The Garage '07

Next year, two of my mates - Matt Waters and Jono Croxford - and I are running a small group. It's called The Garage, because we're taking over the garage underneath the church office. None of these silly names like 'KidZone'. It's going to be for the boys in Grade 5 to Year 8. The reason for this is, the boys a bit old for singing childish songs about Jesus and doing silly actions, but maybe not ready for the intensity of something like Vetamorphus or a VCE small group. When I was that age, I pretty much thought I was 'too cool' for church or any of that stuff, mainly because I had nothing to explore in or ask my own questions. It wasn't until this year and Vetamorphus that I've had that, and now that I do, I see how good it would be for the boys to have it too.

After a meeting today with Jono and Matt, we came up with this working vision statement of our six reasons for doing The Garage:

• To help the boys realise their potential as young leaders in church and the wider community
• To present other options in ways of life and support them as they grow into young men
• To create a space to build courage and strength in their ability to help, assist, change, question, answer and be.
• To create a comfortable environment to explore questions of faith.
• To create an environment of trust and support between boys and leaders.
• To be their friends.

I'm really excited about doing this, because I feel I'm finally giving like I should be, rather than just a bit. I hope it'll be good, we'll see. Starting date is Feb 4th, I'll write more about it after then.