Last week in the newsletter I reflected on WAY and realized that what we are doing is “church” - be it for youth. In our culture we observe “youth” to be their own demographic of people. It is a transitional phase that neither we comfortably call children, yet we do not recognize them as adults. The fact that we think of “youth ministry” in its own category is a recognition of the helpfulness of this distinction.  And so, we must think through how we might best disciple youth in this transition between childhood and adulthood.

Naming WAY ‘youth church’ acknowledges that for a time church for youth may look different but do essentially the same things.  Youth will gather because they are mad about Jesus.  They gather to serve God and each other.  They gather to hear from God’s word and to pray together. They gather, and in doing so, say to their friends Jesus is not only real, but all of life is about him.

But youth church is different.  It is largely led by youth, with leaders to help and teach.  It is much more active than Sunday gatherings.  There are games and activities along with everything else.  There is more interaction, but most importantly it is the context in which our youth learn to do church together.

As our youth grow older and leave, they come to our Sunday gatherings understanding church is not a passive exercise.  It does require their participation in coming before God’s word, praying with and caring for their brothers and sisters.  Our hope is that we are raising a generation of followers of Jesus that take God’s call seriously and be trained in serving God and each other.

So, Youth Church on Fridays is just part of the picture.  Of course we don’t want our youth disconnected from Sundays.  Sunday gatherings are not their primary church, but they also realize the Friday nights are just for a time. But an amazing time working out what it is to do church (and life) together.