Youth Ministry at Bower Hill

Our vision is that youth experience the joy of knowing a relationship with God, and belonging as a beloved child of God so that they will:

• actively live, love and accept themselves and others into our community.

• be passionate about understanding and exploring their personal faith and how it is enacted in their daily lives.

• discover their unique gifts and embrace the God-given purpose for their lives.

 

To realize this vision, Bower Hill maintains three top priorities for our ministry to children and youth.  These priorities are born out of the unique character and emphasis of our congregation, and the needs of young people who are being instructed in the life of faith.

 

Fellowship

For the Christian life to be “normalized” in the minds of young people, they need to form bonds with people who share the journey of faith.  Most importantly, young people need to have friends their own age at church, but they also need to see faith modeled in the lives of adults they like and respect.

 

Mission - Youth Mission Projects

Mission is the heartbeat of the Christian life.  Young people may struggle with the abstracts and ideals of faith, but when they see it in action, it makes sense.  Mission also broadens a young person’s horizons and instills gratitude.

 

Catechesis – The Instruction of Faith

Young people are regaled with a false narrative about life.  Our culture conditions them to be passive consumers whose thoughts and energies go into making and spending money.  A person’s worth is assessed according to their wealth, status, beauty, and power.  Christianity offers and alternative narrative to what life is about.  The life of Jesus becomes a parable for how our own lives should be lived:  standing always with the broken and downtrodden, choosing service over status, surrendering oneself or loosening one’s grasp on the things that we think will give us power, finding new life (resurrection) on the other side of sacrifice and surrender.