A Snapshot into FBCA Youth Ministry

Take a moment to think back to your teenage years. If you remember, it was probably filled with changes galore. From growing responsibilities (hello driver’s license!) to discovering new interests and passions, to friendships that were formed and growing a couple of inches taller. There were moments of laughter, tears, growth, learning boundaries, fun, and everything in between! It’s fair to say that seventh to twelfth grade is an amazing season of life, one that truly holds a vital opportunity to spiritually guide and challenge teenagers.

Our FBCA Youth Ministry is filled with energy, joy, encouragement, and intentional guidance through Scripture. No matter where a youth may be in their faith journey, the goal is to connect our youth to the Lord through worship, Scripture and serving, while connecting with and encouraging one another. Of course, this is supplemental to the spiritual home training a youth may have within their families.

Weekly in the Garage (our Youth Room), we have three different Bible Study and interactive small group discussion times. Our Sunday morning Bible classes utilize an age-graded curriculum, Foundation and Formation, which systematically walks our youth through biblical themes and passages to equip them as they prepare to move into adulthood. These small group studies are gender and grade based, to not only grow deeper in faith but to help foster friendships with peers. Youth Worship meets on Sunday evenings during the school year and on Wednesday nights during the summer. Our Youth Band opens our time in worship through music and it is followed with a teaching time that is interactive and pointed to the needs of youth today. It is followed up with an applicable small group discussion time (led by our upperclassmen leaders and adult guides). LifeGroup is our mid-week Bible Study break during the school year. It’s a refreshing time to pause, during a hectic school week, with Bible Study and hanging out. Beyond our regular weekly Youth activities, youth can retreat from the noise of their daily lives and to reflect on their faith. Our youth will tell you that the Youth Ski Retreat (coming up in mid-February), Youth Camp (June) and Disciple Now weekend (October) are fun times to refocus, rest and reset!

We are blessed with a wonderful volunteer team with adults who have hearts to invest in our teens. In fact, many of our Sunday Morning Bible Study leaders, have served for over decade or longer. Some, even started even prior to having their own youth in the Youth Ministry or they stayed behind, even after their own youth graduated. Most of our Sunday and Wednesday evening leaders are parents who willingly jump right into the action of leading youth! All of our leaders’ form mentoring relationships and cheer on our youth during these vital years. Throughout the year, they may attend a musical, an athletic event, Eagle Scout ceremony or a concert for a youth. They’re sending out group texts, hosting a class fellowship, following up prayer requests, and congratulating a newly minted driver. They’re sharing what the Lord is teaching them and preparing lessons to challenge our youth. Many of those relationships even continue beyond a youth’s season in the Youth Ministry.

Each and every week, the goal is to point our youth to our Savior and to guide them to think more deeply about their faith and to grow more in love with our Lord. They are challenged to actively live out their faith and to be light and love, not only in the Garage, but on their campuses, on their teams, with their friends and family, in their workplaces, and beyond. They are pointed to the fact that they have been uniquely given a calling to shine in a dark world and to find ways to touch their world for Christ. Every week, when our youth leave the doors of The Garage and they journey to their mission fields, among dozens of schools in the DMV, they have the chance to infuse their faith in the worlds around them. They’re purposefully equipped to practice what they’ve learned.

My hope and prayer is that this will change their worlds. I’m seeing incredible glimpses of this already and I truly cannot wait to see how these seeds will continue to grow in the weeks and years to come. Would you, as a church family, join me in praying for our FBCA youth, their spiritual growth, and their impact during such a vital season in their lives and for the fruit that stems in the years to come?

– Shonica David