How has your new academic year begun? It can feel like landing back to earth with a bump and maybe you wonder how you ever used to cope doing all a normal term-time week entailed?
We all want to start the term in a great place so we can hit the ground running but I'm sure we all achieve that to different extents and are painfully aware of those areas we weren't quite ready for. Before I share what those are for me, here are a couple of ways we were able to begin in good shape thanks to two wonderful members of our youth and children's team.
Most churches have an uneven distribution of children which means different groups will get bigger and smaller each September when children move up. One of my leaders insisted on a meeting where she very helpfully forced me to face the reality that this would mean one of our groups would be too big for the room it currently met in. I would have probably avoided this problem until after the term begun but it meant that we started with a plan in place that could work best from the word go, rather than having to react to the first few weeks of a group going disastrously badly!
Another leader has been wonderful as she has spotted a child with some learning difficulties moving up to a group where she would need one to one support. She has also managed to organise this meaning that this child's first couple of weeks in her new group have been much better than they otherwise might have been.
While I'm grateful for the help of these leaders, I'm painfully aware of areas where we have not hit the ground running this term. For a start, we didn't have our rota of helpers sorted out before the term begun - this has been a pain for two reasons. One, we have been looking for people to serve week by week rather than identifying needs before the term begun and acting and recruiting in good time. The other challenge is that term is busy (something I always forget) and there is lots less time to do little jobs like finishing a rota!
Another thing I wish we had done better is the way we have moved people up to a new age group. It's one thing to let their parents know but another to properly prepare the young person. In particular, thinking about those entering a school-aged group with very different expectations, those moving into a youth group or, potentially most importantly, those who will be sitting in the service rather than being out in a group. These are hazardous points for losing young people so preparing them well for the change would have been a great thing to do.
As we start up the term again I'm also painfully aware of challenges with different groups that were present last term that I have not used the summer holiday to address. Instead, I was relieved to get to the summer holiday and have a break, rather than using the time to think about how tricky dynamics or things that weren't really working could be improved. It turns out just having six weeks off doesn't make those problems just go away!
These things might get me down, but it is another chance to remember that the gospel is amazing. It allows me to say thank you to my wonderful fellow leaders and praise God for them. It also allows me not to live in regret for the past but look to the future, trusting in God's grace and aiming to try and do these things a bit better next year.
If Paul is able to say 'Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus,' (Philippians 3:13-14) then I can trust my September failures to the Lord and strive to do better next year.
