“Ministry is messy.”

If you’ve spent much time around church you’ve probably heard something like that said before. If you’ve worked or volunteered in ministry you know just how true that statement can be. If you work with YOKE, or any middle school ministry, you know that statement carries deep spiritual truth. I know what you are probably thinking: “That’s right, people are messy! Sin is dangerous! And attempting to rescue people from sin is messy business!” You couldn’t be more right! But I am not talking about our spiritual messiness. I mean middle school ministry is literally messy! And at times, down right disgusting!

It has become somewhat of a YOKE tradition for the last club of each school year to be designated as “Messy Club.” On Saturday afternoon at each Spring Camp we designate about an hour to our annual “Messy War.” Messiness is serious business around YOKE. Not only are we dealing with the messy spiritual issues that young teenagers venture through, we are also having fun dealing with hundreds of cans of shaving cream, hundreds of pounds of flour, countless water balloons, and smells that can only come from messy middle schoolers. 

Clubs this year have come to an end, but what has been most recently left behind in the aftermath are pictures of students and leaders covered in messiness. We wanted to share a few with you to help remind us how messy ministry can be.