Happy Easter

Hey there!!

The Rising River Youth crew want to wish you a blessed and happy Easter!!!

May you see God’s grace and mercy as you follow Him today and always!

We pray that you never forget the reason for this long weekend and that you keep your eyes on Christ!

 

God Bless

Rising River Youth.

What’s Coming up…

Don’t forget: No Youth this week because of Communion Sunday!

What’s Coming Up…

Don’t forget to join us this week Sunday for our annual Presentation at 9am in the Church!!!

Kairos Prison Ministry #10

As some of you might know, our youth leader, Alex, is heavily involved in an amazing prison ministry which reaches out to the hardened criminals and local inmates in our local jails with the message, love and Gospel of Jesus Christ.

From the feedback we’ve been getting the experience was life-changing for both the volunteers and the inmates, and to find out more about this ministry, click here.

Below some images of the team that took part in Kairos #10 which took place recently:

We’ve implemented a new slideshow system! It’s more dynamic, all you have to do is sit back and relax! Seeing an image saying “Slide(r)” and a progress bar is normal. When it reaches 100% the images will play. Enjoy!

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RRY Year In Review-2010

RRY as a youth has grown a huge amount this year, we’ve reached new milestones, grown in faith and done lots of exciting activities in 2010. Although the number of members has never really increased, we keep hoping that next year, if it’s the Lord’s will, we’ll increase in numbers. Besides, the Bible even says about a few people gathering in his name, there He will be, right?

2010 has been a year full of surprises and enjoyments, but if I were to go into details about all of it this post would be huge. So that’s where bullet points (and some pictures!) come in. Here’s what we’ve done this past year…

JANUARY

• We had a delicious fry up, discussing “clean and unclean” foods mentioned in Leviticus
• Watched the Andy Stanley DVD Sessions
• Looked at Ruth and Boaz, discussed Kinsman redeemers
• Celebrated with Alex and Tam on the birth of his son Finn (2009 December, actually)

Click here for the January Archive

FEBRUARY

• We discussed the prophets Elisha and Elijah, and did a worksheet
• Played for the morning service
• Discussed the merits/origins of Valentine’s Day

Click here for the February Archive

MARCH

• We compared the different religions and how they stack up to Christianity
• Watched a presentation by Jews for Jesus
• Took an in-depth look at Glo Bible Software
• As usual, took part in SNAC

Click here for the March Archive

APRIL

• School holidays

MAY

• We did hefty brainstorming and designed our own business cards and advertisements which are now at schools and libraries
• Finally finished the garage to a usable state with some nice additions
• Helped some orphans from “Bridges of Hope” make goodies and cards for Mother’s Day (tragic in it’s way because they’re orphans)
• Watched a photo slideshow of Shaun and Robyn’s trip to Turkey amongst other places, and discussed the 7 churches as mentioned in Revelation.
• Went on a refreshing walk at Umgeni Valley (See “Outdoor Stuff”)
• Looked at the “Armour of God,” their meanings and symbolism, and did a worksheet about it.

Click here for the May Archive

JUNE

• We discussed the presentation we’d be making to the main church and brainstormed RRY’s future.
• Implemented new features to our site.
• Enjoyed the 2010 World Cup!

Click here for the June Archive

JULY

• 2010 World Cup holidays meant not much RRY this month
• We didn’t get a chance to start the term first session as our leaders were away
• Continued the presentation planning

Click here for the July Archive

AUGUST

• We discussed prayer, along with some new [temporary] arrivals to RRY, and how we should go about this, the do’s and dont’s and the comforts we have in Christ
• Looked at how we as Christians view “love” and morals, and how the society of today views it, and the differences between the views: how society has eroded!
• Chatted about FEAR, the different kinds of fear and how one builds up and the other destroys

Click here for the August Archive

SEPTEMBER

• We took a look at UFO’s and how they fit [or don't fit] with the Bible
• Discussed the “Battlefield of the Mind” and how thoughts work to actions, and the “different types of mind.”
• Played “Pass the Bomb” to end the term

Click here for the September Archive

OCTOBER

• We discussed “Life Photos” and the concept of “you are the only Bible some people might ever read”
• Looked at how God uses our strengths and weaknesses for His greater purpose
• Trooped into church to listen to a sermon from a Dr Hewitt from Jamaica, who, besides being very amusing, reminded us with a powerful sermon that God is always in control of our lives and we need to acknowledge that

Click here for the October Archive

NOVEMBER

• We visited Angus Buchan’s church at Shalom and learnta great deal about how they worship
• Looked at “Spiritual Gifts” and did a very interesting survey to see how we ranked (download from our own archive)
• Listened to songs from Tenth Avenue North (A brilliant Christian band) and chatted about the amazing lyrics and how they apply to our lives
• Went to the main church to listen to a presentation from a very brave and God-led missionary couple from MAF (see archive)

Click here for the November Archive

DECEMBER

• Last session of the year and of course this wrap up!

