We’re at the start of a new year, and we’re looking to move forward into some new practices with our youth ministry. We know there’s been a long break from in-person meetings. We know that schools are starting virtually, and we still don’t have a timeline as to when the daily life without Covid will be a reality. We also know that we’ve learned a lot about how to gather with others in the safest way we can. And we’ve missed face-to-face conversations with our youth!
This January, we’re going to beginning a season of in-person youth ministry that won’t necessarily look like ministry we’ve done before. Yes, we’ll be wearing masks, and we may be sitting in the gym rather than the Huddle or the LCA so that we can spread out even more. We won’t be able to travel on overnight retreats, and we’re not going to be able to have nachos or ice cream sundae bars for everyone to share (though we’ll be sure to have individually packaged snacks). One thing hasn’t changed, though – we still have adults in our congregation who love our youth and want to engage with them in conversation around faith and life and God.
On January 10, our high school students will gather from 4:30-6:00 pm. On January 17, our 5th-8th grade middle school students will gather from 4:30-6:00 pm. With these first meetings, a rotation of alternate Sunday meetings for our high school & middle school students will begin, and it is our hope and our plan to continue meeting every other week with each group through May. Visit the Youth page to see all the dates!
What are we asking of you, our congregation? We need your support through prayer.
Consider praying for:
- the physical, mental, and emotional health of our students
- creativity, wisdom, and energy for our volunteers and youth leaders
- protection around our meeting times, especially when we gather in person
- meaningful conversations, both in our online and in-person gatherings
- building of personal connections and relationships among students and leaders
- that each student who joins us in the months ahead will know and experience that they are loved and valued by their creator God
We know that some of our families and our students may not be comfortable meeting in person right now. Parents of youth, we’ll be sending you a survey, because we do want to offer an online experience for our students as well. We’ll need your help to determine the best time for an online group to gather.
If you’re an adult who shares our passion for youth ministry, we encourage you to connect with us. Kristin Mueller (kmueller@ecclife.net) will be working with our 5th-8th grade students and Meghan Gobrogge (mgobrogge@ecclife.net) will be working with our 9th-12th grade students. We always have room for more on our teams!