Message from the Director

Recently a young Volunteer Leader at one of the 24:7 Youth Ministry youth groups shared how as a year 8 student they just loved coming to their parish youth group. It wasn’t a large youth group, small in fact, but this young man recalled how much love and encouragement he received each Friday night from his favourite youth ministers. Six years later, this young man has returned to the youth group after a year away having focussed on his year 12 studies. Now studying at university, this young man has returned to the youth group as a Volunteer Leader. When asked why he would want to do this his reply was profound!

He shared that he was so impacted by the love of older youth investing in him that now he knows it is his turn to give back and impact on young lives!

This powerful story is not unique. So many 24:7 YM leaders and Youth Ministers share the same sentiment. The impact of older people on their lives enables them to walk life with confidence thanks to the support and love they have and continue to receive. Even more amazing is that so many of these young people graduate through 24:7 YM and then without hesitation want so much to give back and impact together.

These young leaders need our prayers as they strive to Live for God, Full On, Full Time, All the Time in their hope of being the best people that they can be. They long to serve others with the greatest impact that they can have and truly they are gift indeed. Let’s not take these young people for granted.

This week’s update is filled with amazing things that this army of young people are able to achieve for the sake of those coming through the ranks. Check out all that is happening in our School Ministry, our Youth Groups, Connections in parish life and in College life. Please take time out to hold each one of these Saints in the making in your prayer!

School Ministry

Over the past week our team of youth ministers and leaders from Acts 2 College of Mission and Evangelisation have ministered to students at Mercy College with our Community of Faith retreat and St John’s Catholic Primary School through our Forgive and Forgiven Reconciliation Retreat.Our Director, Mario Borg has also presented Sacramental Overview Parent Workshop at Whitford’s parish and a Eucharist Parent/Student Workshop with St Michael’s Catholic Primary/St Joseph’s parish in Bassendean.

Balcatta

Mission Accomplished was the theme of last Sunday, with 18 of us managing this in many ways! It was a packed night of activity, starting with Zombie – the infectious, high energy game that allowed everyone to release a lot of energy and have fun. We then had Space Jump - the improvising drama game; this was a less intense game to cater to all people. They had to, in a pair, create a new scenario following another pairs’ scene when “Space jump” was called. Wall tag followed before we had a time of learning some Christian action songs; “Light house” and “Lean on me”.The talk of Mission Accomplished was all about the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Felicity spoke beautifully about Jesus’ sacrifice and how it is a pure gift that is given to us. A visual example was organised where one of our participants pretended to be disruptive and rude. As a “punishment” for her actions we were going to pour a bucket of water over her but just in time one of the leaders was the Christ-like figure and took the punishment in her stead. This allowed us to see that even though we deserved the punishment, Jesus wants to take it on himself. We also spoke about the hope of salvation through the resurrection. To tie it all together at the end, Felicity explained that we can experience and see the sacrifice in real life through the Mass every day. This week is all about ‘Our Story’ – how everything that we have been talking about effects our lives and how we can respond to the amazing gift that Jesus gave to us. This will prepare us as we approach the Easter period. We are going to have some games involving sacrifice to explore some of the things that we looked at throughout the term!

Bassendean

Last week we had an exciting night with the Youth Mission Team visiting our youth group for the finale of our Lenten series! We played two new games, Evolution and Chinese Whispers Charades, which everyone loved. We also watched a clip from Veggie Tales about the Promised Land and had an insightful talk given by Youth Minister, Aloyse opening up the idea of Heaven and the Promised Land, and how our ultimate goal is to get to Heaven while bringing as many people with us as we can. DON’T FORGET! We have our birthday party next week so remember to bring as many friends as possible to get the chance to win an incredible prize! We have a tonne of games in store for you, with many prizes to be won throughout the night. Once again, remember to bring your friends and a plate of food to share and we look forward to seeing you there!

