Carlton Methodist Church English MYF
REEF is
the high school youth group of Carlton Methodist Church. REEF meets together
every Friday night to sing together, play games, eat food, and most important
of all, to study the scriptures together. During our bible studies, we dig deep
into God’s word to find out more about who Jesus is and what he means for our
lives.
At present the youth group
consists of 40+ high schoolers (half of whom do not come to church). The REEF
ministry is lead and organised by 12 REEF leaders, who are either university
students or young workers. The REEF leaders organise the program for the night,
and also write and lead the bible studies for the youth. There are currently
six bible study groups, with two leaders per group. This year we have done
series on the Parables of Jesus, a series on Priorities in the Christian life,
a series on prayer and a series on Jesus as seen from Paul’s epistles.
Earlier this year REEF held its first ever REEF
Camp on the topic of Loneliness. The vision for the REEF camp team was:
“To run an evangelistic youth
camp that encourages Christ-centred community and develops Christian maturity.”
73
attended the camp, with 54 being youth. Activities included bible talks, group
discussions, sharing time, an Amazing race and Q&A. Under God, many
non-Christians came to hear the gospel preached powerfully and faithfully, and
by his grace the team feels their vision was achieved.
In August, REEF attended RICE Rally, a
city-wide, inter-church evangelistic event that saw 3000+ youth come to hear
the gospel proclaimed. By God’s grace, the turnout from REEF was over 100, as
the youth in REEF were compelled by the love of Christ to invite their friends
to hear the gospel.
We thank
God for the way he has blessed and used the REEF ministry at CMC over the past
year. We give him all the praise and the glory.
Testimony Sharing
The teenage years are when we
start rebelling against our parents, trying to become more independent. Like
every other teenager, I thought my parents were trying to ruin my social life.
I fought a lot with them, as I felt like the only thing they cared about were
my school marks. However, at REEF, we were taught to love and respect our
parents. At first I totally ignored this because I was so angry with them all
the time. But then we learned that though we may not understand many of the
struggles we go through in life, God would never do anything to harm us.
Rather, he uses these hardships to teach us and grow us in our relationship
with him. When I looked at my own life and saw this to be true, I wondered
whether my parents also made decisions that I couldn’t understand but were for
my own good in the end. As you can probably guess, this was also true. As I
look back over the past 5 or 6 years, I’ve come to realise that my parents were
right about pretty much everything. Though sometimes I still get into disagreements
with them, I believe that through REEF, God has taught me to respect and obey
my parents, and trust their decisions. In the end, everything they do is with
my best interests in mind.
REEF has also had a big
impact on the way I view school and study. For some background information, I
think it would be quite safe to say that I did pretty well in school. Up to
year four I was part of the gifted and talented class. I was accepted into
Opportunity Class for years 5 and 6, was then accepted into a Selective high
school and am now studying Commerce/Arts at UNSW. However, I can’t really say I
was happy with these achievements for the most part. Every time I did well just
put more pressure on me to do well the next time. Year 12 taught me that studying
really hard didn’t always guarantee a good mark and sometimes the girls that
went out every weekend and skipped a lot of school scored better than me. I
also had no idea what I wanted to do in uni. All this scared both my parents
and I because we began to realise just how much was out of our own control. All
they could do was send me to coaching and try to support me.
At REEF I learnt one of the
most important lessons of my life – that God has a plan for us, and we can put
all our trust in Him to guide us. We also learnt that everything we do should
be for the glory of God. I realised my attitude towards study should be one of
the ways that I do this. I also found reassurance in the fact that I could
trust in Him to show me what to do with my life and that everything would turn
out fine in the end. This has all turned out to be true as well seeing as I’m
really enjoying my course and am so thankful that I didn’t get into the course
I wanted at first. Furthermore, as I’ve witnessed my parents grow in their
relationship with God, they have been able to let go of much of their worries,
because they trust that God is almighty and looking after me.
Honestly, I think the most
helpful thing my parents did for me during year 12 was to encourage me to go to
REEF every week even during my all exams. At school, many people had the
attitude of going out and getting drunk to deal with the stress. However, my
parents realised that all the REEF leaders had been through the HSC and were
the ones who could best give me Godly support, which they all did without fail.
For example, if it was the night before an English exam, I would suddenly get
all these text messages from them saying, “All the best for English tomorrow!
Praying for you!” Also, going through the HSC with my fellow year 12 REEFers,
seeing them at REEF every week despite the pressure and their words of
encouragement were a continual source of strength. I’ve finally come to realise
that God is the priority in my life. Exams and school are not an excuse for skipping
REEF or church, as everything is ultimately in God’s control and what we
prioritise shows us exactly what we worship. After all, the wisdom to get
through life can only be found in the Bible. But just as a random note, I used
to think being a REEF leader was just some easy, Friday, social thing. But
after not even half a year of being a new leader with no big official
responsibilities, there is a lesson or two to be learnt about time management
and a good work ethic from these guys.
Finally, attending REEF has
had a big impact on my attitude and personal sense of security and confidence.
I, like everybody else, am not perfect. Insecurities and the fear of being
rejected was something I struggled a lot with when I was younger and is
something that, I know, the majority of young people struggle with. After all,
it’s only human nature to want to be accepted by our peers. However, coming to
REEF gave me so much comfort. As a REEF kid, I recognised that as a big bunch
of young people, we all struggled with the same things that only teenagers go
through. While people at school were
starting to experiment with alcohol and various other dodgy things, I looked at
the REEF leaders and saw that they hadn’t turned out too badly, and wondered
what they knew that I didn’t know.
Now, God has this wonderful
but slightly creepy way of dropping helpful pieces of information when we need
them most. Over and over again, the REEF leaders made it clear that it was OK
to struggle with things in life. They provided us with the reassurance that we
don’t need to worry about what anybody else thinks about us, because in the
end, the only opinion that matters is God’s. And, of course, there was the
ultimate display of love, mercy and grace that Jesus showed on the cross by
sacrificing himself to cleanse us of all our imperfections. What’s more, the
knowledge that we were all struggling with our sins together, yet everybody
still managed to be so loving and patient, yet unafraid to rebuke wrongdoings
when necessary, amazed me to no end. I truly believe that this group of people,
who behaved so maturely during our years of most immaturity, teaching the
message of Christ and living out their faith, is one of the biggest ways in
which God has kept me on the right path throughout my teenage years.
Coming to REEF has taught me
invaluable life lessons and has been a constant source of encouragement. It has
grown me so much in my relationship with God and I think I can safely say on
behalf of all the new REEF leaders, I hope we can offer your children the same
kind of love and support that our REEF leaders gave to us.
Josephine Wong
1st Year
University Student
REEF Leader
Labels: Testimonies and Sharings
Posted by AMYF Witnessing Officer Phoebe