A Message from Pastor Bryan Bell

Due to COVID-19, sad and difficult decisions were made to cancel many of our summer events at Faith Church.  Some of those cancellations were our decision, others were made by the venues and organizations we are working with. Here is a quick summary of what this summer will look like for Student Ministry.

Promotion Sunday – Unrelated to COVID-19, we are still planning to move all students up the to next grade level the first Sunday in August.  We are hoping (but not certain at this point) that we will be back into our Sunday School class routine by then, and will look forward to welcoming our new 7^th grade students into our junior high class in the MPR, and our new 9^th grade students into our high school class in the Student Ministry room.

Junior High Camp – Our plans had been to go to Galilee Bible Camp on Norris Lake in Tennessee this summer for our Junior High Camp, June 27-July 1.  This is by far the most labor-intensive event we do, but it is also my personal favorite.  We were sad to hear that, like many camps across the country, Galilee Bible Camp will be closed for the summer.  We will not be having a junior high camp experience this summer.

High School Challenge Conference –This EFCA youth conference is perhaps one of the best conferences that we have been able to be a part of.  But it does bring together thousands of teens from across the country, which doesn’t seem wise to do in the current environment.  The conference is officially canceled, with hope for a virtual event sometime in July we might be able to participate in. Full refunds will be made available to everyone who has registered in the next several weeks.

Hoopla! / Hullabaloo See our events below to register!  These weekly events for our junior high and high school groups were intended to be bridge programs this year.  Incoming 7^th graders were invited to participate in Hoopla to build relationships with other junior high students.  And incoming 9^th grade students were invited to participate in Hullabaloo, to build relationships with other high school students. At this point, we are uncertain what this will look like this summer.  We are NOT officially canceling these programs, but also not starting them right away in June as had been the plan.   We will continue to monitor the government’s guidelines, the situation in our community, and prayerfully ask for wisdom in when we could begin these programs.

In all of these decisions, we are seeking to be loving and graceful to our church family and our community.  We realize many people have different views about what should happen and how we should proceed.  We are striving to find the middle ground between the extremes of fear and recklessness.  We ask that in your conversations about these decisions that you give grace to those with different ideas, and “make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.” (Ephesians 4:3)

We are extremely disappointed and saddened that this summer will not be what we had hoped it would be.  But we trust that God is working in ways that we cannot always understand.  While these events have always been spiritually rewarding and extremely fun, we know that these are not the only ways that God can work in us and through us.  We are looking forward to seeing what God does have in store for us this summer.

If you have any questions or concerns you would like to share, please feel free to reach out to either Pam Humphries (513-505-3051) or me (513-295-4974) at any time.

In Christ,

Bryan Bell

Each week we invite teenage students to gather together to worship, study God’s Word, and discuss how it applies to their lives.

The Junior High group (grades 7-8) meets every Sunday in the Multi-Purpose Room at 9:15 a.m. The High School group (grades 9-12) meets at 9:15 a.m. in the Student Ministry Wing, room 40. Each class offers solid Bible teaching from the Teaching Team, under the direction of Pastor Bryan Bell.

At the end of the teaching time, students gather in SMS (Sunday Morning Shepherd) Groups, led by adult volunteers. These SMS leaders guide the groups in a discussion about the lesson, with specific application for the students in the group. Students also spend time in prayer for each other as a group every week.

While our student classes are designed to meet the specific needs and concerns of our teenage students, they are not designed to be a replacement for the church’s main service. Rather, the student classes are a supplement to the main service, and we encourage all of our students to worship in the sanctuary each week with their families.

LifeGroups are small group opportunities for our junior high students in Faith Student Ministry. While large group gatherings are extremely important in the life of a believer, we believe that smaller group settings can better provide more life-on-life contact and engagement. These small group environments provide an ideal setting for meaningful connection with other students, accountability, spiritual growth, relationships, and evangelism.

Our LifeGroups are led by volunteer leaders, supported by the Faith Student Ministry staff. We have two groups, one for guys, one for girls. Both groups will meet on Tuesdays, from 7-9pm at Faith Church. Our guys group meets in the Multi-Purpose Room (MPR) in the Life Center. Our girls group will meet in Room 14 (down the short hallway by the fish tank). LifeGroups for the 2019-2020 school year will kick off on September 10.

The Journey is a weekly gathering for our high school students every Tuesday night throughout the school year. We will meet from 7:00-9:00pm in the Student Ministries Room.  Each week will feature different activities, games and snacks, led by our student leadership team. We will also have a large group intro, followed by focused time in small groups.

This permission / liability release form will allow your student to participate in local Student Ministry events, and be transported by Faith Church staff, volunteers, and charted transportation services. This form is good for the 2019-2020 academic year, and the summer and fall of 2020. It must be renewed at the beginning of each academic year. Please print this form out, sign it, and return it to Bryan or Pam in the Faith Church office. Please note, this form is necessary to be able to transport your student. It also does not take the place of a registration form for specific events. To register for specific events, please see the “Events” tab below.”

“Every scripture is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the person dedicated to God may be capable and equipped for every good work.” – 2 Timothy 3:16-17

Every word in the Bible is given to us from God, to equip us as believers to live the way God desires us to live. And when we live as God desires us to, we will find the joy that comes from obedience, the satisfaction that comes from accomplishing our purpose, and the fulfillment that comes from living in close relationship with our Savior.

If we desire to experience that, we must make it a point to know the Scriptures, to know what it says, what it does not say, and how to apply it. 2 Timothy tells us that the Bible is useful in our lives in four areas. It tells us:

1. What is right (teaching)
2. What is not right (reproof)
3. How to get right (correction) and
4. How to stay right (training in righteousness)

In order to live our lives “right” we need to know the Bible. In an effort to read through the Bible together, Faith Student Ministries is inviting all students to join us in our Bible reading plans. These simple plans will guide you through the Bible, and give you an opportunity to keep track of your progress. Just print it out, tuck it in your Bible, and get into the habit of reading every day.

Faith Student Ministry frequently uses text messages to keep all parents and students up to date on announcements, registration deadlines, and last-minute event changes. These texts are sent through Remind, a popular service you may already be familiar with. We have several groups (or classes, using the Remind terminology), for our Junior High Students, Junior High Parents, High School Students, and High School Parents.

To sign up to receive text messages for these groups, text the appropriate code (including the @ symbol) to 81010.

Junior High Students – @fsm-jh
Junior High Parents – @fsmjhpar
High School Students – @fsm-hs
High School Parents – @fsmhspar

We encourage all parents and students to sign up for their respective groups, so we can do our best to keep everyone on the same page.  Parents do not need to sign up for the student group, as this may push us over our limits for the group.  When we send a text to students, we will almost always send the same text to the parents as well.  

When you sign up, you will be sent a link to download the Remind app, but this is NOT necessary to receive texts from Faith Student Ministry. If you have any questions or problems, you may email students@faithchurch.net for assistance.

CORE Teams are our student leadership teams. We meet once a month for a CORE Team meeting, on the first Sunday of the month. Our high school CORE Teams are divided up into four ministry-specific teams (Praise, Tech, Service, & Hospitality). Our junior high CORE Team is one team that deals with multiple aspects of leadership.

Our CORE Teams provide opportunities for students to learn leadership principles, as well as give them opportunities to practice leadership in the context of the youth group. Our mandatory monthly meetings will contain large group leadership training, followed by time for individual teams to focus on their specific tasks. A pizza lunch will be provided during the meeting, students are asked to bring $3 to cover the cost.