Age no barrier for Ulverstone’s creative youth group leader
- deansimpson7
- 4 hours ago
- 3 min read
BY LAUREN MARTIN
Lily Webb may be the youngest Salvation Army youth group leader in the whole of Australia. At 13, she plans, runs and prays for the Ulverstone Corps’ fortnightly youth group, which she founded this year in obedience to God’s calling.
“I just want to teach people about God and the Gospel,” said Lily, on a video call along with her father, Captain Andrew Webb, Corps Officer at Ulverstone, a town on Tasmania’s north coast.
“I’m still young, I have a lot of life ahead of me, and I wanted to do something while I’m still in my youth.”
The Year 8 student approached her parents earlier this year with the concept for a corps youth group. But she worried that she might get knocked back because of the cost of starting a new ministry, or that the corps leadership might already be too busy.
She said that while her parents were very supportive of the plan, they told her that she would need to write a proposal to go before the Corps Leadership Team. Her mum and dad also said they could not be part of the decision due to their obvious conflict of interest.
Undeterred, Lily whipped up a comprehensive proposal for the ministry, complete with 14 weeks’ worth of detailed planning about activities and themes.
“He [pointing to her father] came back home after the meeting and [said] they were so excited that I wanted to do this, and they were 100 per cent supportive of it. I really appreciated their support,” said Lily.
With the help of the Corps Leadership Team, the necessary Salvation Army paperwork was filled out. Lily then made some posters and put them up around town to advertise the first youth group evening.
Lily’s vision was simple: “I wanted a lot of different types of people to come,” she explained, “[to just be] having fun and learning about God and learning about what He can do in your life.”
The first night was trivia and attracted teens of different ages, schools and backgrounds. This was an answer to Lily’s prayer when she had asked God for a range of people to attend. She has enjoyed making new friends and seeing others do the same.
“We all just learn a lot of things about each other,” she said.
(Left) A youth group laser-tag activity. (Right) Youth group Lego League night.
Despite sometimes being the youngest person at youth group, Lily doesn’t think that age is a barrier to being used by God.
“I want to be a leader who helps people know more about God,” she said. “There are a few people at youth group that want to know more, and I’m glad that I have the opportunity to share with them and help them to know more.
“I just want people to know God is with them throughout their journey in life, and right beside them.”
It’s that deep awareness of ‘Christ with us’ that Lily experiences for herself that makes her so passionate about journeying with others and helping them to know Jesus for themselves. As the youngest of four siblings, Lily has had no problems encouraging her older siblings to help out at youth group, and stresses that she’s not running the group on her own but with the support of her parents and others in the corps.
As an officer’s kid (an ‘OK’ in Salvos world), Lily is aware that Ulverstone won’t be her home forever, and she would like to identify future leaders from among those who are coming along, to disciple and train up.
“I hope that when I get older or I move, like move states or move house, that the youth group will stay running and I hope that someone takes over the job of me … I have asked God about it.”
Lily is keen to explore full-time ministry but is waiting until she is “old enough”. In the meantime, she has stepped out in faith to serve and lead where she can in her community.
What an encouragement and inspiration for us all not to let barriers get in the way of where Jesus wants us to love and serve others!
