Values
Love, Grace, Awe, Wonder
Discipleship, Spiritual Disciplines,
Family, Community, Incarnational Living
Goal
To set young people on a journey of wonder and awe at the immense love God has for them, with a sincere and deep hope that each student would be engaged in a loving relationship with Christ and the church, equipped for good works and empowered in the expression of their unique gifting and calling.
Summary
We desire to develop a holistic children and youth ministry that sets kids and youth on a journey towards wholeness, strength and the experience of God’s immense love expressed in and through Jesus Christ. Our specific philosophy of ministry is rooted in relationship - teaching students to love Christ and to live a life based out of that love. We believe that relationship with Christ is embedded within the loving relationships found within a body of Believers. Simply, we want to participate in connecting others in a loving relationship with Christ and community.
From age one to age eighteen, it is important for young people to experience relationship with Christ lived out in a gracious and loving community. For younger children, the church is fundamentally a place of warmth, love and felt care. For the maturing student, church is a sanctuary where they can voice their needs, both felt and real, and gain a Christ-centered worldview by which to anchor themselves as their lives take shape. For the more mature student, church is a place where mentoring and discipleship take place so that they can express and develop their gifts and calling.
The specific model of Christian Education would be one of discipleship based upon Galatians 5: 1-6 “It was for freedom that Christ set us free … For we through the Spirit, by faith, are waiting for the hope of righteousness”. In using this verse as the underpinning of our ministry model, we recognize that we must be completely centered on Christ, rooted in grace and the leading of the Holy Spirit. This means that as well as developing a program engaging the youth, we are absolutely dependent upon and engaged with the activity of God. Every step of the journey from recruitment to training must rely on a God-centered, Spirit-lead, faith-filled ministry.
We place great importance on the children and youth ministry’s integration within the vision, mission and activity of the larger church community - inviting adults into the service as mentors, leaders, and connecting young people in ministry service to and alongside adults. By connecting kids to the larger church and connecting the larger church to the youth we seek to help each students connect within the community in meaningful and life-giving ways.
In addition to fostering connections to the church community, we are committed to families. Realizing that “family” takes many different forms – two parent, single parent homes, foster families, grandparents as the primary caretakers and divorced families - we value and seek to encourage and empower families in whatever expression is present. We desire to create safe spaces where youth can voice hopes, concerns, fears and dreams – even some they don’t feel comfortable broaching with their parents. And we also want to encourage families in their own inter-family communication, keeping as a core value the affirmation and equipping of families.
The goal of Christian Education would be to see graduating students be on a journey of wonder and awe at the immense love God has for them. It is our sincere and deep hope that each student would be engaged in a loving relationship with Christ and the church, equipped for good works and empowered in the expression of their unique gifting and calling. As well, we seek to lead students through a program whereby upon venturing into the adult world, they have resources from which to draw when facing adversity and making daily decisions. As well, we seek to plant a seed of God’s grace, love, peace, joy and faith rooted in Christ which will provide a solid bedrock for life.
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