What We Believe
JOHN 10:10
"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come so that you may have life, and have it to the full”
This has been our key verse for many years at St Mungo’s Youth. Why? Because this verse is all about joy. Not happiness. But joy. In Jesus, we find true joy that helps us to live abundant lives in all His fullness. And that’s what we hope you can expect to find at any St Mungo’s Youth - joy because Jesus is present with us whatever we’re doing - from football to bible studies, sung worship to baking, camps to massaoke!
But who are we? Well, we are the 11-18 Year olds at St. Mungo’s Church based in Balerno on the edge of Edinburgh. As a group, we come from all around Edinburgh & Livingston and beyond, for lots of different activities. To see what we’re up to click here
To read more about our vision and values continue reading below…
Our Vision
At St Mungo’s Youth, we come under the vision of the wider St Mungo’s Episcopal Church, which is that we are a church family who look to Be Love, as we are loved. Together as we take up the call of Jesus to; Abide in His love, Be Transformed by the Holy Spirit, Go with the Good News of the Kingdom of God.
What this means in practice is we want to be a place that is welcoming to everyone so every young person that comes through the doors to one of our events, is able to experience God’s love through us, his representatives in this world. To do that, we spend time with God, allowing ourselves to be transformed by the Holy Spirit dwelling within us, causing us to GO out and live this life of his to everyone we encounter
This is why our motto is
“Let’s Face It, We Might Be, The Only Jesus, People See”
Our Values
We hope that all areas of our youth ministries have these six values at their core. There are many other things that feed into these values, but the following six are the key values that we hope are seen within everything we do and all those who are involved in St Mungo’s Youth. But what do they mean and what do they look like???
Fun is out spirit!
We want everything to come to youth and leave joyful, having had a good time with the leaders and their friends.
Respect is our attitude!
We want to respect others, the buildings we are in, the community we are a part of etc. We want the young people to respect God and His Word. With the youth eager to learn more from the Bible.
Family Is Our Heart
“The church can be the one place where we help bridge the generation gap and enrich each other’s lives because of it.”
Camille Cook Murray.
Church is a family. It is a special community where safe relationships can be built between people of all ages and stages of life. And these relationships are not just for now, but for long term.
Our vision for St Mungo’s Youth is that we become a truly radical multi-generational family seeking to build relationships, not just within our peer groups but with the wider Church body, acknowledging that as Christians we are a part of a truly global contagious family. As a result of this value, we will seek to demonstrate this in all our relationships so those we meet see what being a part of God’s family is truly like.
We want to see the youth getting to know those who are younger than them in youth, as well as the kids in the kids’ programmes and the adults in main church, and vice versa.
Mission Is Our Outlook
We want everything we do to not be insular but instead be outward thinking with the youth being encouraged to be thinking about mission both at home and further afield. We want them to be taking that on to reach those in need locally and around our country, whilst also developing a passion for mission to other countries.
Discipleship Is Our Commitment
We are dedicated to following Jesus’ example with how we disciple young people in faith, nurturing their faith, and helping them grow into devoted followers of Christ.
Through mentorship, Bible study, and meaningful conversations, we aim to equip each young person with a strong foundation in their beliefs, empowering them to live out their faith with confidence and authenticity.
We strive to create an environment where they feel able to be vulnerable, supported and encouraged, knowing that they are never alone on their path of discipleship and they can openly ask any questions.
Together, we walk this journey, learning from one another and drawing closer to God with each step.
Encounter Is Our Posture
We want the youth to know that you can meet with God no matter where you are. That you are an example to all around you in every circumstance. We want the youth to be brave and to share what God has been saying to them as they live worshipful lives that are being renewed and transformed by the Holy Spirit.
The Example Setters
With the vision and values in mind, this leads us to our key scripture for this season…
“Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.” - 1 Timothy 4:12
This generation need example setters. Influencers are everywhere. In the Dictionary, influencer now has two meanings, and one is as a result of the last ten years, that is a person with the ability to influence potential buyers of a product or service by promoting or recommending the items on social media. But at its heart, influencer is much more simple. Influencer means a person or thing that influences another.
The world needs good influencers and we are all called to do that and this is what Jonny, our Youth Worker, feels really strongly that God has pressed on his heart for St Mungo’s Youth group.
In Jonny’s words, here’s why:
“This scripture from 1 Timothy 4:12, is one that just kept coming back to me. Now I have an interesting relationship with this scripture as it’s one that actually has really annoyed me for years! And that’s because it’s so often quoted in Christian youth settings because of the first part of the sentence mentioning not letting anyone look down on you because you are young. Now this isn’t bad advice! But, for me it’s often been used lazily! It mentions youth so lets call kids and teenagers to do that.
When actually if we look into the context of this verse, we’ll see Timothy was actually around 30 years old. (So at least I know I’m still relatively Biblically young!) And he was man who had a lot of experience for the job he was doing at evangelising to people and helping churches become more Christ-like.
So with this verse being a bit of an annoyance to me, for God to plant this as a verse for us as Mungo’s youth I was surprised. But I couldn’t shake this one. Because the latter part of the verse just was like a flashing bright coloured bold word art. And I just felt God saying, this is what I want the St Mungo’s Youth group of today to be like. To be example setters to all those around them in how they speak, how they behave, how they believe, how they love and how they commit to being pure.”
And so this is the challenge to all those at St Mungo’s Youth - both young people and leaders alike. How can we be like Timothy - being example setters to all we encounter in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity.
And it’s why our motto is a simple one that Jonny heard volunteering at Clan Kidz as a teenager himself
“Let’s face it, we might be, the only Jesus, people see.”
We want all at St Mungo’s Youth to be example setters of Jesus, remembering that to everyone they meet, they may be the only time they get to see Jesus. And if we’re living as an example of Him, as a little Christ – the definition of Christian – then our prayer is that people will encounter the real thing.
And so if you’d like to know any more about who we are, what we do or how you or your young people can get involved, please do not hesitate to get in touch below - we’d love to chat!