Hello Everyone,
I hope your school year has gotten off to a good start. I know it has been stressful and so different than what any of us expected it would be. Whether you have students who are at school in person, home schooled, virtual or blended, please know I have been praying for you. I wanted to take this opportunity to tell you what opportunities we will have for our students this fall. It has been challenging to come up with acceptable COVID compliant activities for our kids. However, the challenges have also opened up the opportunity to try some new things.
We will continue to meet for Small Groups on Wednesday evenings from 6-7:30 p.m. A simple individual snack type meal will be provided. Students will split into Small Groups based on age and gender. We have an awesome team of Adult Leaders who will be spending time with your kids. The goals for Wednesdays are to build relationships with our students, help them build relationshps with one another and create a safe place for kids to explore what it means to be in relationship with Christ.
Our Adult Leaders deserve extra stars in their crowns. They give of their time and resources out of love for our Lord and love for all our students. This year we are blessed to have Kim Green and Sheri Brown serving our 7th-8th grade girls; Laura Colburn and Tara Baker serving our 9th grade girls; Jackie Duncan and Gentry Duncan serving our 10th, 11th & 12th grade girls; Brandon Green and Jeff Cunny serving our 7th-8th grade boys; Robert Cole and Chad Martin serving our 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th grade boys. Abbie Jones and Reagan Heppner will be facilitating along with me for our High School Alpha Group and Doc Acklin will be cooking for us. Please keep this tremendous group of adults in your prayers this semester.
We will be offering bible studies and other opportunities for students who want to go deeper and put forth some effort in growing their relationship with Christ. These are detailed below. And, we don’t want to leave out the FUN. Plans are in the works to add more retreats, lock-ins or campouts, off campus activities and even some parent/guardian events to our schedule. For now, take a look below at what we have scheduled so far.
Another goal is to offer multiple entry points to our student ministry. We have approximately 11 different schools represented in our youth group. While that is awesome, it also presents challenges in building community with one another. We want students to be a part of Grace Community Church, not just an extension. Meaning, we want our students to be present in our Worship services and we want them represented in as many of the ministries we offer at Grace as possible. I am looking forward to the season ahead and can’t wait to see how God moves in our Forward Motion Ministry.
Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or concerns. My door is always open!
Blessings,
Kathleen
What is Alpha?
- Alpha is a place to explore the Christian faith with others. It is a low pressure environment to discuss the big questions in life
- Every Alpha session has three key ingredients: food, talk, and discussion. So what does that look like?
- Food – Alpha is relational. And nothing builds relationships like sharing food together. Each Alpha session starts with a meal
- Talk – Every week there is a [talk delivered in person or video episode] that explores the basics of the Christian faith
- Discussion – After the talk is a time of discussion in small groups where guests can share their thoughts and questions
Students in 9th-12th Grades are invited to join. We will meet on Sunday evenings from 5:30-7 in the StuMin Building beginning on September 20th. Plans are being finalized for a weekend retreat November 13-15 (more details on that soon). This is the perfect opportunity to invite a friend from your school to join you. Please sign up are required.
Good Samaritan Bible Study
Students 7th -12th Grade are invited to come and learn what it means to be a good neighbor. In a world where so many lines are drawn in the sand, it is important for us to understand how God has called us to love Him as well as our neighbors. The study will run for four weeks beginning on October 4 from 4-5:15 p.m. in the StuMin Building. On Sunday, November 22 the group will serve at the Community Rescue Mission from 4-6:30 p.m. Please sign up.