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September 1, 2020

Hi Youth Group Parents, Families, and Staff,

I wanted to send you a quick reminder that we start youth group TOMORROW, along with details about what we’ll be doing this Fall.

If you missed my email last week, we’ll be doing a little Kick-Off Luau to get the year going. Here are the details:

• Youth Group Kickoff will be from 6:00 pm – 8:30 pm
• Food will be provided – Sharon Pack is making us Pack Dogs (which are delicious!)
• Please still have your student wear a mask to youth group. 🙂

We’ll play some games outside (can anyone say LIMBO?), and then spend some time in worship, and then get reacquainted with what youth group is, what it’s for, and how to get the most out of it. I’m looking forward to getting all of the students gathered again after the break!

As far as the Fall goes, here’s a little update on what we’ve got going on.

You can find a link to our Fall Calendar HERE.

Below are more details on specific of what we’ll be doing. PLEASE READ. 🙂

Study Sessions
First, in an attempt to foster community that students will miss out on in in-person school, we’re going to do a “Study Sesh” every Wednesday from 3:00pm – 6:00 pm before youth group. We will be providing dinner for the students that come as well, free of cost to you!  Study Sessions will be an opportunity for students to bring their school work to the church to work on homework, etc. together, and to get some tutoring help if needed.

I do want to make clear that this is not simply a “hang-out” time for students. The intention is to give students a space to come work on school work together, instead of being isolated at home doing it. 🙂

If you have the time available and the desire to help as a tutor during these study sessions, please let me know! I think it would be a great way for parents to get involved in the lives of the teens! 

Youth Group
Rather obviously, we’ll be holding in person youth group. But, at least for the Fall, we’re going to try something a little bit different. Normally our teaching time is spent going through a specific book of the Bible, which is awesome! My desire is for our students to see the Bible as a unified story, not just a self help book that addresses topics. But we’re going to spend the next three months addressing three topics: September – Anxiety, October – Service, November – Prayer. We’ll spend three weeks addressing each topic from the scriptures, and then on the fourth week, we’ll spend the night seeking to apply what we’ve seen in the scriptures. SO, September will culminate in a night with our small groups, talking through anxiety in our lives and apply scripture to it. October will culminate in a youth group outreach service project, and November will culminate in a night of prayer and fasting together.

HS Hang
We’ll still be doing High School Hang on the Third Friday of every month from 6:30pm – 10pm as a way to get the students together and fellowshipping with one another outside of youth group. Stay tuned for the locations of these nights as we might adjust from holding them in our house. It really depends on Baby Eleanor. 🙂

MS Late Night
These nights are designed, much like the HS Hang, to give our Middle School students the opportunity to cultivate friendships with another through doing the crazy/fun things that Middle Schoolers love to do. Think Nerf, Tag, Mario Cart, Pizza, etc.

Service Saturday
One of my big desires, always, is to get our students putting into practice the things that they are seeing in the scriptures. I want them to both see a faithful example of living out the scriptures, as well as to partake in living it out themselves. That said, I’ve scheduled some Service Saturdays for us. I plan to set up some service projects for our students to partake in – whether it be yard work, cookie visits, sandwiches for the homeless, etc.

Your Role
I know that you know this… but you play the most important role in youth group. That is, to model a life of love and devotion to the Lord, and to get your students here. 🙂 Help them to see the value of youth group by showing them how much you value Christian community and fellowship, and the value that you place on knowing and consuming the Scriptures. I’m here to assist you as YOU shepherd you kids to walk with Jesus.

Again, you can find the updated Fall Calendar with these events on them HERE! (Please note, this Calendar is subject to change based on COVID restrictions, or other conflicts that might arise).

Looking forward to a great year!

Ryan Aufenkamp