2021-2022 Youth Group
We invite all interested high school teens in Needham and surrounding towns to join our Youth Group.
We meet monthly on Sunday evenings for conversation, dinner, friendship, fun, prayer, learning, and community service. Our group chooses activities based on our interests. What kinds of things do we do? Make pizzas; take trips to Boston attractions; challenge ourselves with a high ropes course; pack up and mail clothing to tornado victims in Alabama; plan and run a fund-raiser for a different charity every year; play flashlight tag in the dark church; travel to Vermont to help with clean-up efforts following Hurricane Irene. We all work to make the group a “safe” place for talking about topics or issues that are important to us.
Many of our Youth Group members participate in a week-long mission trip, so we can experience serving our neighbors. These trips can change our view of the world and how we see ourselves in relation to others. Mission Trips include project work, shared meals, conversations with members of the community, morning and evening reflections, and socializing and fun. Upon their return home, our youth reflect on the powerful life lessons they learned as they worked with people in a community devastated by natural disasters or systemic poverty. Through their experiences, the teens build friendships, create bonds with people in the community they serve, and deepen their faith.
2021-2022 Youth Group
Pre-pandemic, we were in the practice of incorporating mission trips into our learning. We are working now to get back to that practice in this stage of the pandemic. Past examples include:
- Eastern West Virginia where we partnered with Almost Heaven Habitat for Humanity to re-build homes in disrepair and to begin building new homes for families living in an impoverished area of Appalachia.
- New Orleans, Louisiana where we gutted a house destroyed and left vacant after Hurricane Katrina. House will be rebuilt by volunteers and sold to low-income first time home buyer.
- Irvine, Kentucky where we put insulation and dry wall in a one room home without electricity or running water, began a small addition for a trailer home of a grandmother now raising her grandchildren, put siding on the bottom of a trailer home to avoid further water damage. Learned about Appalachian culture and the poverty experienced in this small mountain village.
- Shoal Creek, Alabama where we repaired two homes destroyed by a major tornado and heard stories of faith and courage from survivors of the tornado.
Registration
We welcome friends from outside our parish to join the Youth Group. If you’d like to learn more or check on our current schedule, you can reach out to Nick, our Rector or contact the Church Office.
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