to all high school students who wish to attend. Welcome to our new members, and to those who have moved on, best of luck in whatever you have moved on to, and stay in touch!

I'm looking forward to seeing you all!

Task for this weekend - A look at global and local organizations

Some of you may remember a small task that you were assigned at one of our previous meetings. We have talked about poverty, and what I had asked you to do was to take a few minutes to look up an organization that either has a strong commitment to social (or environmental) justice, or one that has a bad reputation in the same areas.

In the course of our discussion, we mentioned that Wal Mart has a bad reputation. So, to get your thoughts flowing, I decided to do an entry about some of the injustices that are attributed to Wal Mart.

First of all, to understand how powerful the Wal Mart corporation is, it's economic power exceeds that of 161 countries.

So, what's the problem with Wal Mart, anyway?

There are several reasons why Wal Mart has a bad track record. Some of the issues are supporting slave labour, undercutting local businesses and other smaller companies, disregard for the environment, poor employee wages, among other serious issues.

Some people even blame companies like Wal Mart for the current financial crisis!

This Saturday, while we are doing the famine, we should take some time to think about some of these issues. How does what we do, or where we shop affect impoverished nations? What can we do to help? Over the next few days, take some time to think about this, and come on Saturday with some information about a few companies, either good or bad, that you can share with the group.

To God or not to God... That is the question

Some of you may remember Grant’s little announcement on Sunday about the United Church’s counter to the Atheist ad campaign. The Freethought Association of Canada has issued ads that state: “There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.” The United Church’s counter to that ad just turns the first statement around: “There's probably a God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.”

I was reading through The Star and found an article relating to this debate. After sharing the two points of view, the author shares her opinion of this issue. What she takes exception to is the part where it says that we should all “stop worrying and enjoy life.” She makes a good point in that, as Christians, we can’t stop worrying about things like poverty or the environment; however, I believe that she has misunderstood the intended meaning of the United Church’s counter-campaign.

I believe that the United Church’s stance is as follows (but would welcome other opinions):

1) Why should we worry that there is a God? God’s existence is not a scary thing! God represents things like love, compassion, forgiveness, salvation, and hope for the future. Different people may view God in different ways, but he need not be viewed as (and to keep with the uncertain nature of these two statements, probably isn’t) the brutal smiter of sinners!

2) We should stop worrying about trivial things. We should stop worrying that we could be doing things better when we are already doing our best. We should do our best to be good stewards to one another and to our environment, however since God gives us hope we can have faith to believe that we are capable of protecting our environment and helping our brothers and sisters around the world.

More information can be found at The Wondercafe. Actually, you can go there to vote for what you believe to be the more correct phrase.... On Sunday Grant said, "Right now the athiests are winning!!" However, we're now up by 4%! Go United Church!!

Youth Room Progress!

So, we're done painting!! Hooray!





Next step will be to get a door attached and stuff moved into the room.





Here are some of the pictures that we have taken throughout the process:

More coming very shortly......

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

Today, in our continued discussion on poverty, I mentioned Maslow's Heirarchy of Needs. This theory was proposed by American Psychologist Abraham Maslow in 1943. The premise of Maslow's hierarchy of needs is this: In order for higher order needs to be met, lower level needs must first be met.

In summary, these needs are as follows:

Basic Needs- Also known as physiological needs which include: food, water, breathing, and sleep.

Safety Needs- Includes security of body, employment, health, freedom from persecution, etc.

Social Needs- Also referred to as Love/Belonging, refers to our need for human contact in friendships, romantic relationships, community groups, etc.

Self-esteem Needs- These are our need for confidence and achievement, respect and to respect others.

Achievement Needs- Commonly known as the need for Self-actualization. These are our needs for morality, creativity, spontaneity, lack of prejudice, and acceptance of facts.

So what does this mean for issues of poverty?

Well, by this theory, people living in poverty have a prioritized set of needs. First, they will seek to satisfy their need for food, water, and shelter. Shelter also meets safety needs as well, for example, having shelter is a good way to protect yourself from animals, insects, or people who may cause you harm.

However, it is unlikely that in an impoverished country all safety needs would be met. Freedom from persecution and maintaining good health (nutrition, contagious disease, vector bourne diseases like malaria), for example may be needs that people may not be able to satisfy.

This means that, in theory, higher order needs, such as social, self-esteem and self-actualization needs will not be met if people living in poverty cannot feel safe and healthy, not to mention satistfying lower level needs.

It is interesting to observe much of the aid that organizations will give to impoverished communities. They seem in line with Maslow's theory. They first provide food, clean drinking water, shelter, healthcare, and security. After that, they begin to develop infrastructure, community groups, schools, and ways for people to improve their way of life.

This idea is only a theory, and should not be taken as an exact representation of how we view and categorize our various needs, but it is interesting to think about poverty in this context.

Welcome!

Welcome to the newly created St. Paul's United Church Youth Group blog! The purpose of this blog is to allow Youth members at St. Paul's to keep up-to-date with what we are talking about at our meetings and to inform them of upcoming events. This blog also serves the purpose of informing members of the global village what we are all about at St. Paul's in terms of our Life and Work and Youth Programming.

The St. Paul's Youth Group is an enthusiastic group of high school students in the Brampton area. We meet every two weeks on Sunday after the service, in addition to several events and fundraisers that we will plan throughout the year. Check the Upcoming Events section on the right for more information on our upcoming events.

This blog will be updated with event information, details from our meetings/events, and our thoughts about some of the issues in the world around us and in our own community.