A Good Start

How do you start a youth ministry if you hardly know any youth? A few people in the Balkans team thought that prayer might be a good thing to start with and set aside an hour each week to specifically pray for this handful of young people they already knew, and to gather ideas of how to deepen these relationships, and to make new contacts. One idea was to bake Christmas cookies together. Surprisingly, all of the 3 girls who were asked were excited, so an afternoon was scheduled. When the team tried to confirm with them, however, only one girl actually responded. Eventually the team even had 4 girls working with them in the kitchen – one of the girls the team had never met before, and who simply came along with her friend! After about two hours of weighing, mixing and kneading, they not only managed to taste some delicious cookies – but all could also see progress in the team's goal to have a youth ministry in Bar.