Encounter Youth Ministry
Our goal is that the body of our church would naturally include and utilize the youth the same way a human body would naturally utilize one of its arms. Sometimes churches can lose sight of the true importance of the teens to the body of the church. The teen limb then goes unnoticed, it gets underutilized, and it atrophies. The end result can be weak spiritual young men and women that never get challenged, and never experience God through the whole community of the church, and consequently some see no need for church and God as they graduate from the youth program. At Cornerstone we want to do this differently, and here is how....
- Sunday morning service with the whole congregation. Our practice with the teens is to include them in our Sunday morning services. This allows for a number of unique opportunities.
- Inclusion means REAL COMMUNITY. Our teens need to be known and loved by our community. If they feel like a valuable part of the community, and they are known and loved (exactly how they are now), we believe they are more likely to seek out that kind of community on their own.
- Asks the HARD QUESTIONS. Every teen needs to graduate from riding the coattails of their parent’s faith. They must ask themselves the hard questions of Faith and be able to trust God with their own decision. At Cornerstone, we want to embrace the time we have with our teens and walk with them through the years of questions and doubts. Teens are complicated and messy–just like every adult. We love the opportunity to love them while they are trying to figure things out.
- The community UTILIZES THE TEENS GOD GIVEN GIFTS. Teens who trust and follow Jesus are as complex and viable to the church body as the rest of us. Their sincere prayers, their worship, and their struggles honor God, and are truly powerful and useful to our whole community. One of the biggest mistakes a Church can make is to disregard a viable and important part of it’s body. Cornerstone is committed to including our teens in any work God has for the body of His church.
- Tuesday night youth group. The chance for our Teens to get together in their own community (like men and women do in our bible studies). Tuesday nights are full of food and games and fun and laughter, but the most potent thing Tuesday nights at Cornerstone will ever do is point the teens to a real-life, real-time, relationship with the great God who created them, adores them, and has a purpose for them.
