Youth Ministry

The Youth Ministry program at First Parish Church is a fundamental and vital aspect of our community. This page captures some of the events and personal creative works of the youth. See our upcoming events on the Calendar page, and check out scrapbooks and more below on this page.

Youth Ministry News, March 2007

Continuing along our usual path, Youth Ministry is busy, busy, busy. 

Middle schoolers had a fun-filled night, two weeks ago, when 23 young people and 6 chaperones went to Pizza Hut for dinner, had a sleepover at church with games, especially the midnight game of hide and go seek, complete with screams and giggles and finally exhaustion and sleep. Thank you Mark Pingree and Rose Fouroughi for leading this event.

On February 11, the Middle School Class created original Valentines to be sold during coffee hour for a donation which will be sent to, "Nothing but Nets". This organization provides nets to prevent Malaria from African children. Each net costs $10.00 and in about 20 min. we raised $155.00 for the effort. Thanks to all who purchased a Valentine to help the children. Much appreciation goes to Janet Wetherbee for presenting the idea and the supplies and to Melanie Van Steensburg for enlisting the youth to make the cards. It was a win, win situation: a good cause and fun.
Middle school youth are terrific!!

Senior Highs had a super time at Heifer last weekend and already want to go back. The Wednesday night Senior High Youth Group had to put off their Valentine's party because of the snow storm, but it’s rescheduled for Feb. 21 same time, same place. Darrell Holigan and Shelley Sipe, thanks for planning this event and going through all the trouble to reach all the kids to reschedule. The Senior High mission activities are going well and have interested some youth who had not been attending our extracurricular events until mission entered the picture. Thanks Dave and Paula Holigan, and welcome new kids!

Thursday, Feb. 15, Youth Ministry held a leadership meeting to bring everyone involved together for a delicious Italian meal and to raise awareness of our plans and guidelines to ensure the best for our youth. 15 people attended and we learned a lot. Thanks Bill Burke, Paula Holigan and Pastor Lucy Alexander for the great leadership.

This year's Confirmation class will be going to Staten Island, New York, Project Hospitality, to learn about homelessness and meet those less fortunate by working in the soup kitchens and food pantries for February vacation. This is a special time for the class to answer God's call to serve others. Please pray for our spiritual growth and our safety in travel. Pastor Lucy Alexander and Melanie Van Steensburg will lead this group event.

Palm Sunday is our 4th Annual YOUTH MINISTRY AUCTION. We are hard at work to make it the best yet. Please sign up for those delicious dinners, sailings, water skiing lessons, sunset cruises, honey, jams, cakes, pies, chili and many other exciting and intriguing things. Look for more info other places in our newsletter.

Youth Ministry News, January 2007

The bus is warming up, our backpacks are full and we are ready … New York City, here we come!  The middle school class plus six brave chaperones are leaving Friday afternoon for a fun, informative weekend.  Sites to explore may include Central Park Zoo, St Paul’s Cathedral, Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty.  Sunday morning worship will be at Ground Zero and St Peter’s Church. Our theme for this adventure is Shared Ministries.

Confirmation class learned a lot in their planning and execution of the Christmas Eve pageant telling the story of Jesus’ birth, Luke 2. The baby Jesus was in good voice and the donkey stole the show. Thanks to all for your guidance in making this a successful evening.

Many thanks to Ken Williams for leading a great caroling event. Nine youth attended and a great time was had by all.

Our committee is already planning the Youth Ministry Auction for this April.  We also are having a leadership day on a Saturday in January. All is well in Youth Ministry; we are blessed to have many wonderful young people attending First Parish.

Under Construction ...

Scenes from the renovation of the Youth Room, February - March, 2006