Floreat

Last Sunday was an energetic night full of fun as 17 of us began with the games Commando, Vortex and Card Towers. Everyone gave their full effort and drew out some real slick moves and creativity before settling down for the talk on Jesus’ Ascension given by Jesse Jacobs. Jesse gave a clear and insightful talk with three clear points: The Ascension is important in our faith, Jesus lives on in all of us, and Jesus is seated in Heaven beside the Father. We then had some small group discussions that were very fruitful. Last Friday also saw us facilitating a Youth Group Event at John XXIII College that was so much fun! This week will be the very last night of our Lenten Series and the final chapter of our story with Jesus, the only chapter not yet complete… His Second Coming!!

Greenwood

Last Sunday night we had 34 of us at youth group! The night was themed around bread, though before we got into that we played a game of PVC Pipe. After engaging in some fun, we then had the main talk which focused on Jesus being the bread of life. This week’s talk was given by Angela Firth, on a closer look at bread in John’s Gospel and how important it is to remember that when Jesus’ broke bread at the last supper, He gave us the chance to experience eternal life with him. This Sunday’s youth group will be one not to miss as we look more closely at the Last Supper.

Morley

Last Friday we had 15 people to try out some new, awesome games, and to discover some new things about the Holy Spirit. The night began with a game called ‘Electrified by the Holy Spirit’, which was a great team game that enabled us to work towards the goal of getting to a bunny toy first out of our groups to try and win the round. This was to symbolise how the Holy Spirit works through us and uses everyone to spread a passion and goal of growing closer to Christ. Our other game was also great fun, and a big hit, known as ‘Paper, Scissors, Rock, Hop’. This team game involved some luck, and some speed to reach the other team’s side first, and to skilfully beat each opponent on the way to secure a goal for our teams. After this we learned about the Holy Spirit through the Alpha program. This video looked at who the Holy Spirit was, how we perceive Him, and what is His relevance in our life. The discussions opened up who the Holy Spirit was to those of faith, what He means to us, and how He acts in the world around us today, which was really interesting and thought provoking. We then had some delicious pizza and chips to finish the night!! This week we are continuing with Alpha and looking at how we can be ‘filled’ with the Spirit, like we were looking at last Friday.

Nedlands

Last week at Nedlands we had 26 young people who had a fantastic evening! We kick-started our night with Jukebox, a classic game that involves performing short snippets from different songs and we were blown away by some of the previously unimagined musical talents of some of our youth and leaders! After Jukebox we played the exhausting but exhilarating game of Wall Tag that left us ready to sit down and hear from Tom, one of our very talented volunteer leaders. Tom shared some of his own experiences of doubting his faith and spoke about the Church as a guide throughout our spiritual journey. His story assured us that asking questions about the Church is normal and necessary and how learning more about the teachings and beliefs of the Church we come to know, understand and love the Church. Tom also spoke how youth group is one ways that we can learn more about our faith by asking leaders about topics that are difficult to understand. This week we will be exploring this idea further so bring all your curly questions and we will see you at Nedlands – we can’t wait!

Ocean Reef

This week we had 36 youth come down to youth group to spend the night in fellowship with each other. We started the night with the classic, ‘Name Game’ and then headed outside to play a new game called ‘Gnomes and Fairies’. Elijah then gave a talk about making time for our relationship with God with a focus on listening to God because we love him instead of out of fear of him. Finally, we ended the night with an activity which tested our acting skills and our knowledge of the topics we covered at youth group this term. The next youth group will be taking place on the 14th of April (Palm Sunday) and we’ll be preparing for Holy Week and Easter Sunday!

Osborne Park

We were on fire last Friday with a night that looked at the Burning Bush to prepare us for Easter. Starting with the high energy game of Cranes and Crows, the 58 of us set our bodies burning (figuratively not literally) before using our creativity in Reverse Charades! We then had Acts 2 College of Mission and Evangelisation Lecturer Laura Firth, expand our knowledge of Moses and the Burning Bush. Laura spoke of how God met Moses as he was running away, just like we often find ourselves running away from things in our lives. Moses tried to make excuses as to why he could not follow God’s instructions, yet God had an answer for each. She also spoke of how God used Moses’ time in the desert to prepare him to lead the Israelites and God similarly uses experiences in our lives to prepare us for greater things. To respond we thought about the different areas we see Jesus working in our lives and wrote down a title or the name of Jesus on a post-it note which were placed on the cross to symbolize how Jesus works in our lives.You don’t want to miss this week’s youth group as we explore just how amazing God’s forgiveness is!

