Matt Malone: Youth Intern
Tell us a bit about yourself…
I grew up in London and came to Leeds in 2011 to start at the university. Coming to StG’s from quite a traditional church back at home was something of a culture shock for the first few weeks.
How do you know Jesus? I grew up attending church every week with my Mum. When I reached 11 I joined the youth group mainly as a social venture. It was through attending a Ventures summer camp at the age of 13 that I first made the conscious decision to commit my life to Jesus and spent the next few years going to weekly bible studies and being mentored by my youth worker, allowing me to learn more about who God is and how that could practically influence the way I lived.
What is your role? I get to work with teenagers in our Youth Network Roots. We run 3 weekly groups; Friday nights, Sunday mornings and recently we’ve started a Wednesday evening group to cater for our 14-18s. I am also fortunate enough to be able to help out at a weekly homework club in Cottingley.
Where have you seen God working? God has been doing some amazing things at Roots and we’re seeing some real growth in our young people which is a massive encouragement! Just before Christmas, we started a new Wednesday evening group for our older teens allowing them to ask questions they may have and provide time to get into real depth in reading the bible. We’ve seen real growth in this area, particularly since the New Year started, and we currently have 5 young people meeting every week to read the bible together for an hour in a cafe in Horsforth.
We have also just finished our Roots ‘Weekend At Home’ which proved to be a massive encouragement. We saw the young people meeting with God in incredible ways and there was a real sense of community and fun building across the weekend.
The weekend ended with the 10.30 gathering led by the young people of Roots. They loved the opportunity to serve their wider church family and it was a huge encouragement to see our them step up successfully to the challenge of leading the morning congregation in worship and prayer.
How can St G’s pray for you? It would be great to see the whole church praying for continued growth in Roots and further opportunities to allow our young people the space to really encounter God and have that affecting their daily lives.
Personally, I’m just very thankful at the moment for all that God has been doing in providing opportunities for me to explore new things and challenging me by taking me out of my comfort zone. I would love to see more of that!
Find out about St George’s Internship and how to apply here.
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