Our goal for our students is to prepare them to live their entire life as a disciple of Jesus Christ. We seek to encourage students to build beneficial relationships with others, to understand the truth about God and life found in the Bible, to actively serve others, to develop leadership, and to prepare them to explain and defend their faith both to friends and professors. We also focus on developing servant leadership skills in our youth.

                               

Middle School

Middle school students need encouragement and coaching. Every Sunday morning at 11:00am the students meet at the church to learn God’s word and how to apply it to their lives.

                               

Senior High

At GraceLife the high school ministry is focused on discipling and developing servant leaders. To accomplish this, youth are challenged to have fun growing together in their faith and obedience to Christ, to critically engage truth claims in order to prepare them for college and life, and to seize opportunities to serve the church and their community.

 

Growing together:

Great relationships take time and effort to grow. We encourage the youth to actively pursue their relationship with Jesus. As they learn to know Him and begin to obey Him, they will learn to value and invest in each other. They will also learn to value and actively care for those around them. To help in this development we offer the following activities:

 

Sunday Morning:

We meet together at the church (at 11:00 am) to talk about the week, learn and discuss the truth, pray for each other, plan the next events, and serve in the church wherever asked.

 

Monthly Events:

Each month we try to have a fun event such as a Christian concert, movie night, photo scavenger hunt, game night, bowling night, etc.

Each month we also make it a point to find a way to serve either the church or our community. Whether it involves helping at the mission, cleaning someone’s yard, or a special project – leading through service is important to us. 

 

Other Activities:

Throughout the year opportunities are offered to go on mission trips, retreats and participate in events to enjoy one another’s company and fellowship. Check with the Associate Pastor for Youth to learn about upcoming events.

 

Engaging Truth Claims:

High schoolers are assaulted by differing set of values every day. They must confront contradicting views on a daily basis at school, in the media and from their friends. It won’t be too long before they are faced with real opposition in the form of friends who totally disagree with them and belligerent professors. When that happens they need to know that there are answers. Students need to know what the Bible says and where to look for other well-reasoned answers. These questions are often answered directly by Christian apologists such as William Lane Craig, Norman Geisler, and others. Why is this important? Youth are thinking about things most parents never have had to. Below are some of the real questions asked by students in our group over the last two years:

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• What is the Q document?

• Why did God wait so long to send Jesus?

• How do I know if the text of the Bible is the same as when it was written?

• Is evolution possible if you believe the Bible?

• How can an all-powerful, all-good God allow suffering?

• How do you know if the Jewish God isn’t just patterned after the Egyptian gods?

• Does quantum theory prove something can come from nothing?

• Does God tell the Jews to commit genocide in the Old Testament?

 

Needless to say, youth are asking real questions that need real answers. Part of our focus is helping them find the truth so they can grow in Christ and focus on serving others.

               

Serving the church and the community:

At GraceLife we value servant leadership. We believe that high school students are essential to community life and ought to be given leadership training. They are the leaders of tomorrow. They need to own the ministry Christ called them to. Willing teens are coached by experienced leaders through various leadership opportunities. These opportunities may include event planning and execution, ministry development and organization, directing a community outreach event, or serving in the church in a specific capacity. In order to facilitate this growth the church provides multiple opportunities to the youth to lead and takes an active role in helping them become skilled leaders. This leadership training will help them grow in their personal lives as well.