History of Toast

For many years the main focus of youth work in Ravenhill Presbyterian Church apart from the uniformed organisations of the B.B. and G.B., was the Irish Christian Endeavour Society. Many of us were brought up to attend Sunday school and Junior Christian Endeavour, before moving up to Bible Class and senior Christian Endeavour. Within the C.E. we were all segregated into committees, moulded and shaped to become the next crop of church committee and session members. It was an excellent organisation and it fitted like a glove the ever expanding church that was the Presbyterian Church in Ireland. In Ravenhill in 1998 we were faced with a senior Christian Endeavour of 5 and no church recruits for 4 years. No one was allowed to move from Junior Christian Endeavour to the senior society until they were 14 years old. In and around 1999, the Presbyterian Church in general was in decline. In 2009, this decline hasn’t eased and is probably getting worse. The result of all of this is a reduction in church members; therefore a reduction in the children of church members, and from this reduction, the Christian Endeavour was bound to suffer. What was needed was something completely different to reach the “un-churched” and at the same time, use the talents of the remaining “churched” young people. The existing group decided to pray about the matter, but resistance to change was very much in evidence; after all, the C.E. had served the church well for many years.

I was introduced to a book written by the American preacher and author, Rick Warren, called “The Purpose Driven Church”. I was immediately taken with its simplicity and approach, yet maintaining the need for theology and the centrality of prayer. It didn’t offer, as so many American theorists do, a quick fix of do A, B and C and D will automatically follow. Instead the author wrote about each organisation having a time scale that could be either long or short. He described it like a wave that rises, crests and then runs itself out. The secret he said, is knowing when to get off one wave and onto another. The book had such an impact on me that as a Christian Endeavour society we studied it for weeks. At the end of the study it was clear to us that change was needed. God was showing us a new way to do His work. It wasn’t rocket science, but it was to be a Youth Club and the people running it would be the last remaining members of the Christian Endeavour Society. The rest is very much history. The numbers were fantastic reaching 40 at times. We had major discipline problems from time to time and as they happened we adjusted times, rules and discipline. We had an annual weekend away and apart from one or two disasters we had a fantastic time.

As time went by and we got a number of regular attendees, the time was right to start a youth fellowship. “Stepping Stones” was the brainchild of Mark McKeown, who together with Deborah McKeown, his sister, and Ross Collins our church outreach worker at the time, set up a Tuesday night get together with those interested in exploring the bible. It was an immediate success much steeped in prayer and full of enthusiasm from the leaders. As time went on the leadership moved to its current one of Simon Clarke, Fiona McNeill and Trevor McNeill.

If lessons are to be learned from what we have done and achieved then let them be the following;

1. Always look to God for your inspiration.

2. Never be afraid to try something different for God.

3. Embrace controversy. The church needs radical thinkers!

4. Never think that any programme you do will last for ever.

5. Start and finish every programme with the leaders having a time of prayer and debrief session.

6. Pray for your young people by name and always seek out opportunities to introduce them to Christ.

7. Above all, have fun together knowing that you are engaged in the Lords work and embrace the privilege of this with open arms.

Ravenhill Presbyterian

Alive with Christ Inside, Living for Christ Outside

History of Toast