Glowing With Grace

Have you ever been part of organized fun? Fun that was intentionally organized to

create unity and a great experience? An experience in which you look and see others around the room participating in and playing different group games? Games that encourage us to interact and work together in a fun and engaging way?

JAHWI had that mission; we felt the need to create an opportunity for organized, intentional, and uniting fun. The advantage we had was that we knew how to have fun within our church community. We had a worship service, social games, and last but certainly not least, food.

On Saturday, April 4, we held our Metro Jovenes event titled Glowing with Grace. Metro Jovenes, which means youth from the metropolitan area, is something JAHWI started when we noticed our youth needed a way to come together and build unity. The winter months can be tough for many of us, even in our church. That’s why Metro Jovenes combines a youth worship program with sports, especially during the winter months. It helps us focus on Christ, stay active, and build relationships.

Worshipping God is always a beautiful experience. We started our evening with song

service, prayer, and a Bible activity. Prayer is essential in anything we do. Here we divided into groups and prayed for each other’s requests and the ministry in our community. The Bible activity encouraged the crowd to participate and lower their guards. Everybody was able to warm up and interact. It was simple yet to the point. One of our young adults shared an encouraging message that pointed us to Glow with Grace, no matter the circumstance.

One of the many special things about this event in particular was that we did not have

sports. We had social games. Think of games you can play with other people, without much equipment. The same kind of games that would be perfect for camping. Games like where you are holding hands, running around a circle, and scrambling to find enough people to fill a specific number for your group.

The game I enjoyed watching the most was when everyone had to build a tower out of cardboard boxes. Boys were on one side, and girls were on the other. They ran to get their boxes from opposite ends of the gym, then brought the boxes to their team to build the tallest tower possible in the shortest amount of time. People were carrying others, finding ways to rebuild as fast as possible, and most of all, getting to know each other.

What does it take to plan these events? A team! This team meets every first Sunday of

the month to pray, plan, and equip ourselves for the upcoming events. Not only was this the

JAHWI team, but churches like Hispanic Sheboygan Church joined us at this event and helped us prepare the food. We had quesadillas, popcorn, and lemonade. Without forgetting the talented youth who planned the decoration and found the necessary materials to create the glow-in-the-dark experience.

Without support for our community, it wouldn't have been possible to complete the events we plan. These types of events are important because not only are we having fun, but we are opening the doors for other youth to join us. Youth who might not come to church, or are hesitant. These events give proof that living in Christ as young people is worth it!