Vital Faith Formation

Here's Part III in our Signs Of Discipleship series:

VITAL FAITH FORMATION: This encompasses our “Discipleship Ministries, including Adult, Youth and Children. One of the strangest things about St. Andrew’s, to Nancy and me, is the absence of Sunday Morning Adult Church School classes. Efforts have been made to put such classes into place, but have thus far been unsuccessful. St. Andrew’s will continue to put a lot of eggs into Sunday evening and midweek classes. These range from the 34-week Disciple Bible Study series to short-term opportunities, such as our newest study, “Living The Questions.” Support groups such as “Divorce Care,” and life-style classes including the Stress Management Workshop, scheduled for January 18, are prominent on our menu.

The plan for 2007 is to expand on these opportunities, looking first and foremost to points of human need. If you have an idea, please pass it on to Diana F. or Nancy.

Right now, our Children’s Department is gearing up for a new season of UPWARD Basketball. Our inaugural season attracted almost a hundred children. We were told, if we did it right, we might expect to double participation in year two, and we must have done it right, because we’ve got two hundred children involved now. Netta P., Margie W. and their team are always spinning out new and creative ideas to be in ministry to the little ones.

2006 was a year of transition in our Ministry to Youth, as Rev. Michael P. left the staff to serve as lead pastor at Hanscom Park UMC. Bob D. joined us in late September. What made Bob particularly attractive was his experience with “at-risk” children and families through Boys and Girls Town. We’ve already heard from parents who are deeply appreciative of Bob’s work with their young people.

Nancy is heavily involved in mentoring Bob and I’ve asked her to spell out where she sees the youth program going: A VISION FOR YOUTH MINISTRY AT ST. ANDREW’S
Nancy & I have been working with Bob D., our Youth Director, in his first three months here at St. Andrew’s to develop a plan for youth ministry at St. Andrew’s. As you would guess, this is an ongoing process, but we have made some decisions about the future direction of the ministry, at least into the fall of 2007. I want to share some of those with you. I should also say that most of these have been discussed with either the Parent Advisory Board and/or the Youth Council, so we have received feedback as to whether our plans are viable or not. Here are some of those plans:
1) All youth are encouraged to attend sanctuary worship at 9:15 on the first Sunday of each month. They can either sit with their families or sit with a group of youth and Bob in a designated area. There will be no Sunday School for youth on those Sundays. This begins on January 7, 2007. (NOTE FROM BRUCE: It has concerned us that a young person can grow up at St. Andrew's, from the nursery through youth, and hardly ever experience worship in the sanctuary. This is the itch we're trying to scratch here.)
2) The youth worship and Sunday School time will move out of the Family Life Center on January 14 and will meet instead in the youth room and music room. Some parents and youth have expressed dissatisfaction with the current meeting space situations and we are hopeful that this will help to provide space that is more conducive to worship and learning.
3) Wednesday evening Bible study will continue.
4) We will offer Sunday School for youth during the summer months. More about this will follow.
5) Beginning next fall, the fifth grade class will be under the Children’s Ministry program. Two youth Sunday School classes will be offered – one for grades 6, 7, and 8; the other for grades 9-12.
6) We hope to move confirmation to sixth grade. It will take a two-year process to make this happen. Plans now would call for there to be two confirmation classes in 2008 – eighth graders in one class and seventh graders in the other. Then in 2009 we would also have two separate classes; seventh graders in one and sixth graders in the other. That would free us up to offer confirmation to sixth graders only starting in 2010. In this way, sixth grade becomes a young person’s introduction to our youth group. Confirmation training needs to happen before the eighth grade, as many young people today are beginning their spiritual questioning earlier.
7) This year’s Confirmation Class begins on January 7 at 10:45. We will be using mentors--adult church members not related to any of the kids in the class--to work with our students. I will be the main teacher and both Bob and Bruce will teach a few classes as well. Confirmation Sunday is April 29 and students will be confirmed during worship services that morning. Currently, we have thirty-four students enrolled for the class.
8) The Youth Praise Band will continue and we hope to add new members. Leon A. is now working with Praise Band members on a regular basis. The Youth Drama Team is re-forming. And Bob is working to put together a Youth Service Team, which will focus on mission projects.
9) In the fall of 2007 we hope to begin a weekly Sunday evening program, focusing on recreation and study, with the possibility of a snack supper. Lots of parental participation will be needed to make this work.
These are some of our plans for youth ministry at St. Andrew’s. Bob and I will appreciate your feedback on these at any time. If you have a youth who is not currently involved in the program of St. Andrew’s, I invite you to attend one of the events or set up a time to talk with Bob and get to know him.
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We'll hope to see you this Sunday for "Washington's Crossing"!
God bless, BRD