The Senior High Youth Group believes in having fun, and hanging out.  And, they also believe in spending time together making a positive difference in our community and reaching out beyond its borders.  Whether it is movie and popcorn night in our Youth room; feeding the homeless on the streets of downtown Seattle, helping to facilitate Earth Day activities, or raising money for “Souper Bowl” Sunday, this group enjoys doing it with each other and doing it with love, grace and compassion.  Throughout the year (which is planned by the youth, their parents, and the youth leader) they find a balance between just kicking back and relaxing and working together to be God’s hands, feet, and heart on this beautiful planet.

A major culminating event this year is the National Youth Event (NYE) in Knoxville Tennessee.  What is NYE?  The National Youth Event, a UCC gathering held every four years, provides an opportunity for ~3,500 youth from across this country to gather together in one place – this time at the University of Tennessee.  The youth will gather for a week of worship, workshops, faith, fun and fellowship, with a mission component as well.   Our church strongly supports the youth in this type of endeavor, and so the fundraising has also become a part of the life of this church for the past several months and will continue through June. 

Please check out the NYE website for more information, with video overview:  http://www.ucc.org/youth/nye.  Theme:  “Living the Life”.

Jr. High Youth Group will meet twice a month.  This was a decision made by the youth after asking them to consider all the commitments in their lives and to realistically think about what would be enjoyable VS  just “one more thing” to do.   The weeks will vary – depending on holidays, school vacation, confirmation commitments and church activities.  We did choose our dates for Oct, Nov. and Dec.  One of those weeks each month will be a movie night and we would meet from 6:30-8:30 to allow time for a movie and perhaps some discussion. The other could take the form of an outing or an activity planned at the church.  I’ve asked the youth to e-mail me with movie ideas.  Any suggestion with a PG13 rating will be run by parents (via e-mail) prior to showing.  I trust that this group of teens will keep it appropriate for a youth group setting J . 

As always, please stay in touch with any questions or concerns.  As this is a confirmation year, it will be a busy time for this group!