IMPORTANT UPDATE
i should have posted this earlier... it's an e-mail updating from Sunday's meeting.
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Hello everyone
New plan.
I went to RKPC today to talk to the samonim and ask for some input about SURRENDER, and her words changed my ideas a lot. I thought about it after I went home, and we (James, Youngsoo jundo, one of Youngsoo's student, and I) discussed it as well as prayed about it during today's meeting, and we came to the conclusion that we need to re-establish this group. This doesn't mean that all the work we've done already has gone to waste. We had our hearts in the right place, and God is showing us the way along the way, correcting our mistakes, making the path for us. I'm glad that we could learn from the few first steps we took, even if they might have been wobbly and a little misguided. Thank you God!~ And thank you samonim :)
Here is what we discussed: (I'll label by topic for easier reading)
1. FIRST GENERATION
For a couple of weeks now, God has gradually made it clearer and clearer how important it is to get the first generation involved. Today, it became the FIRST priority. Before we get any students involved in anything with this group, we (jundos, James, and I) need to get together and establish a clear presentation that we can show the moksanims, other jundosanims, and parents. So we will be keeping in touch through phone, e-mail, and meeting on Wednesday at 9:30PM in order to do this. To prevent any complications and misunderstandings, I would advise that students not come. If you insist on coming to give input, then your help is definitely welcome but ONLY IF you make it very very clear to your parents what you are doing and obtain full approval. In fact, if you want to come, your parents must speak to your jundosanim or me to say it's ok. I'm SERIOUS!!!!!!
2. INTEGRATION OF SURRENDER AS A HELPER TO ROCKLAND CHURCHES
There is also the problem of this group coming in conflict with church activities. This is the LAST thing we want. In fact, our goal was for our group to STRENGTHEN and HELP the individual churches. Although we didn't intend things to become like this, I have noticed that SURRENDER events are perceived as "separate" from church events and that creates conflict. So we talked about it, and we decided to make SURRENDER organize only 2 or 3 events for the entire year. These will be organized much much in advance, so that all the churches can plan to make these events as part of their church events instead of just an "outside" event. Because there are so few, they shouldn't overrun the individual church events but instead provide other events for them in which to participate.
3. STUDENT INVOLVEMENT
So where do the students come in? Being part of the SURRENDER team is not for everyone. Although the events that SURRENDER organizes will be events for everyone to attend, only a small portion of all the youth group members will be coming together to actually organize these events. Like I have described before, these are the students who are committed and trying to develop their leadership skills in order to help their OWN church. Just like each class has representatives in your school student council which meets once in a while to organize things for your entire school :) Hopefully, each church will be represented by at least one person. The work that the students will be doing is minimal since there are only 2-3 events to plan, so it shouldn't take away from involvement in their own churches, only strengthen it by their experience and growth. And because we will be explaining to the first generation these students' roles, I hope they will be able to not only understand what they are involved in but also be able to support them. The jundosanims and moksanims will be directly involved and well-informed in what the students are doing, and will be encouraged to give input.
4. SUSPENSION OF SURRENDER
For now, we are cancelling the SURRENDER events. If you guys still want to do some of these events, you guys can still organize it and whoever wants to come can come (although... make sure that it's ok with your parents and they know what you're doing!). For example, I know that Paul really wants to go reach out to the Hispanic community in Spring Valley. If he is still up for it, there are still people willing to do it too. But it will not be part of SURRENDER, it will just be something we do because we want to on our own time.
5. THE CURRENT PLAN
The current plan is for us to first make a clear outline of what we are doing and make a presentation to the adults. Right now we are hoping this will all be done within 2 weeks. If all goes well, we are thinking in another 2 weeks we can have our first OFFICIAL STUDENTS meeting. I'm estimating that in order to plan the few events for SURRENDER, students will probably meet less than once a month, and at their convenience. I am also going to talk to the Harvesters organizers and see if we can work out something to have praise for the churches in Rockland. But I don't want to say too much at this point. I will keep you all updated about our progress.
Please pray for ROCKLAND! Pray that God will lead SURRENDER to become something that strengthens all the individual churches as well as Rockland as a whole. We want this organization to BELONG to the Rockland churches, not be a competition! And... e-mail us if you have any questions, concerns, advice... anything.
God bless!
- Vivian
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