Many, many years ago I attended a high school reunion. At first, I wasn’t really keen on going, but then a friend twisted my arm and convinced me it would be a good idea. I thought it would be fun to see everyone all grown up and hear what they were up to in the big wide world. What I wasn’t expecting, however, is that it would lead to some really good conversations about spiritual things and the big questions of life.
When the usual ‘so, what do you do?’ question came along, I said I’d recently stepped away from the sciences to work at my church. That was all it took for the questions started flowing and I had great chats where I had the opportunity to share my faith.
Obviously, not everyone has that as a way into conversation, but most of us probably went to a church Sunday school, youth or young adults group, and are still in contact on social media with people from those groups, even if we’ve not seen them for many years. Once you’ve found five or so people, then if each of them know a few others, very soon a whole group can be invited!
People love seeing those they were at school with and with those they knew when they were young, so why not reconnect with people you know from youth group too?
The beauty of doing this is that there is already the common ground of having been at church together, and so it’s comparatively easy to bring faith and spirituality into the conversation in a non- threatening way: ‘Hey Bob, did you ever find a church when you moved to Bury?’; ‘Hey Jill, I know you stopped coming to the group, have you ever thought about coming back to church?’.
Many people leave the church during the years after school or in their early working life as they get busy or distracted, or just go off to figure things out – and a youth group reunion is a great way to help them back and show them again the truth of the Gospel.
Prayer: ‘Lord, help me think about the people in my past whom you would have me reach out to, especially those from my younger years in the church. Help me to find a way to connect with them and share your love with them once more. Amen’
Previously: Launch Pad #36 Host a Film and Discussion Evening
