Re:VIBE has been Nunawading Christian College’s student-led youth group for the past four years and 2020 has challenged us to think of how we can do community differently.
Originally, Re:VIBE started with a group of Year 10 students who had an idea to create ‘a community under Jesus’. Without exactly knowing what that might entail, or who they may reach, these students decided to meet in a classroom one Friday night in February 2016, to discuss the Word and commune with each other.
With a few tweaks over the years and maintaining a strong vision to reach those within and outside of our school, Re:VIBE has continued to grow more and more spiritually, and in numbers as well. With most nights having about 30 people gathered together, and our quarterly ‘MEGA Re:VIBEs having over 100 high schoolers attend, we have continued to grow in multiple ways, with students taking on leadership roles.
Maintaining the flame and the idea of community has definitely raised questions that we had to creatively answer over the past few months. We are really blessed that God has given us the inspiration and the opportunity to meet every Friday night on Zoom. Racquel, one of our key leaders, and I sat down with a few of our older mentors and discussed how we could keep going through COVID.
None of us had ever faced anything like this, but we moved forward, believing that if this obstacle was in front of us, there is a God big enough to help us overcome it and potentially open up new doors for us through this platform.
An awesome addition that the online platform has given us is that people from all over Victoria are able to gather with us. Accessibility has never been an issue with us online as we are all an equal distance from each other. At first we believed that our numbers would drop , and although that may be the case for some weeks, we have been able to reach more people consistently.
For our weekly online program at Re:VIBE, we maintain a similar format to what we would do face to face, with a big part of that being discussion groups. Our awesome lessons team led by my friend, Lian, has been organising content for us to explore, and different facilitators to lead us into a deeper discussion.
It’s been really awesome to see such amazing discussion that is so applicable to high schoolers. Sally, another one of my Year 11 classmates, has been organising activities that are really creative to help break the ice on an online platform. Our media platform has also continued to stay active as our communications leader, Ephraim, has done an awesome job sharing what our community looks like from the inside out.
Despite the challenges, we’ve been able to persevere as God has continued to work through us. A verse that I hold closely is Hebrews 10:24-25 – “And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of His return is drawing near.”
As a community under Jesus, we’ve been praying that we can continue to encourage one another in a world today that lacks encouragement, and that comes from never giving up on meeting together.
We’d really appreciate prayers for our community. that we are able to reach other high school students spiritually, and that we can continue to see the Holy Spirit opening new doors to reach people!
Nathan, Year 11
Instagram name: revibecommunity