Youth Ministries
Friendship United Methodist Church

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You can reach Amy Sides at our church office at 630 972-1011.

More information about the Youth programs can also be found in the Youth Pages of this website, which are maintained by youth and adult volunteers.

To nurture youth by establishing an environment where they can develop a relationship with Christ through worship, service, fellowship, Bible study, and reflection.

God has truly blessed the youth ministry program during the 2000 - 2001 year. The driving force of our youth ministry is to make alive the verse, "Do not let anyone look down on you because you are young, instead set an example for the believers in speech, conduct, faith, and love." 1 Timothy 4:12. Throughout the year, we have strived to maintain a balanced program of fellowship/outreach, faith nurture/discipleship, and service/missions. As you will see below, it has been such a blessing to watch the youth grow in their relationship with each other, and more importantly with the Lord.

Fellowship/Outreach
Gathering together in Christian fellowship seems to be what Friendship youth enjoy doing most! This year, we have had an emphasis on reaching out and bringing our friends into our community of faith. Through events such as a youth dance, annual ski trip to Cascade Mountain, a scavenger hunt and barbecue at Camp Kata Kani, a Car Hop, monthly coffee houses, and many other events, our youth have worked to truly unite in Christian friendships.

The Lord has been working through the ministry at Friendship Church to transforms the lives of our young youth and make them Disciples of Him. Encouraging the youth to take steps deeper in their faith is our foremost goal and purpose in ministry. Below is a listing of the faith nurturing events that occurred during the year:

• Sunday Night Youth Group-
  On Sunday Nights, both the Jr. and Sr. High youth have an opportunity to come together and grow in their Christian faith. At each meeting, our youth have an opportunity to have games, praise and worship, topic lessons, learning activities, and discussion opportunities. For Sr. High, we also have small group opportunity to help move them into deeper accountability, deeper relationships, and a strengthening of faith.
• Bible Study-
  A weekly Tuesday night Bible Study is available for all youth. This year, we have studied the gospel of John, 1 Corinthians, and are currently in the process of exploring the major World Religions and comparing and contrasting them to Christianity.
• PrimeTime Retreats-
  Through our Tentmaker network, PrimeTime (The Illinois Tentmaker trained Youth Director network cluster) held a spiritual for the Jr. High (February) and the Sr. High (March) in Bartlett, IL. At the weekend retreat, the youth learned about how the Lord's love for us and His presence is with us 24/7/365 and in turn we need to live for Him 24/7/365. We had 28 total youth who participated in these retreats
• Prayer Services-
  Throughout the year, we had four dynamically spirit filled prayer gatherings. At our service, we had a time of quiet reflection, individual prayer, and group prayer. The focus of these prayer services were to pray for the youth and their daily lives and also for the youth ministry program to ensure our vision and ministry were rooted in the foundation of Christ.

The youth were busy this year putting their faith into action as they reached out in the name of Jesus to help people in need. During the holiday season, we put together care packages for individuals at the Plaza Hotel in Joliet and we also worked together to provide a Thanksgiving Dinner for a special family. The youth also participated in five congregational service projects. The highlight of the year was our mission trip to Ft. Washakie, Wyoming. We had 11 individuals go and participate in one week of providing home restoration to the Native American community and one week of touring God's beautiful creation in the West.

Currently, the youth program has a youth board of seven members who oversee the progress of the program and set standards and policies. We also have three adult volunteers who serve on the Jr. High youth ministry team and five adult volunteers who serve on the Sr. High youth ministry team. These adults do hands on ministry to build mentoring relationships with the youth, and work together to plan and implement new programs and events. Additionally, we have 11 youth who participate on a youth council.. Members of this council are responsible for being peer leaders and taking key responsibility roles during youth events. This year we have paid special attention to developing our leaders and putting them in roles to use their gifts and talents. Below are some opportunities those in leadership have had:

• Leadership Retreat-
  At the beginning of the year, the youth board, ministry teams, and youth council representatives gathered together for a special leadership retreat at East Bay Camp in Bloomington, IL. There, we did team building, program visioning, and goal setting.
• Drama Troupe-
  The drama troupe was very busy this year putting together special ministry programs for the congregation. We had several "Saturday Nite Fevers" where the youth united to use their creative gifts and talents to share their faith with the community. The youth maintained a vision to impact our community through acts of servanthood and love.

Looking Forward to 2002

The goal of the youth program for 2002 is to continue to unite in God's love and reach out and share it with others by setting an example in speech, conduct, faith, and love (I Tim. 4:12). We hope to continue our ministry with excellence and devotion to God. We also hope to move our youth even further in their relationship with Christ through the relationships, programs, and opportunities that the youth ministry program provides.

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