2011 Youth & Family Ministry Coordinator
Annual Report
It is indeed a great blessing to serve as your Youth & Family Ministry Coordinator. As Youth and Family Ministry Coordinator, I partner with the Youth and Family Committee to seek ways to fulfill the mission statement of that committee which is:
The Mission of Youth and Family Ministry at Resurrection Lutheran Church is… sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ, building relationships, and empowering youth and their families to live their lives in faith.
One of the Youth and Family goals is to support families as they journey through a life of faith together. One way we support our families involves celebrating Milestone events such as Baptism, 1st Communion, 2nd Grade Bibles etc… In 2011, we were very blessed with the construction of over 50 Faith Chests through the hard work of many volunteers. These Faith Chests are given to families having a child baptized and is filled with a variety of resources to begin a faith journey together.
Another way of supporting families is by providing activities that allow youth to grow in their faith. Through these activities it is our hope we provide youth with the opportunity for fun, Christian fellowship and the tools needed to strengthen their faith. It is our prayer for all youth to develop a life-long relationship with God.
Each year as we plan activities we struggle with the challenges of the culture change and the many demands placed on our youth today. We try to figure out how we can encourage the youth to participate in these activities yet know we are adding to an already crowded calendar. We understand that youth today have a lot on their plate, but we also recognize that these are important years to understand who God is in their lives.
We are unique in that our youth come from many different school districts in the area. Participation in the various activities such as bowling, lock-ins etc... allow the youth of RLC to get to know each other better, form relationships where they can feel comfortable exploring questions and concerns they have about current issues and their faith, as well as to just have some fun together. Mission trips allow youth to interact with different cultures and live out their faith by serving others. Junior High, Senior High and National Youth Gatherings provide youth with the opportunity for fun, fellowship, service and worship with other ELCA Christian youth.
The participation for these various youth events in 2011 was not as encouraging as would be desired, but it has given us a new challenge to pray, discuss and prioritize in order to understand how we can best serve the youth and families of Resurrection in 2012.
I thank you for your continued support and prayers as we journey into 2012 and as always, I invite
your partnership, participation and feedback.
Highlights of 2011 Include:
Respectfully submitted by:
Sandy Spiczka
Youth & Family Ministry Coordinator