Youth Ministry Spotlight - All Saints Church

What do you find as the most rewarding part of Youth ministry?

To see changed lives in students. That is, to see them living out their faith in their homes, schools, work, and among their friends. It's not about how many times they come to a program I offer, or whether or not they are volunteering, it's about where their heart is and how they are seeking to challenge themselves, and allowing the Lord to challenge them.

Describe what your youth "bring to the table" for your church. In other words, why is youth ministry important to your church community?

All Saints Church has a history of valuing Youth Ministry. Youth Ministry is one of the top priorities to our church family, our vestry and our staff. Our students are not viewed as the "church of tomorrow"—rather today—and how can we minister to them more effectively than we already are. The value is not only time, it's in resources as well. Students are a part of a number of things here at All Saints. If you ask for a "youth Sunday", you'll almost always see youth up front every Sunday. Whether it's through our worship team, an acolyte, or possibly through testimonies (living epistles), students are a huge part of our church family and if it feels as though the church family does not see our students, they will let me know! Our church family LOVES teenagers, and it's quite clear from the top down.

Do you have an example of a youth who may have gained a relationship with Christ through being in a youth ministry community?

This past spring we had our final high school mid-week night. We had mostly all of our kids there, about 22 or so. We had some awesome worship, great prayer time, and a couple of kids gave testimonies... it was AWESOME. But, it got me thinking. All Saints has had waves of ministries for students over the years. We've had hundreds of students on our campus for our final mid-week night, a "year-end bash" if you will. I began to compare the two. Bishop Glenn said to me, "Sayward, I can take my kids to Disney Land, but I can't buy what they just experienced." So, I can't really point out one specific kid, but I can say that our kids are receiving an authentic ministry, full of accountability and under the authority of our living God.

Describe for us the desire you both have for the youth in your community? What is your hope for their futures?

The goal of All Saints Student Ministries is to be in a constant mode of preparing our students to one day be in the mission field—their college or university of choice. Therefore our desire for students is to, before they go to the bathroom, find some people to do ministry with. Our number one focus, for our high school kids, is Bible study. In middle school, we introduce the small group (same gender) setting, where they are doing life together, with in the Word of God. Once in high school, Bible studies become the main focus, and every thing revolves around them. We know that most college students may not find some super-duper dynamic college ministry, but they can gather a group of friends, open up the Bible, and talk about life in college together, pray for each other, and challenge each other. My prayer is the tools we are providing them with now, they would use once on their own in college.