Youth and activities focused on youth are an important part of the life and weekly activities at St John’s. Our grades 7 – 12 youth join for lively discussions in a combined Junior/Senior High Sunday School class each Sunday at 9:00 am in the Fireside Room near the elevator on the lower level of the church. Our youth also are ‘helpers’ each June during our week of Vacation Bible School (VBS).
Our St. John’s Youth lead worship on our annual Youth Sunday:
For many years, a large group of our youth have participated in service activities during the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service weekend in January. In 2015, on Sunday, January 18th, our youth continued the tradition as participants in our ‘Soup & Stitch’ event to make ‘walker bags’ for the residents of Elm Terrace Gardens (home to St. John’s members and other local residents), made soup for the participants, and followed by watching & discussing the film “Freedom Song” about the civil rights movement. Since 2016, our youth have traveled each January to Bethany Children’s Home in Berks County for an afternoon service project on the Sunday of the weekend.
2018 Service Project – January 14, 2018 – Our 2018 MLK Jr. Day of Learning and Service was an opportunity for us to travel to Bethany Children’s Home in Womelsdorf, PA for an afternoon of learning, touring, and serving. While at Bethany, we had the opportunity to connect with some houseparents, tour the grounds, learn more about what life is like for a Bethany youth, and to do a small service project to lend a hand at one of the cottages.
Over the years, our youth have participated in projects in Philadelphia, Chester, and in our own community the weekend of that holiday. One of the highlights was cleaning up a park in 2009 named for Dr. King next to the Chester public library, near where Dr. King attended Crozier Theological Seminary. When we returned to work there the holiday weekend in 2010, we found a beautiful bust-sculpture of Dr. King had been erected in that park – here is our youth work crew by that statue!
One Sunday each year is designated “Youth Sunday” when our youth participate in all aspects of the worship service. Our next Youth Sunday will be in early March, 2018.
Did You Know? The UCC offers scholarships and grants to UCC members? The United Church of Christ Undergraduate Scholarship provides annual scholarship assistance to UCC members entering their sophomore, junior and/or senior year of an accredited 4-year college in the United States. Awards range from $500 – $1,500. Contact: Associate Director for Grants Administration, Local Church Ministries at [email protected] for further information. There are also scholarships to UCC-related colleges – for more information, visit the UCC website: http://www.ucc.org/scholarships/
