Our Life Together: Christian Education & Formation - Youth Ministries

Youth in grades 6 through 12 are a valued part of our faith community, and they are invited to be active participants in the full life of our congregation—perhaps the best faith formation available: after all, as the old saying goes, "faith is caught, not taught."

In addition, though, we do offer a number of education and formation activities and programs specifically for youth, offering them age-appropriate ways to engage more deeply with their own faith, with the Bible, and with the history, traditions, and practices of Christianity.

• Philosophy and Approach to Youth Ministry
• Middle School: Sunday School, Youth Group
• Wednesday Youth Night
• Confirmation
• High School Youth Group
• Mission Trips
• Snow Camp

Philosophy and Approach to Youth Ministry

We here at Second Congregational United Church of Christ know that there are a lot of different approaches out there to doing ministry with youth. We don't claim to have all the answers about how to do everything, but we do have a couple convictions about ministry with our youth:

• Youth ministry cannot be separated from the overall life of the congregation. Our youth are just as much a part of the baptized Body of Christ as anyone else, and so need to be part of the same community, activities, and ministries as the rest of the church. The days of the sending the youth off somewhere else until they become "real" Christians (a.k.a. adults) are over!
• Youth ministry must be substantive. Our youth are wonderful, faithful, questioning, doubting, concerned, intelligent, seeking, searching, gifted people. Their faith—whatever form it make take, whatever questions it may have—is real, and so we must deliver the goods of a real welcoming community and real exploration of faith, and not simply feed and entertain the youth. In today's society, youth can go many other places to be entertained. We have to be church to and with them.

Want to read more about the thoughts and beliefs behind our approach to youth ministry? Check out A Theological Framework for Youth Ministry.
 

Middle School Youth:

Sunday School

For youth in grades 6 through 8, we offer a Sunday School class in the hour before Sunday worship, from 9:15 - 9:45 am, so that the youth may attend worship as well. Our junior - senior high Sunday School class is usually taught by Janet Jacobs. For more information, speak with her or contact our Director of Christian Education Becky Erbe.

Our Middle School Youth Group, for grades 6 - 8, meets as part of Wednesday Youth Night from 6:30 - 7:30 pm during the program year. For more information about the junior high youth group, contact our Director of Christian Education Becky Erbe.
 

Wednesday Youth Night

For over 12 years, we have been offering an ever-expanding menu of activities and programming for a variety of ages as part of our "Wendesday Youth Night". We bring together children and youth from our congregation, children and youth from the Boys & Girls Club chapter housed at our church, and adults for an evening each week of educational activities, music ensemble rehearsal, recreation, and dinner.

Check out the Wednesday Youth Night section for more information, or feel free to contact our Director of Christian Education Becky Erbe.
 

Confirmation

Confirmation is an intensive, one-year faith-formation process we offer our youth as they transition between middle school and high school. For most of our youth, the process leads to the Rite of Confirmation at the end of the year, a rite through which they public affirm for themselves the baptismal vows their parents made on their behalf when they were baptised. (Each year, we do typically have one or more youth who were not baptized as infants, and so the confirmation process leads instead to their own baptismal vows and their baptism.)

For the 2008-09 program year, we are taking a 'year off' from our Confirmation process. Our congregation decided to move the confirmation process one year older, to 9th grade rather than 8th, thus necessitating the one-year break. We are also using this time off to explore new materials and methods for our confirmation program.

For more information on Confirmation, contact our Associate Pastor Matt Emery.
 

High School Youth Group: Sundays at The Loft

Youth in high school (grades 9 - 12) are invited to participate in our Second Congregational High School Youth Group. It's is a safe place for all youth to explore their questions, their faith, and their livesm and also to come together to do ministry in our church and in the world.

Regular meetings are Sundays during the program year, from 4:30 - 6:30 pm. Meetings vary from week to week, but usually include an evening prayer worship time, an exploration or discussion of a faith-and-life issue, and some recreational time. Unless otherwise announced, they always include dinner!

Youth are welcome to join the youth group at any time! Come with your questions, your doubts, your faith, your life—you!

High School Youth Ministry Calendar
September – December 2008

January – August 2009

For more information about high school youth group, contact our Associate Pastor Matt Emery.
 

Mission Trips

The 2007 and 2008 High School Mission Trips were great successes! In 2007, we treked out to Washington, D.C., enjoying all that D.C. had to offer, and serving God by serving others at the Community for Creative Non-Violence homeless shelter, the United Cerebral Palsey day center; the Capital Area Food Bank, the Capitol Hill Pregnancy Center, and at Parks And People. Our 2008 trip to St. Louis was also a great time, taking in some St. Louis sights, and doing ministry with a children's summer day center, the Campus Kitchen Project, and other service ministries.

We're already thinking about our travel plans for the summer of 2009! Our 2009 Mission Trip will take us to some new destination during the week of July 18th - 24th, 2009. For more information about past or upcoming mission trips, contact our Associate Pastor Matt Emery.
 

Snow Camp

Each January (usually the last weekend), all youth grades 6 through 12 are invited to take part in our annual Second Congregational Snow Camp at Silver Birch Ranch in White Lake, Wisconsin. The group travels by bus up to Silver Birch on Friday evening and returns on Sunday. The weekend includes much play time in the snow for the youth, as Silver Birch offers facilities for snow tubing, broomball, horseback riding, and more. The weekend also includes a theme topic around a faith matter and a number of activities, talks, and sharing time to explore the topic. Past themes have included "We Are Family", "Faith in Motion", and "C.S.I. Silver Birch" (Changing Self Images). Saturday night closes with an intimate worship service featuring Holy Communion.

Snow Camp 2009 is scheduled for January 23, 24, and 25, 2009. For more information about Snow Camp, contact either our Director of Christian Education Becky Erbe or our Associate Pastor Matt Emery.
 

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