We are in the midst of exciting times in our church. In just the past year we launched a quarterly Awakening event in the heart of Providence, we have gone to two services at our Smithfield Campus, and we are gearing up to bring Awakening Conference to the Dunkin Donuts Center in June 2016. Also, the past few weeks have been powerful at Awakening where one of the nights we saw kids staying at the altar not wanting to leave, and another night where we ran out chairs because they brought so many friends! We are seeing young people stepping into ministry, and excited about the church.
As we enter this next season of ministry for New Life we have been hard at work considering what we can do to make our youth ministry more connected to a genuine walk with the Lord. It is our goal to plug young people into the work of the ministry that happens every week. We want them serving in our children’s ministry, cafe, greeting, media and so much more! I’m personally grateful that we have a church culture that invites young people into active roles in the church.
It is also our desire to see every single young person in an “Awakening Crew” which are the weekly small groups of Awakening. This is where discipleship happens, friendships are created, and accountability takes place in the life of a teenager. I’ve said many times that I would rather a young person attend an Awakening crew than an Awakening service if they had to choose one. The most important aspects of Awakening are found in getting young people connected to Sunday, and getting them in a crew. Right now, we have 40 crews meeting across RI & MA and close to 70% of young people are attending- so we are succeeding in that goal, and desire to make our crews even better.
Beginning in January, we are going to move to more of a weekly crew-based approach to reflect what we believe is the foundation of Awakening. Our main services will now be on Sunday morning along with the rest of the body of believers. We will all gather together once a month for “Awakening Night” on the fourth Wednesday of the month, and “Elevate Night” on the first Wednesday- so they will still have two mid-week services a month to attend along with special Team Nights and special quarterly services.
This chart can help break down the new approach:
I believe that God anoints the mission more than the model, and we are certainly not married to our methods. We will continue to tweak and improve how we do things as Awakening has done for many years. We have not grown to one of the largest ministries in the nation by being afraid to take bold steps with big faith.
Our last weekly service will be on December 16, 2015 and our 1st “Awakening Night” will be on January 27, 2016. I truly believe this model will help the young people in New Life grow deeper in discipleship, grow wider as servants, and grow upward in evangelism. I’m thankful to serve such amazing young people, and deeply grateful for the parents who are invested in the spiritual formation of their teenagers. I want to continue to come alongside you and help raise your youth into men and women that love Jesus, and His bride more than this present age.
See you Sunday,
Pastor Jordan Boyce
awakeningyouth.com