Youth

Youth of St. Martin's-in-the-Field

Teens!  
Join us for First Thursdays at St. Martin’s at the Heck Hall Underground
Begins Thursday, February 2, 7-8:30pm
J2A & YAC invited. Bring a friend!
For more information, contact Kassy at sodergreen@aol.com

Breakfast Club -
Just wanted to let everyone know that the 6th Grade/Breakfast Club packed backpacks for homeless people as our advent project and that we have a cool curriculum which includes weekly movie clips and contemporary Christian music. We are having a blast!

Rite 13 -
Rite 13 spent the month   working on Compassion and Acts of Mercy. We shopped for and put together 43 'teen bags' for SPAN as an outreach project. This past year, working for our parish family, we stuffed more than 500 eggs for the Easter egg hunt for St. Martin's Sunday school kids. The weather was great and it was a fun time for everyone! Our next focus is the Rite 13 ceremony. Those in our group that are in 7th grade this year will be welcomed into their 'journey to adulthood' and we also continue to help support the J2A program with preparing for the Art Auction. 

Three Main Objectives:

  • Build Community
  • Seek to establish relationships which honor each person's individual gifts and talents as needed for the entire group to flourish.
  • Unfold a basic understanding of God's call to us to live in accordance with God's word as revealed in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ and continues to be revealed by the power of the Holy Spirit.
  • Building understanding of how we as members of the Church, support and nurture one another along the way.

Goals:

  • To celebrate God's gift of manhood and womanhood.
  • To affirm the power of creative energy and to explore the thoughts and disciplines which allow an individual to effect change in the world.
  • To teach by word, example the principals of freedom,  responsibility and friendship.
  • Play and purpose mutually held to make scripture and church relevant to the youth.
  • Building a foundation for J2A by taking and integrated approach to: Self, Spirituality, Society, Sexuality - especially friendships with the opposite sex 

Rite 13 Liturgy-
The liturgy is an opportunity to have liturgical recognition of each youth's entering into the transition to adulthood, that is their 13th birthday.  The liturgy includes public recognition of one's gifts, public affirmation by parents of those gifts, a celebratory dinner with the parents and youth, and a Sunday morning "rite of passage".

J2A -
J2A just made a day trip to Washington DC to visit the National Cathedral and the Holocaust Museum. 

J2A will join the YAC class at Camp Letts for some team building at the high ropes course. We're thankful to YAC for organizing this event.
 
 J2A will be hosting an Art Auction fundraiser with proceeds going to the upcoming Pilgrimage. Please support our young pilgrims by purchasing a ticket and attending the event. It's going to be a fun evening!

Goals:
  • To celebrate the transition from youth to adulthood
  • To train young people in the skills of adulthood
  • To explore the mystery of our faith heritage
  • To establish our experience in the strength of community events

Confirmation:

By the end of two years of J2A, each youth will be prepared to make a decision regarding whether to be confirmed or not, as a public statement of their commitment to Jesus Christ as a milestone in their transition from youth to young adulthood. 

Pilgrimage:
At the end of the two years of J2A, our young people will seek Christ and find him together in a Holy Place.  Holy Pilgrimage is powerful part of our Christian heritage.  Immediately following Jesus' death and resurrection and continuing today, millions of Christians have made pilgrimages to places such as Rome, Jerusalem, Lourdes, the Taize community of France, Iona, and various tribes of American Indians (to name but a few) to touch parts of themselves that is essential to spiritual existence.

Our youth will research, plan, fundraise, and carry out just such a pilgrimage with parental approval of place and funds spent.  The hope is for the youth to raise 1/3 of the cost of the trip, parents 1/3, and the church 1/3.  A parent committee will be the youth resource, but all decisions will be vetted with parents who want their child to participate before the youth make their decisions, supported by their leader.

YAC -

Goals: The YAC group intention is to first, keep our high schoolers in church in order that they may then: 

  • Become responsible partners in the life of their church
  • Give tangibly of their time, talent, and treasure to all of God's people.
  • Be responsible for the maintenance of the group life - setting their own meeting times, electing leaders, setting up a communication network, establishing group norms and goals.
  • Lay a foundation of person spiritual discipline to carry them along their faith journey.
  • To function as assistants, counselors, and advisors to Rite 13 as needed

Expectations: 

  • One hour meetings each Sunday morning with advisors; the curriculum is set by the needs and interests of the group, always seeking God's presence in the midst
  • Attendance at Holy Eucharist
  • Retreat opportunities each year
  • A minimum of 3 "full blown" service opportunities or education projects a year
  • Mentors within the Church family
  • Stewardship pledges
  • A regular clergy presence

Teen homily - Teen homily continues to be a success. Middle school through high school kids meet in the choir room and are required to read the gospel prior to coming in. Then we discuss and often work to clarify what the meaning is and match it with one of the Ten Commandments. This is often a lively discussion and we welcome anyone who would like to come in and contribute.