Servite

With 100 youth in attendance at 24:7 Serve youth group this week, we had a massive afternoon! Many thanks to all the students from Mary Mackillop who came down, our awesome volunteers and the wonderful regular attendees of 24:7 Serve! This week, we played two fantastic games; Toilet Paper Fashion Show and The Chocolate Game! In Toilet Paper Fashion Show, everyone worked in groups of 6-10 to dress up one of their members using toilet paper and sticky tape. After 10 minutes, our models walked a runway whilst a teammate explained the design choices! The Chocolate Game is a youth group classic, and at 24:7 Serve we had a blast as we scrambled to cut a piece of chocolate free before somebody else rolled a 6 on the dice! To break open our penultimate corporal work of mercy, Clothe the Naked, Tom Loreck, President of The St. Vincent De Paul Society’s Whitfords Branch, gave us an exciting talk. He discussed how The St. Vincent de Paul Society works in a variety of ways to live out Jesus’ commandment to ‘love thy neighbour’. These include bread runs, facilitating the donation of clothes to the needy and raising money for the poor. We are all called to help the needy around us, and none of us are too young to start!Thanks again to everyone who came to our St. Denis Parish Connect, it was a fantastic night with 30 young people making their very own sweet and savoury pizzas!! Make sure you watch this space to get reminders about our upcoming events! This week at youth group we look at the mercy work of Burying the Dead.

South

 Last Friday night was a youth group filled with questions! After prayer and Scripture, we started the night with our Southern favourite of Dodgeball where you had to join the other team if you were hit! This was then followed by an explanation of how our Q and A would run and some time for everyone to write down questions. We proceeded to play Minute Mingle Carousel after writing, where everyone partnered up and then spent a minute on a task or question before switching partner and doing something new. After a break we had our Q and A Night with an awesome foursome on our panel! On the panel were the knowledgeable Fr Pier, the wise Sister Dianne Colborne of the Sisters of St. Joseph, the vibrant Volunteer Leader Ave and steady Youth Minister Mark to answer an and all questions thrown at them. The first section of questions were ones to help us get to know them on a more personal level, so they answered enquiries about their day routine, pineapple preference on pizza, where they would go on holiday and much more! After a small game of Finger Catch for a break, the panel then had to face some grittier question on life and faith. Questions ranged from love and romance, to Heaven and Hell, history and Christianity, and school life. We had a Watermelon Stretch to get out of our seats before any last questions and then closing the night. Our Hood Night is back this week so get ready to grow in Sisterhood and Brotherhood! Take the time to learn more about some role models you’d like to share with your hood!

Subiaco

 Last week we had 19 people attending the youth group. We had a whole lot of fun through our games, Snap, Crackle, Pop, and a round of Wall Tag, before testing ourselves with Celebrity Heads. We then settled down for a reflective night on what it means to be honest and becoming a person of integrity and looked at ways we can live both of those virtues out. We had a wonderful visit to John XXIII College last Friday for a Twilight Retreat and will be going again this week to meet with the Year 10 leaders. You won’t want to miss this week’s youth group as we will investigate the topic of Sacrificial Love!

24:7 Youth Ministry John XXIII Twilight Retreat

 Youth Ministers from 24:7 Nedlands, Subiaco and Floreat have been visiting Year 10 students at John XXIII College in preparation for the Twilight Retreat that took place last Friday afternoon. We were so pleased to see students coming along for an after-school event full of fun and good times. We thank the staff for their support and we look forward to continuing our relationship with the students into the future.