March Calendar and Sunday Youth Time Change

Starting Sunday, February 27 through the end of the school year (and possibly beyond) we are moving our Sunday Youth time from 4:00-6:00pm to 12:30-2:00pm. The main reason we are making this shift is explained in the following two paragraphs.

Many of our youth do not regularly attend Sunday morning worship. They do not interact with people of other ages or participate in congregational worship. The goal of youth ministry is to assimilate youth into the body of Christ because they are part of the church and their voices need to be heard. If youth are not attending or enjoying Sunday morning worship, then the probability of them attending as adults significantly diminishes.

A large percentage of young adults are struggling with their faith and connection to the church and one major reason is that they get so used to “youth group” that when they graduate high school they feel like they no longer have a church. If youth feel stronger connected to the church as a whole it will help their transition out of youth group and into faithful servants of Jesus Christ who are active in a church. Youth still need “youth group” just as adults needs Sunday school or a small group. It is important for all Christians to have times where large crowds gather together to hear God’s word and to worship together and to have smaller meetings for further discipleship and growth in our faith.

It should be noted that we expect youth to attend the 11:15am worship service and not to arrive at church at 12:30pm for youth. We will have lunch each week for our youth. If parents are interested in helping to prepare or provide an occasional meal we would certainly welcome that.

Advantages to Time Change
1. Increase youth involvement in Sunday morning worship services (primary goal) and possibility for youth to bring their family to church.
2. Sunday afternoon can be spent with family.
3. Easier to connect new youth and their family into the entire church.
4. More time efficient (2 trips to church instead of 3).
5. Integration of Youth lessons & Sunday morning worship topics, sermons, etc.

We realize one concern may be that families value Sunday lunch together as a major connecting point. We realize that this isn’t happening in as many homes as in the past generations and we hope that all families will take time to connect during the Sunday afternoon and evening hours.

If you have any thoughts or concerns please let me know. We will work on a pickup or drop off system if youth need rides.