Youth Group Quarterly Report

The Youth group is for ages 11 to 18 who are in grade 6 to 12.   The youth group currently has 10 youth registered.  There are 27 email contacts that I send information too regarding youth group, with one family I need to call due to lack of online access. I know of one youth who is looking forward to joining youth group in the fall when they will be old enough to join.

Youth Group gathered for the first time in December.  Parents were invited to join for the meeting, providing an opportunity to meet Rachel, the youth leader, as well as other parents.  For this gathering 6 youth were in attendance. The youth were invited to come to Soul in Sync the last week end of December, 1 was in attendance.

Before Christmas we started to advertise the January youth group event. While Rachel was away for her Global Perspective Experience Trip in Cuba for school; rehearsals for Wizard for OZ were scheduled for the same day, and the advertising for this youth event was pulled without Rachel’s knowledge.  Also Souls in Sync was rescheduled and Rachel was not informed.  The January Youth Group activities had no Youth in attendance during January for these reasons.

In February the youth group shared a meal during Messy Church, then stayed to do some community building and church wide games, 6 youth were in attendance.  The February Souls in Sync did not have any youth in attendance.

The Souls in Sync in March had 4 youth in attendance, with great conversation afterwards.  The March Youth group event included members of the Affirming Committee.  We were able to share with the youth what being an affirming church is like, we talked about consent and healthy relationships and friendships. We also played Church wide games and appreciated the Affirming committee members, Tara J and Alex B, joining us for a fun evening.

In April the youth joined for an online youth group event.  We had a wonderful check-in together, discussed how online school and life is going in isolation.  Then played games together online.  They really liked the scavenger hunt, and sharing why they picked the items they found in their home. We had 7 youth in attendance, with 2 who couldn’t join because they do not have access to the technology needed to participate in a zoom call.  Parents of these 2 youth have also informed me the lack of access to technology has prevented them from attending online school.

Rachel is organizing a pen pal program, providing the opportunity for retired adults to be partnered up with youth and children to write and send letters through the mail with each other.  A Donation has been received to cover the cost of the packages that will be send to everyone which contains 5 envelopes, 5 stamps and paper.

Many Blessings,

Rachel Myers-Jordan

Youth Leader