A great deal about being a household leader depends not on what you do, but on who you are. A lot of it has to do with the state of our hearts. A Household leader should have a heart for God and a heart for His people. “Do not let anyone look down on you because you are young, but be an example of love, faith and purity…” 1 Timothy 4:12. In this verse, we are reminded that it is not our age that will determine our response to be household leaders but what matters is what’s inside our hearts and our desire to serve God through others.Most of us are experiencing the blessings of a renewed life in Jesus because someone took the time and effort to care for us. Now the challenge is on us to do the same. All we need to find out is if we are ready to take on a more difficult but more meaningful service. All it takes is a decision to go out of our way to care for other people.
• Humble leadership – We should always be aware of our intentions in service. We should continue to serve in spite of our weaknesses, asking God to purify us daily.
Included in this manual are carefully laid down instructions and guidelines in conducting the training, as well as the necessary details about the sessions. Also, as we conduct the HLT, let us note two significant points:Note: For your first household, seek to set expectations amongst you and the mem-bers. Ask questions on the expectations of your (their) members on the household. Describe briefly the purpose of households in the community.
• I will bring my household members to the Lord by teaching them how to apply Christ’s words in their personal lives – their family, friends, schooling and love life, and in praying for them always.
3. He will then lead everyone into a commitment ceremony by instructing the crowd to recite the “Commitment of a Household Leader” followed by “The Household Leader’s Prayer”
As household heads, we are able to witness closely the growth of the members placed under our care. It is, thus, crucial (for) to monitor this through filling up and updating our monitoring sheets. These sheets serve as a reference for us in guiding our household in their journey towards a strong relationship with Christ. Hence, it is important that one should be familiar with:God has allowed us to experience His love through different ways and in different aspects of our lives. Until now, He is continuing to fill us up with His love. As we learn and discover the beauty of God’s love – a kind of love that is genuine and unconditional, we are also given the task to share this great gift to other people. (It is kind of love that is genuine and unconditional). As household heads, we are to learn and share this kind of love by:
• Leads the 2nd part of the HLT. The Chapter Couple Coordinators ensure that all Household Heads go through the HLT before they handle a household grouping and or serving in a youth camp as discussion group leaders.Note: The regular household meeting can be guided with the Household Topic Man-ual. It is highly encourage that we make use of our manual since (hence) all YFC identity (as a YFC) that we wanted our members to carry out (is in the manual) are highlighted and included there.
“Lord you have searched me and You know me. You know everything I do…Find out if there is any unrighteousness in me and guide in the everlasting way.” (Psalm 139:1-2, 24)
In YFC, we often hear of visions and dreams. We envision a world that is safer and more peaceful. We envision a world united in Christ, where there is genuine brotherhood and sisterhood – where people genuinely care and look after each other. The Vision of Youth for Christ “Young people being and brining Christ wherever they are” moves us to go out into the world to spread the love of God.
As household heads, we are anointed by Christ to love like He loved us. We have the privilege and the responsibility to create and make understandable concept of God’s love to our members. It is the kind of love that can change people just like the way it is changing us. Just like how Jesus modeled it, feeling loved follows naturally from experiencing compassion and genuine concern. We have to understand that though we don’t have real control over them, the love that Christ gives to us through our households slowly moves them to:
1. As we lead our members to God, it is important to seek for the Lord’s will and guidance. It is very important that our topics for our households are discerned, and prayed for. Use the bible and let us pray as we read it. As this is done, have the YFC Household Topic Manual available for you get ideas and browse over.Rationale 9Overview 9 Objectives 9Guidelines in Conducting the HLT 10Suggested Schedule 11The Service Team 11Things to Prepare for the HLT 12Things to Bring for the Participants 12 The HLT Session Topics 13 It is not often easy for members to share something deep about themselves. As household heads, it is important that we encourage our members to be open about who they are and to trust the people whom they are with. As household heads, we are to emphasize complete confidentiality of everything discussed in the households. • I will be a witness of Jesus Christ – by being pure and righteous, faithful to my studies, loyal to my brothers and sisters in YFC, and more loving to my family especially to my parents.
Note: The new household leaders should be encouraged to pray harder, to sing in tongues and be sensitive with the leading of the Holy Spirit. As leaders, they should be able to fully experience the gifts that the Holy Spirit has given them.
• This session is a plenary discussion of all the basic elements of being a Household Head. In this, the speaker may provide handouts and visual presentation (to assist in) for the better understanding of the topic discussed.
• This form allows the household head to monitor each individual’s attendance, the topic used for a given household, and the challenges (physical or mental preparation, or personal concerns of the group) encountered during the household.
While most of us have been conducting the HLT for some time now, we pray that this time we truly take it to a deeper level and do it with the best we can give, so that ultimately it may serve its purpose of equipping our YFCs with the right heart, mind and spirit as they embrace the call to become household heads.Our members are entrusted to us for guidance and support. These people need someone that can guide and look up to (and guide) them to do the right thing. As household heads, we are also the people expected to guide them in knowing the culture of our community and what it means to be a child of God. It is, thus, important that we seek to follow and do the right thing at all times. We can start doing this by:Youth for Christ invests greatly in sustaining, pastoring, and enriching the lives of the young through the household. Households create a supplementary environment where members are able to establish a genuine, Christ-centred friendship with their brothers and sisters, as well as a renewed and strengthened relationship with God.
A YFC leader who has already gone through an HLT, someone who is able to conduct regular households with their members, and someone who is pastorally mature.
1. To have more openness, understanding and better handling, it is ideal that the household of the brothers be separated from that of the sisters, with a brother and a sister leading respectively.
Once a household is able to meet regularly, and genuine trust and concern is established, members within the group begin to open up for guidance, healing and complete conversion. The household becomes the most concrete expression of God’s love within the YFC community.
