Notes for Leaders
Article 3
The President
This article is written for someone who is either the President or else someone who is taking a real leadership role in a local group. Before reading it I would suggest that you get out a piece of paper and a pen and write down some of your thoughts on the following.
What are some of the good things happening in the group?
What is not so good about the group?
Are you getting something out of the group?
Do you think that your group is a true Y.C.W. group and why?
Many Presidents who have done this exercise end up feeling a little frustrated. They know there are good things happening in the group. They can name a few – but they don’t sound very good in the telling. They know the members are getting something out of the group. They keep on coming and they seem to enjoy it. The members don’t seem very cooperative a lot of the time. Things are always on the verge of getting going, but never seem to get going properly.
You as President are certainly getting something out of the group, but its hard to say just what it is. Finally as President don’t you think your group is a true Y.C.W, group. Its as good as lots of other groups and better than many. You have heard at training weekends about some of the things Y.C.W. expects and you are not doing that. But its pretty impossible and the members in your group wouldn’t come at that review of life 3tuff.
Perhaps you thought some of these thoughts?
Well – go back and reread chapter one. That will remind you of one thing that is probably pretty common to all the members of your group. They are young people who have left school and are facing lots of questions in life. They might call them “problems” – but they are not really problems. They are just the situations of life of these people – decisions to be made, relationships to be sorted out, responsibilities to be faced, values to be assessed etc. etc. These people need friends, they want to hear other people’s ideas, they want to learn about lots of things, they want a group to belong to. They want to be accepted. They want people about them who acknowledge that they are important. They want to be independent.
Now the Y.C.W. fundamental first truth – the truth of faith states that each person is important – in fact each person is absolutely unique. There never was and never will be another you, and the God who willed your existence made you unique because He wanted you to do a unique job in the history of the world. You are not only unique, you are irreplaceable. That makes you astoundingly important.
You as President should stop reading now and start to think about each member of your group. Each one of those people was made important and is important. Do you think that about each of them? Do you treat them that way? Do you go out of your way to discover the ways in which’ each is unique? Do you long for each of them to grow as people (become less shy, stop showing off, give up grogging on for show, learn to treat others with respect, learn to get on with other young people, learn to take responsibilities at work etc. etc.) Do you even know the questions that each of your members is facing in life?
If you are a good President you will be wanting to do all this. You will be calling round to see members at their home – or having dinner with them at work – or ringing them up between meetings. You will be giving them responsibilities at meetings. You will be trying to get them to join in (by asking them questions at the meeting – or speaking to them before the meeting – or suggesting that some other member try and make them feel accepted.)
In other words the important thing in the Y.C.W. local group is not so much what the group is doing – but how the group is serving each member. The Y.C.W. believes in the importance of each member. If the group is helping each member to grow, helping them to discover values in life, helping them to answer the questions of life, helping them discover their vocation in life – then that Y.C.W. is successful.