who we are
We Believe God called us to ministry—not the event business.
Our team at Group and Simply Youth Ministry is passionate about loving Jesus, teenagers, and youth workers. For decades Group has been equipping youth workers with excellent resources for effective ministry…and in 2007 we partnered our ministries together and took our passion a step further. Our mission became “Helping youth workers with what matters most” and in order to live into this authentically we dreamed about creating a face-to-face experience where youth workers gathered in an caring environment where relationships were built, conversations flowed, deeper thought was inspired, people were valued, hearts were encouraged, souls were nurtured, Jesus was celebrated, and lives were transformed by God’s loving presence. That simply sounded like ministry to us.
So seven years ago when we created the first Simply Youth Ministry Conference we did something “unconventional.” We didn’t follow the traditional big-event format (it was easy to start from scratch since we really didn’t know much about the event business anyway.) We simply trusted God and followed our passion for loving Jesus and loving others and built a conference on what we knew best…ministry.
In a strange way, it can feel “safer” to be weak than to be strong. When you’re weak, people lower their expectations for what you can and can’t do. You’re not under pressure to come through. You have an easy excuse for why things didn’t turn out so well.
It’s easy to make weakness a kind of default response when we’re struggling or under pressure. Sure, the Apostle Paul said, “I am well content with weaknesses.” But he wasn’t giving in to weakness. He “boasted” in his weaknesses for one reason: “That the power of Christ may dwell in me…. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
We believe it’s time for a “turn” in youth ministry—to shift from a focus on our obvious weaknesses to a focus on “the power of Christ dwelling in us.” Weakness, in the end, simply exposes our tendency to depend upon ourselves instead of God. It’s time to depend upon God, with all our hearts, again…
It’s time to gather together at SYMC to worship Him, to grow in our intimacy with Him, to deepen our youth ministry skills, and to be a part of a supportive community. It’s a time to be authentic about our weaknesses, but to focus on His strength. We invite you to join us.
