Youth Retreat : Youth & Family - Rev. V. M. Mathew

We had 28 members attending the one day Youth Retreat organized by the St Paul's Yuvajana Sakhyam on Jan 26th - Republic Day - at Scripture Union, ECR, Chennai. We started off from church after breakfast at around 7:30 AM.

Main speaker for the meeting was Rev. V. M Mathew with Rev. Gigy Thomas presiding over the outing.

Rev. Gigy Thomas gave the Presidential address. calling the Youth to have a sense of belonging and spirituality. He asked the Youth to understand the context we live in and should learn to share resources, skills and give! He asked the youth to live for God's glory.

Rev. V M Mathew talked to the Youth on Youth and Family. The day was split in to three sessions. Session 1 & 2 were on Bible study. Session 3 was for games and interaction.

We started off with Mr. Thomas Mathew (Tom) First year student of Gurukul Seminary leading us with some beautiful songs.

Session I
Started of by reading from Judges Chapter 14-16 and Samuel  1-3.

The main theme was how God worked in the families of Samson and Samuel. Some of the highlights :
Samuel followed the vow made by his mother on he being dedicated as a Nazerite to God.
Samule lived in the presence of the Lord always. Followed the Nazrite vow deligently.


Samson broke the Nazerite vow of keeping away from wine, dead (sin), growing their hair - Read more about it in Numbers 6. Samson also did not know when the Lord's presence left him when his hair was shaved.  Samson also lived in his own comfort and was not fully obediently to God's will.


In general we see that Samuel was able to transform God's blessings to him for God's glory.
God has blessed us in many ways. He gave us good homes, jobs, safe place to live, education etc. Are we able to transform these blessings for God's glory ? Achen called upon the youth to live lives that are pleasing in God's sight.


Session II : was dedicated on Family. He talked about the importance of Family in the life of the Youth.

Family values thrive on dependency on one another. However the modern way of life individual mobile phones, bed rooms etc encourage individualism. We need to keep the basics of family in our minds and maintain our relationships well.

Two types of families - Functional and Dys-Functional.

Functional Families - Have positive aspects and are non-judgemental. Each member is accepted as is. There is also a free operation of various roles like child, father, mother etc. There is also healthy attachment and deattachment. Family needs love, care, support.

Family life can be better if each other accepts the possibilities and difficulties that come in each others life. Success syndrome is also one reason for the failure of married life. We should learn to accept failures too as that has an impact on our personal relationships too.

Family of Jesus was an epitome of relationship and the relationship between Joseph and Mary was based on obedience to God.

He also called up the youth to have a responsible relationship. Especially with parents when they are old. Have respect for parents and old people. He emphasized on the need for the need for basic communication in the family.

Session three had games organized by Christo, Jerin and Biju. We started back to church at 4:45 pm.

Overall the outing was a blesssing for all who attended and brought more fellowship among the youth members.