2024 November: CYF Director’s Report

October 2024

Past events:

The Youth-led service on the last Sunday in September went fantastic! We are seeking to include not only youth on these 5th Sundays, but our younger children as well It is so comforting to see the congregation interact and encourage children of all ages.

We had a booth at the Annual Harvest Days and we had fun chatting with everyone that stopped by our booth.

We have two Youth Bible studies going on this year, one on Wednesdays and one after church on Sundays. We are aware that it is harder to get teens to stay active in church past confirmation, especially since their schedules get busier in high school. We wanted to offer multiple options this year to see if we can keep them more engaged with our church and their faith. As with all of our plans, the key will be more active engagement from a younger age. We are continually looking to create a more engaging and consistent environment for all of our children early on so that church involvement is just a way of life.

Events in the planning stage:

Sunday School is going well and we have had comments that parents/grandparents appreciate our consistent approach to the flow of Sunday School, despite have different teams of teachers. We have had more active participation from new and returning families.

We have started working on our Christmas program.

Ideas for the future

We are discussing other ways to fundraise to support our team. We are fortunate to have many people offer their Thrivent Action Teams but we also wish to fundraise. We already host a few dinners throughout the year (Annual Meeting Meal, Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper, etc.) but we are looking into ways to fundraise that would bring in people from the greater Gillett area as well.