Don’t be Anxious About Anything

When I received a tip for a Beechmont Story that would feature a young woman in her early twenties serving as a Christian youth minister, I was immediately interested.  Up until now, I would say the average age of a person featured in a story was probably 50 years of age.

Finding young people willing to be featured online is not easy.  The majority of my rejections for a street level interview are from younger folk.

Although some may think internet savvy young people will do anything for attention online, this is not necessarily true.  Younger people are much more guarded about their online presence than their older peers, especially when they can’t control how they will be depicted. And who can blame them?

It is no easy task for a young person to put their trust into a stranger to write details about them on the internet. I think it takes a special kind of person to put themselves out there like that. This particular kind of young man or woman would have to be very secure with themselves, their decisions in life, and be quite comfortable with their place in the world.

Thankfully, I found one of those young people.

Meet Rachel Menzel

I arranged to meet Rachel inside the Parkside Christian Church located on Salem Road where she works as a youth minister.

In all my years of living in Anderson, I never noticed Parkside Christian Church.  I don’t know how – the place is massive. I guess to me it just kind of blended in with the Beech Acres Park area somehow.

Upon my arrival, Rachel escorted me to an open space down the church hallway. The first thing I noticed about Rachel was her intelligent and concentrated demeanor. She spoke differently than I anticipated. Unlike the jovial up-talking millennial I expected, Rachel spoke more naturally and classically, which immediately impressed me. Her dark brown hair spilled out from under a black knit hat and framed a pair of glasses. Her smile was honest and kind.

With the flick of a switch, Rachel ignited the gas fireplace in the room. I could feel it’s warm glow as Rachel told me her story.

It was about 20 years ago when Rachel’s mother Gail loaded Rachel and her twin sister Rebecca in a stroller and headed out for a walk up Salem Road.  During that time, Rachel’s parents were actively looking for a church for their new family to join.

During their stroll, Rachel’s mom walked by Parkside Christian Church where then senior minister Dr. David Ray happened to be standing outside. They struck up a conversation that would eventually lead to Rachel’s family joining Parkside.

Youth Ministry

Rachel’s current youth minister position is a paid one.  Some of her duties are to hold Sunday school and organize youth group meetings where she delivers a sermon most Sunday nights.  She also travels to local schools like Anderson, Turpin, and Nagel to attend Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) meetings.

I never heard of the the FCA, but Rachel tells me it’s a multi-denominational youth group where Christian students can come together to know they are not alone on campus. Methodist, Catholic, and non-denominational students make up the group.

Mission Work

When Rachel was attending Cincinnati Christian University, she went on missions to Mexico and India where she worked with orphaned children who came from extreme poverty. Most of the children she worked with experienced serious trauma from physical and sexual abuse.

In India, most of the children speak English, so in addition to counseling, Rachel tutored them in math and English as well.

Although her trips were relatively safe, she recalled some strange behavior by the local government.  In India, for example, the Indian government forced Rachel’s group to purchase and plant trees in the area. Then officials took pictures of themselves holding shovels as if they planted the trees, taking credit for Rachel’s group’s work.

“I guess the government wanted to show the locals they were active in the community,” Rachel said with a grin.

Rachel and her group were always accompanied by local men who acted as guides, especially when they went out of town to go shopping.  “Many of the locals have never even seen a white person before, so they would just stop and stare at us.  It was a little unnerving,” Rachel said.

To this day Rachel keeps in touch with workers at the homes getting updates on the children she worked with.

Later, Rachel would tour Europe visiting families active in church planting. “Church planting is a little more evangelistic,” Rachel told me. “It’s where people go out to different locations to reach local community members and share Jesus with them in the hopes that a Church would grow.” She started in Wales then went to Northern Ireland and France.

In Europe, Rachel took some time to visit family and relax as well.

Service at Home

But not all of Rachel’s outreach work is abroad.  Her church goes to Houston every year to offer support for those still suffering from the effects of Hurricane Katrina.  Rachel also attends seminars for mental health and suicide prevention.

“My first three weeks as a youth minister here at Parkside were during the three weeks that two local student took their own lives – and that was a wake up call for me,” Rachel said.  “This can’t happen. Something needed to change I thought.”

That is when Rachel decided to look for opportunities to learn more about mental health and suicide prevention.  Since then she has attended local seminars and classes regarding the issues.

Being 22 years old, Rachel has a perspective I generally don’t have access to.  My family, friends, and peers are either much older or much younger.  The twenty-something demographic is one that I am not personally connected with, so I took the opportunity when talking to Rachel to get her opinion on why she thinks the suicide rate is increasing and people seem to generally be unhappier.

Rachel believes social media is partly to blame. She fears social media could help construct a false reality young people think they need to live up to. “People generally only post their good moments and their achievements,” Rachel said, implying accessibility to endlessly cherry-picked highlights can leave one feeling envious or inferior.

“I also think the lack of human interaction from social media has a lot to do with it,” Rachel added. “Nowadays we just don’t know how to talk to each other.”

When I told Rachel how hard it is to find young people willing to talk to me, she said, “It’s because many of them don’t know how to talk to you.” She admits that she is very much a part of the generation whose faces are always buried in a phone.  “We don’t know how to have a personal conversation with someone.  We don’t know how to be open and vulnerable and share feelings.”

Q&A

“Do you think youth participation in church in increasing or decreasing?”

“I think overall students are looking for something more. Whether that be a political figure to be attached to or a celebrity to be attached to or a religion to be attached to. I think a lot of students know there is something more – something deeper.  We talked about how they are always on their phone – they are wanting something more than that. It takes time for them to know what it is. If it is church, I don’t think they are going to just go to church without an invite. So it could be as simple as just inviting a young person to your church.”

“Where do you see yourself in 10-15 years?”

“Definitely in some sort of ministry. I very much believe I have a calling in my life from God to be a minister.  I’m very people-oriented.  I love talking to people and listening to people and seeing how I can be encouraging to them and support them.

“Do you see yourself starting a family?” 

“Yes I definitely see myself starting a family. Family is very important to me.”

I asked her that admittedly personal question to fulfill a curiosity of mine. It seems many young people have decided to put off or completely avoid starting a family. It’s something I will never understand, but I was happy to hear that is not the case for Rachel.  Rachel even put some icing on the cake by telling me she’s already been to five weddings for friends in her age group so it appears the tradition of starting a family has not been lost – at least for young Christians.

“Do you have a favorite bible passage?”

“Philippeans 4:6-7. Don’t be anxious about anything, but in every situation by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ.”

What a fitting message for the times. I think we could all use a little less anxiety in our lives. I could tell Rachel takes that message to heart.  The entire time I talked to her, I could sense a genuine peace and confidence in her that is hard to find in most people today, especially someone so young.  I’m willing to bet a lot of it comes from how Rachel tapped into the power and peace of believing in something greater than herself.

If you know a young man or woman who may want to connect with Rachel to learn more about faith or service, she can be reached at 513-231-9482 or by email at rachel@parksidechrisitian.com.

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