Teen Sabbath School at Lilydale Church is thriving! Animal of the day, kahoot champions, interviews, animation tips and time to share lesson study are just part of the Sabbath School for High Schoolers.
Each Sabbath since the closure of our church building around forty high schoolers have joined together on Sabbath morning with many staying on to chat afterwards well into the afternoon. While we miss being together physically online Sabbath School has had some real upsides.
Each week Brendan Pratt and the team make time to connect with the teens, chat about issues from the week and discuss how we can go about being Jesus hands and feet in our families, schools and communities at this challenging time. Segments such as Animal of the Day, include interviews with zoo staff and other wildlife experts. Each week Animator Stephen Gurban gives another drawing tip and life lesson. He also keeps the group up-to-date with his Daniel animation series. “My son has loved the drawing tips. He spends Sabbath afternoon practising,” say Kym Piez, her boys log on from Port Fairy. Interactive competitions keep our teens engaged. This week is our best bird picture competition. Other competitions have included reproduction scenes from the My Bible Friends stories using only objects at home. We’ve also had fun recording frog noises, meeting different reptiles and learning about wildlife photography. We also include news from the week and what it means to filter that news through a Biblical worldview.
A highlight is the weekly inspiring ministry interview. “It gives us a chance to meet people making a different, profile lots of different ways to serve God and is a great opportunity to introduct our teens to our worldwide church beyond Lilydale” Brendan explains. Our guests have included Union President, Jorge Munoz and his wife Lilianna who is a virologist. Ronald Davidson who coordinates micro business start-ups for ADRA at the General Conference, Kevin Jackson, CEO of Sanitarium, Brett Goods the CEO of our Adventist hospital, Revive Cafe Owner Jeremy Dixon, Avondale lecturers Dr Wendy Jackson and Dr Brad Watson, Remote evangelist Pr Don Fehlberg along with many other guests who share inspiriting stories of God’s leading.
We have teens joining us from regional areas who many not have the same ministry opportunities at this point, along with people new to our group. It looks like we have a few more weeks online yet and while we are looking forward to being back together in person we will have to make sure we take the best of what we’ve learnt online and stay connected to our new group members.
