“The Lord is with you when you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you.” — 2 Chronicles 15:2
Our goal as Sunday School teachers is to instill in our young people a strong relationship with God as they venture out into the world, and to assure them thatno matter how alone or conflicted in their thoughts they may be, they can always feel welcome and at home at an Episcopal church.
St. Paul’s senior high program represents the third leg of the Episcopal three-legged stool: Faith, Scripture and Reason. Our youth begin reasoning through their faith and using Scripture to define their spiritual selves.
We are trying to find ways to make their faith and religious practice relevant to what is happening around them, trying to get them to see their faith in action in their lives, how it shapes their decisions, and how it helps them navigate the world.
To do this, we often focus on current events, and use a variety of resources including the “My Faith, My Life” book and website, newspapers, videos, Episcopal blogs such as Episcopal Café and e-mos such as “The Almost Daily E-Mo from the Geranium Farm” (from the Rev. Barbara Crafton). We also make use of several coffee shops in the area to conduct more informal conversations — Coffee Talks — and to invite experts to speak on a certain subject.
We try to create a safe and directed environment in which they feel they can speak freely.
Youth Group
The mission of our Youth Group is to plan opportunities for fellowship with each other. We try to do this once a month, to meet our youths’ disparate and demanding schedules.
We often begin the year with a swim-and-plan party, followed closely by the first church lock-in of the year. During the lock-in, it has become a tradition for our latest senior classes to create Christian-themed artwork to decorate our youth room. These events help our young people bond and get to know one another on a more personal level than Sunday School affords.
We have traditionally held a bowling day, and a snow day (tubing, cross-country, etc.) during the winter months, and have invited youths from other parishes or churches. We also have movie days in which we choose a film with a spiritual message, and then have pizza and discussion.
We try to incorporate service projects, where applicable. This can be planning and participation in a mission trip.
Over the past several years, we have been planning for mission trips that occur on a rotating basis. For instance, we try to plan for a local mission trip, a regional mission trip and one farther away. Our youths have worked at Mission on the Bay in Mississippi; in Page, AZ and at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary. They have also attended the Episcopal Convention and participated in service projects. In this way, we offer a good mix of service projects without stretching the budget every year.
The Youth Group traditionally holds several fund-raisers within the parish: the Youth Group Breakfast fund-raiser and Youth Group Holiday Greens sales. These projects have given us some funds to help defray youth group costs for members who would otherwise be unable to afford to participate.
