youth
What do we do? Well, we do a lot of things. We're most known for our Sunday night gatherings at our church. The schedule goes something like this:
5pm |
Eat, talk, and hang out in general. |
|
~5:30 |
Clean up, announcements |
|
~5:45 |
Worship |
|
~6:15 |
Lesson |
|
~? |
Games (whenever the lesson's over) |
We're on a Revelations study right now - learning what the symbolism means, and what is/isn't symbolic in the prophecy.
bible studies
We have 2 bible studies
- the Cliff, and the Edge.
The Cliff, for 6-8th graders, is every Wednesday from 4-6pm at Shelly's house.
(directions soon)
The Edge (senior high) meets every Wednesday from 5:30-7:30pm at Di's house.
(directions soon)
UM ARMY
Our youth group goes to UM ARMY every summer without fail. What's UM ARMY, you ask?
Well, for one, it's an acronym - United Methodist Action Reach-out Mission by Youth. It's a huge community service project for people who can't afford to hire help or are physically unable to fix things themselves. Most importantly, it's a chance to get out and share God's light and love to those who need it most.
Basically, we all load up in the Moose (the church van, it's a long story that most people can't remember) and head out on a 2-4 hour drive to another town. When we get there, the United Methodist church in town hosts all the churches present (something like 6-10 individual youth groups); we sleep there, we eat there, we hang out there, we worship and learn there - honestly, it's the most a church will ever feel like your house.
"Hey there, roomie!" ~God
We get placed into work groups and assigned work sites, and the next day we load up and head out. We work on these homes, and you can tell the people really need our help. Some of them are a little nervous or introverted at first - it takes a few attempts to get them to talk, but one of the most gratifying things that can happen is telling them all about why we're there, and getting to share the Gospel with them. For lack of a better/more original word - this is an awesome experience.
As the week goes on, you find out that these "crazy people" you got stuck with in your work group are actually some of the greatest people you've ever met. You find out that your work team leader isn't some harsh taskmaster - you mistook that enthusiasm for impatience, and that wisdom for arrogance. You find out that this is one of the coolest places you've ever been, and you find out that you might never want to leave.
If you've never gone, we encourage you go. And by encourage, we don't mean:
"Oh yeah, you should go to that. It's pretty cool."
We mean:
"This is one of the greatest things you will ever have the honor of doing, and you'll come back with a new outlook on life and serving God. Go."
The one thing you won't do after UM ARMY is regret.
We'll have some pictures up from our last UM ARMY soon.
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