Throughout their formative years, east Aucklanders Caleb Taylor and Lucas Eng attended East City Wesleyan Church’s Friday night youth programme.
Years later, Taylor is now a qualified builder, Eng is studying computer science and statistics, and both are youth leaders at the same programme they spent their teens partaking in.
Each Friday from 7pm-9pm, there are different activities and games for the 20-30 kids (aged 11-18) to participate in – anything from Mafia to Scatter to football in the parking lot.
“We try to mix it up so it’s not just physical games,” Taylor says.
After around 40 minutes of fun, they will move into the auditorium to sing songs, then a message or devotion will be shared – “teaching something simple, such as a principle,” Taylor says – and then they’ll go into small groups and talk about it.
“We find it a lot more engaging to discuss the subject,” Taylor says. “Such as ‘do we believe in this’ or ‘do we do this?'”
Throughout these hours, Taylor, Eng and the other youth leaders will facilitate conversations, encourage questions and create a safe and belonging environment, a factor that is significant for teens, Taylor says.
“It’s such a formative period in your life,” he says. “I think having some good role models and support is important.”
Taylor and Eng both came into their roles last year. Employed by the Church Centre as a Lay Pastor responsible for youth work and worship/music planning as of last year, Taylor is completing a diploma in Christian leadership at Laidlaw College. He lives locally with his grandfather Kerry.
A former head boy at Botany Downs College, Eng is a youth worker that the Church employs at Edgewater College through a 24-7 YouthWork programme. He is working towards becoming a teacher.
“Growing up in the youth group, it’s great to be able to take the same position and inspire the young people around us,” Eng says.
Taylor echoes these sentiments. “A lot of my youth group friends are still my friends,” he says.
“Life-long friendships are formed.”
At the Friday night youth programme, Taylor says he never has to ask the students to put their cell phones away, because “they are very rarely using them anyway”.
“It’s an interesting contrast to how you see the youth a lot of the time, being ‘glued to their phones’, so to speak,” Taylor says.
“Despite the world being more connected today than ever before, we see more and more disconnectedness, especially in our young people. I believe that what we offer on Friday night is a place of authentic connection and community with others. Something that an online game or social media cannot truly replicate.”
Eng agrees. “We want this space to be a place where we can grow community and relationships.”
The Friday night youth programme is open to anyone between the ages of 11-18. For more information, visit https://www.ecw.org.nz/.