2010 has definitely been an enjoyable year for us regular members (Myself, Chris, Jess, Robert, Alex and Shaun) and the people who have brightened up RRY by beginning their journey with us by coming more and more often…I apologize to anyone I’ve left out, but thank you for making this an amazing year!

ALSO: A big thank you to Shaun and Alex for giving up their Sunday mornings to prepare and run RRY with such enthusiasm for both the youth and helping us all get closer to Jesus. We really enjoyed it and, well, RRY wouldn’t be here without you guys!

From me, Matthew, I hope everyone has a fantastic holiday, a blessed Christmas and a safe New Year. We’ll see you again in 2011! God bless!

What Went Down–2 May 2010

After the sessions meeting and the AGM, we’re happy to say that things are finally moving along at RRY, both planning-wise and in the garage!

Walking into the garage today was quite hectic, I must admit! I was expecting the usual view on what we’d been seeing for the past 4 months, but lo and behold, the entire place seemed new somehow! Alex had, as I found out, been at work the previous weekend, putting in some personal/upgrading touches to The Garage (as it is now officially known!) and my gosh it looks much better! A new white “ceiling” hung above my head, whilst a neat circle of chairs surrounded a new table, with a bookshelf to the side, and– a prayer nook supported by an umbrella…nice! You can check out how our garage looks now by hitting the jump to the end of this post!

What we were also planning, was, well, a planning session…so that’s what happened as well!

RRY need more youth, we don’t deny it. But this time we’re going all out to advertise and publicize our garage to as many people as we can. Alex and Juan put it well: we’re not doing this to get recognition or praise: we just want to offer a relaxed atmosphere for Christian youth to socialize with others who feel as fired up about Christ as they do. Mainly, we also want to have interactive Bible sessions, DVD topics and also trips and activities to grow all our relationships with Christ, and be a true example to God’s grace and love.So, with that in mind, we started planning where, how and when to place our ads and flyers. You can see the results of our efforts in the  below, as well as on the main page. (I’m placing a sticky post there for the time being, you can also check them out on the ABOUT page.)

The Garage: Look at it now!

Ads & Business Card

Jews For Jesus–7 March 2010

Sorry, back post again…

There was no youth today as Jews for Jesus, led by Mr. Sicshy (Sorry if I’ve misspelled his name) did a presentation on the Passover, how it is symbolic to the Jews, and how he is evangelising for Christ to get the original chosen people to truly come to God, as many Jews do not believe in Christ as God.

In an excellent session, he described the processes that are involved in preparing for the Passover and the many different symbols related to each part of the ceremony. I was so amazed as there were so many things I knew were included in the Passover but never realized the deep meaning behind it all. The important part of his ministry, too, was to explain that Jews are indeed God’s chosen people but need to be saved in that they need to accept Christ as fully man and fully God divine.

J4J’s brochure will be uploaded soon…

What Went Down–14 February 2010

Technically, nothing actually went down today, because as I might have mentioned before, RRY are involved in the SNAC Service in the evenings at 5.30pm, and we practice weekly at 6pm on Wednesdays. This week, Alex and myself were asked to play the music for the morning service just for this week (and the rest of the youth generally take part in the evening) hence us having to take a rain check on the sessions for this week. Catch us again next Sunday (21st February) where we’ll continue with youth.

Check out the message from the 14th by clicking here.

Remember you’re most welcome to come to SNAC services, Sundays at 5.30pm. Hope to see you there!

What Went Down–24 January 2010

Today we trekked back into the (cleaned) garage for another DVD session. For the benefit of the people who weren’t able to come last year for Andy Stanley’s Pause series we re-watched session 3 and had some indepth discussion afterwards. If you’d like to know more on the contents of his series, click here to read the post on that topic.

We also discussed some plans for the coming year, tactics and ideas for RRY.

NOTE: Since the youth is involved in the SNAC (Sunday Night at Church) service at the church, Sundays at 5:30pm, you might also like to attend this service, as we have a great worship service and meaningful discussion and sermons.

2010 is rearing to go!

Welcome back to all after a refreshing holiday, and I hope the Christmas season was one of happiness and relaxation!

Anyhow, expect to see more updates as we swing right back into a 2010 RRY schedule (still pending!) on the 16th of January.

UPDATE! Sorry for not updating sooner, but its a real pleasure for RRY to congratulate Alex and his wife Tam on the birth of their son, Finn Ross Jenkins! (My apologies when I get more news on the baby I’ll update with Alex’s consent…)what I can tell you is that he is most definitely one of the most adorable babies I have seen! Congrats Alex and Tam on becoming parents, may God keep both of you strong in the years to come, and give you lots of enjoyment with your son!!