I have been thinking about the concept of radical hospitality today as it pertains to our youth program.  The teenage years are an important time in the life of a person, and it is one of the most important times for faith development.  Something like 90 percent of the people who become Christians do so before the age of 18. It is a big deal we create a home for the young people in our Church.

In the last couple of years we have struggled to get our younger youth to commit to our youth group.  I believe it is vital for us to reach out to as many youth as possible and so starting this fall we are making some changes that I believe will allow our hopitallty be radical to teenagers in this important time.

We will have a separate night for the Junior High and the Senior High.  The reasoning for this is so that we can have activities that are tailored for each group.  Sunday nights will be focused on Junior High and Wednesday nights will be focused on Senior High.  To foster community between the age groups we are doing several things as well. The Senior High who are willing to put in the effort, will be allowed to attend as mentors on Sunday nights so that they can provide examples to the Junior High students.  Further, 8th graders will be given a choice of either night so they can transition into the next stage of our ministry.

In addition we will continue our tradition of serving our community by having a youth wide service project on the fourth Sunday of every month.  I am really excited about this aspect of the change in schedule because it will get all of us working together for the same goal and provide interaction between the two age groups.  This Sunday will conclude with a meal together; the old saying that a family that eats together stays together applies to Church families too!

Finally the way you can show radical hospitallity to these two groups is by volunteering your time to be with teenagers.  Studies have show that having adult Christians as mentors is an important part of the process of developing a wholistict faith for teenagers.  To put it simply: I need you! Maybe God is calling you to be a part of our youth ministry and this fall is a great opportunity to get started.  Please let me know if you are interested,

David

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