High School Youth Group

Our goal in Youth Ministry is to bring each young person to a saving faith in Jesus Christ, a deeper fellowship with Christ and others, a life of fruitful Christian service, and to address issues relevant to today’s jr. high and high school students from a Biblical perspective.

Youth Group is a dynamic ministry serving our young people in grades 9-12.  We meet monthly for a LOFT meeting (Living Our Faith Together) to discuss Biblical and spiritual issues as they relate to teens today.  We also meet regularly in small groups within grade levels, and meet monthly for a fun activity.  Many opportunities for service are offered throughout the year, as well as a yearly retreat and the Youth Unlimited convention. 

Youth Ministry Values:

An APPROACH to youth ministry that is:

  • Intentional: Every function in a youth ministry program is a step towards a goal – to bring the youth of our church closer to God.  Youth ministry should have a blueprint; everything we do fits into the “construction plan”.
  • Relational: God is personal.  The goal is not to teach information about God, but to know God – to personally grow closer to God and the reality of life in Christ.
  • Transformational: God’s will is to change people; to begin a life-long process of being conformed to the image of Jesus.  We need to recognize that a life of loving a serving God develops at different stages in teens.

Youth ministry LEADERS who are:

  • Exemplary: Our youth leaders are positive, Christian role models for the youth.  They are empathetic and accepting of teens, and thereby build relationships and earn the right and respect to give direction in the kids’ lives.

Youth PROGRAMMING that is:

  • Developmental: We need to recognize that teens take steps in growing closer to God.  Youth ministry programs should reflect those needs and meet them.
  • Responsive: We should not assume that everyone will fit into the existing programs.  Some kids are being missed; we should respond to their needs.  We should also realize that group composition changes every year, and we cannot assume that because something has worked well in the past that it will continue to work well in the future.
  • Evangelistic: An outcome of teens growing closer to God should be a life that expresses their faith through word and action.  We should recognize teens who are at this level and encourage/equip them to do this.