OUR MISSION FYSH ( senior high ) JrHY ( Junior High ) Summer Winter Youth Stock
A Connection to Christ and his Church
A Compass for Christian Life
A Community of acceptance and grace
And a Cornerstone for Faith and Growth
First Lutheran Youth and Families has programs throughout the year in the form of our regular youth groups, bible studies, evening worships, outreach events, service events, retreats, trips, and more. We believe that by modeling Christ's love for us in the form of relationships and honest conversations, we can fulfill our Mission, trusting the Holy Spirit to present in our activities, relationships, and in everything we do.
You can learn more about our youth groups, our mission, and our philosophy on youth and family ministry below.
Our Full-time Director of Youth and Family Ministries is Chris Richards. Get in touch with him through our Staff Page.
FYSH (First Lutheran Youth Senior High)
Wednesdays 8-9pm
FYSH is our Senior High Youth Group for 9-12th graders, young adults, and adult leaders. We meet each week for fun, bible study, singing, games, worship, and much more. FYSH is the central point from which many other parts of our senior high activities grow and expand. This group is open to anyone and everyone. All are welcome.
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JrHY (Junior High Youth)
6-6:50pm Wednesdays in the Youth Room
JrHY is our 7-8th grade youth group. Each week we learn more about our relationship with God, each other, and the World around us. We play awesome games, have bible study, and explore what it means to be Christian. This group is open to all and adults are encouraged to participate as well!
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Click here for our Our Current Schedule
Full
of activity, our summers include regular weekly meetings for senior
high, summer trips for junior and senior high, camp for elementary
youth, and vacation bible school for preK-5th graders.
Summer 2009 included a youth trip to the Rockies with Rainbow Trail Bible Camp, a trip to the Sylvania Wilderness with Camp Amnicon, weekly frisbee golf, camp at Pathways, retreats with Pathways and Luther Crest, Vacation Bible School, adopt-a-highway, and yard work for some congregation members.
Summer 2010 included a Mission Trip to Thunder Bay with YouthWorks, Frolf, Day Camp with Luther Crest, and More.
Our winter activities
include winter retreats for confirmation and elementary age youth and
winter ski and scripture and service retreats for our senior high
students. ( And don't forget Dodgeball Competitive Sledding! )
This year we traveled to Whitefish Montana once again for a Ski and Scripture Retreat in March of 2012. (photos). In the Past we have wrapped gifts for the soup kitchen, traveled to Minneapolis for service, and retreated at Luther Crest Bible Camp twice with Elementary and Confirmation youth. Also we attend Concerts, do some competitive sledding, and rock out at Worship!
Youth Stock is our yearly, grace-based fundraiser for all of our youth and family events, activities, and trips. Instead of selling goods or working for "hours" that can be applied towards events, we reduce the cost of ALL of our events and trip so that everyone can participate. To do this, we sell "shares" in our youth program once a year for three weeks.
Once we've raised our funds, we set the prices of our trips so that youth typically cover around half the cost with fees, our church budget covers around a quarter of the costs, and youth stock covers the other quarter. Although this ratio shifts from event to event, it is our general guideline.
Finally, if the cost of an event is still a financial burden, families can fill out a fee reduction request and youth stock funds can be applied to help meet the family in the middle so that everyone can participate without reservation.
We apply these funds to church members and non-members alike.
Our Core Values –
Our Philosophy of Youth and Family Ministry:
These values motivate us and inspire the way we act out our
- Care and Compassion for our neighbor is at the center of Faith Action
- Morals and Ethics grounded in the Gospel, The Bible is relevant for TODAY.
- Acceptance and Grace as a world view and way of life
- Faith as a journey not a destination
- The struggle of right action, the tension of belief, no easy answers, no quick fixes
- Youth and Families as the Church, participating in the Church
- Supporting Youth by creating a community that values and trains leaders, families and intentionally involves youth in the life of the church.