New group for teenage girls~

If you think living with a teenager is hard – take a moment to remember what it was like being one!  Its a confusing time of growth, characterised by challenges, hurt and often conflict.   Not surprisingly, it is often a time during which important life choices are made that impact significantly on the future of teenagers.  Roy Disney once observed that: ”It’s not hard to make decisions when you know what your values are.”  The burning question is how many teenagers actually know for sure what their values are?

Aside from the huge modern social challenges facing teenagers today, local teenagers have the added pressures peculiar to the HIV/ AIDS pandemic.  The negative impacts of living in the area recognised for the highest incidence of HIV/AIDS in the world cannot be ignored.  Teenagers in our local communities are not only living within unconventional family structures resulting from the death of breadwinners and authoritarians, but they are also having to shoulder huge adult responsibilities prematurely and care for infected family members, often at the expense of their own educations.  These are harsh realities that would test the mettle of the strongest adults, yet local teenagers in their formative years are being confronted by these actualities daily.

An outreach group has recently begun for teenage girls in the Murchison Community.  Girls from Grade 4 and up meet every Wednesday after school for an afternoon of friendship and crafting.  The first group of 7 girls met on 15/09/2010 and based on the group almost tripling in size the following week, the concept was clearly welcome.  Aside from the fun and stimulation of crafting, the object of the group is to grow in Christ and to build meaningful relationships with one another that could impact positively on the lives of impressionable teenage girls, especially during times when their faith and values will be challenged by social pressures.  The girls chose a name for their new group and the “Angels” as they are now known, are a delightful reflection of the wonderful creativity of an awesome God!