Latest Youth Newsletter
Youthquake, April 18-20, 2008
Annual Easter Egg Hunt, Easter Sunday, March 23, 2008
Weather was chilly, but enthusiasm was high for our 2008 Easter egg hunt!
Youth ministries games & mission planning, Sunday, March 9, 2008
Youth ministries "Lunch Launch," Sunday, January 6, 2008
Youth "Lock In," Monday, December 31, 2007
Visiting "Bethlehem Live" at Waxahachie, Sunday, December 9, 2007
Photos by Betty Weckerly
Summer 2007 Pool Party at the Nelsons
Photo by Lori Nelson
Road Rally, Sunday, June 24, 2007
Photos by Ken George
Gift from Laura Niles Finch, Sunday, June 3, 2007
Congratulations Graduates, Sunday, May 20, 2007
A recent Christian Century (September 6, 2005) has devoted its attention to
the church's ministry to its youth. Chanon Ross, director of youth and adult
ministries at Knox Presbyterian Church in Naperville, IL writes:
"We often fail to help teens think carefully about their faith and about the
details of scripture, worship and Christian practices. Getting kids to like
church is itself an accomplishment, and parents want ministers to succeed at
that. Not surprisingly, ... youth ministers are under great pressure to keep
kids entertained. One common strategy involves front loading programming with
fun activities, hoping to sneak in a little Bible teaching at the end. The
point is not to do anything too weighty that would turn kids off. Keep it
light, keep it fun ... Christian faith
takes root and begins to matter to teens when they discover the difference the
details [of faith] make. In the Christian story, we discover a fiercely loyal
God who creates, loves, lives, dies, lives again, and calls teens into the
passionate grace of the baptismal life. That is something teens can get excited
about and sink their teeth into."
In another article "What Teens Believe," Carol Lytch reviews a new book
based on a significant survey. The results are surprising. "We have known
for years that parents are key influences on teen's religious lives. Despite
the tendency of parents to say they are helpless in this area, three out of
four religious teens consider their own beliefs somewhat or very similar to
those of their parents."
Copies of these articles may be obtained from David Batchelder for any who might like
to read these articles in full.
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