Hi parents,
I hope your summer went well and that things are going smoothly as you get ready for the fall. Below you will find some important information for youth group this fall, so please read through it carefully.
Youth Kick-Off Event
At the beginning of the summer, we shared that the youth kick-off would be on September 13, but that has now changed. Instead, we will be joining other youth groups in a city-wide kickoff event. It is on Friday September 15 from 6:00-9:00pm at Legacy Park. Pick-up and drop-off are at Legacy Park (we are not at First B at all that evening). See the poster here.
Parent Guide
Here is this month’s parent guide. I send these out each month, and it contains all the information you need to know as parents in terms of our lessons, events, announcements, deadlines, etc. We have also made a “year-at-a-glance” calendar, which will give you an overview of the youth ministry year, including the dates of our retreat, year-end trip, and also several all-age events which we’d love your family to attend with us.
Permission Waivers
Each fall our insurance requires us to get new permission waivers signed for each youth. This general waiver allows your youth to participate in our normal programming, such as Sunday School and Wednesday youth. In years past we have mailed those forms out, but this year we are just having them at the church. So please be sure to grab one either from the welcome desk in the fireside room or from the parent resource cart just outside the youth room, and return them ASAP. You can also find it here.
Over and above these annual waivers, we have additional waivers for special out-trips, which for this year will be the retreat in March and the year-end-trip in June. Those addition waivers will be made available at those times.
Baptism
On September 17 we are having a church baptism service, and we currently have 4 youth and 2 children wanting to take part. If your youth would like to be baptized, or learn more about it, please reach out to me.
New this Year
We are excited about the following new things this year:
- We are welcoming 2 new youth leaders to our team: Hailey Thompson and Serena Van Gaalen
- Hailey will be helping us get musical worship going on some Wednesday nights. We are hoping to get youth involved with this as well.
- On the last Wednesday of each month we will not be having a regular lesson, but instead extending the time spent on the event, which will allow us to have bigger monthly events which youth can invite their friends to.
- We are piloting a new senior high study on Sunday nights (details in the parent guide).
- On September 17, and then on first Sunday of each month, we will be having a parent connect time (see attached poster).
- We will be inviting youth to participate with the youth leaders in planning the events, devos, and service projects. Every 3-4 months we will have a planning meeting which youth are welcome to attend, as we plan for that term. We are hopeful that some youth may even wish to participate with the leaders in running some events, etc.
- We’re introducing some new youth contests this year, including an outreach contest and monthly prize draw.
- We continue to build our online parent resource toolbox, which you can check out here: https://firstb.net/youthparenttoolbox/
Feedback
If you have any questions, comments, concerns, or positive things to share, we’d love to hear from you. Also, if there are any ways we can partner with you as parents or support your family, please be in touch!
Praying for you and your family,
-Kyle