When our members started (begin) to realize that we are looking out for them, genuinely want to see them happy, and see that they could trust us, they begin to seek our guidance. They begin to see us as people that can LEAD (them) and influence them to do something good and be good. They begin to open up to us the (a) deeper part of who they are. As we learn more about their lives, we begin to show them love by:
The CFC Youth for Christ (YFC) ministry highly values the importance of family in the lives of the young. It is in the family that a person realizes the significance of learning about relationships, experiencing love, and growing as an individual. It is in this spirit that YFC and the CFC community sought to create a small group unit to help guide the lives of an individual into building a strong relationship with Christ. This is done through the households. The household is a venue for an individual to build friendships through trust, experience happiness through love, gather support, and learn more about themselves and Christ, in a group of four (4) to seven (7) members.
3. The first training should begin with an opening worship (two fast songs and one slow (full) song). The Team Leader should lead the worship and makes sure to give a short exhortation before the start of the worship.The love that we give can slowly move them to start engaging friendships with us, allowing them to slowly experience and realize Christ’s amazing love. Sincere love makes them see that there are genuine people that they could trust with their lives, knowing that trusting us can lead us to their growth as a man and woman for God. As household heads, we can show them this love by:• YFC leader gives the workshop on how to use the YFC Household Topic Manual. He is someone who faithfully used the YFC Household Topic Manual in his household.2. Registration should be done per talk to monitor complete attendance of the household leaders. This is crucial to the Chapter Heads and Chapter Couple Coordinators because it will help them know who among their members have not gone through or completed the training yet.
7. The 2nd part is the Initiation of the New Household Heads into the Chapter service meeting after the youth camp. Here, the third talk is given in a separate 3-hour session that introduces these new household heads to their monthly service meetings with Chapter Heads and Chapter Couple Coordinators.
The household is the smallest unit within the community made up of usually four (4) – seven (7) members. It is a venue for the members of each household to experience the nature and greatness of Christ’s amazing love through sharing joy, building trust, gaining support, and learning how to express this love to others. As we lead, it is important for us to remember the following guidelines:Lord Jesus, I thank you for choosing me to serve you by caring for Your people. You know me, my guilt, my sin and my pain. I realize that I am most unworthy, yet You call for me, and so I ask for your grace. Forgive my sinfulness and my stubbornness. Take my heart of stone and turn it into flesh. Teach me to love. When I lack patience, genuine concern and courage, let Your love and strength bridge the gap. Let me love with Your Love and Wisdom, and bless those I will care for that they may love. Fill me, teach me, guide me and give me strength. AMEN. • The brother facilitates the activity while the sister counterpart prepares the other details of the activity such as food preparation (optional), registration sheet, visuals, etc. These bring out the youth’s inner thoughts and feelings about a particular topic. It encourages them to understand themselves better. These questions also pave the way for a deeper relationship of trust and openness within the Household.
The reason that we are loving people and have answered God’s call is because of (also for) Him. This is our response to the love that He has shown us. We serve the Lord and love the people because it is our way of loving Him back. As household heads, we have to keep in mind that we are doing everything for God. This means that we are to give our all and our best, to persevere even in difficult times, and to be eager to show his love to everyone.Being a household leader may be difficult but the reward for this mission is never ending. This service will not only teach us about God’s love, it will also push us to grow (more) and live more in His grace. “Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many…”Matthew 20:28. We must take on the heart of Christ – a heart that chooses to serve and will be in ransom of many, to be able to fulfill this mission as household leaders. (a heart that chooses to serve and will be in ransom of many). (Because the) The heart of Jesus models that of a true servant heart – someone to live and die to show great love and service for others. Our households do not necessarily end when we close it with a prayer. Action plans create opportunities for our members to apply what they have learned; making their learning a habit, then a lifestyle. The Household is the basic unit in the structure of Youth for Christ. This is the avenue where YFC members get to experience the greatness of Christ’s amazing love on a peronal level as they share with one another their struggles and victories, tragedies and triumphs, and realization in every aspect of their lives. Trust is built as they open their minds and hearts to their fellow household members. It is also a place for the members to deepen their relationship with God through prayer, worship, and in listening to His’ messages for them. There are usually 4-7 members in one Household group.
To be a household head is not an easy task. We are placed at the very heart of the mission, interacting with the people who are just beginning to have a renewed relationship with the Lord. This mission will teach us a lot of things. It will even make us grow as an individual. All in all, we must never forget in our hearts that our mission is all:
• Faith in God – Although our faith may falter, we should remember that we have a faithful God, and because of His faithfulness, we too can decide to be faithful by His grace.Note to the Team Leaders: (The team leaders) You can make a commitment card or bookmark which will be distributed to the participants upon your instructions (of the team leader) within the commitment activity. The household heads prayer can be included in this card or bookmark. (They can also include the household heads prayer in this card or book mark.)
Through the HLT, we hope to equip and empower our household heads, whose responsibility is to make sure that their members are able to have their regular household.
As they are guided with love, healing and change slowly come into their lives. They begin to see themselves the way that God sees them. They begin to realize that they can be better. They see themselves as people worthy to be loved, and as well as, capable of loving others. We continue showing them love by:
Our vision in the community should move us to love our households as our family. It is our outward act of directing every member towards that vision. Thus, in YFC we are grouped into households to make sure that everyone is loved and belongs to a family. It is a system that will keep each member to feel that they belong. As household heads, we must realize that we are:
The Chapter Head together with the Chapter Couple Coordinators will lead everyone to plan the next household meeting of the chapter and of the members.
• Being a household head is a call and a gift from God. We need to strengthen some areas as we continue to grow in the service and the love of the people God has entrusted to us.
