Sardis Youth

Parents! Join us on Sunday, September 29th 6-7:30pm for dinner and a conversation with Christy Barrett (LCSWA) about our youth and their mental health.

Christy will share information about some mental health experiences that teens are facing today and resources that are available available to help families navigate those experiences. There will be time for questions and conversation with other parents. This program will run concurrently with Youth Group.

Please register by September 26th using the link in the comments.

Getting to know each other and chatting about what kind of community we’d like to be! Join us next week as we pack blessing bags for folks experiencing homelessness and explore how God is calling us to love our neighbors!

We! Are! So! Back! Thanks to Lillian, Jacob, and William from YLT (Youth Leadership Team) for planning an awesome night of trivia. Same time next week for more fun!🪩🤩‼️

Youth Group is BACK this Sunday!🤩🤩 Potluck dinner, YLT led trivia, parent meeting with trip sign-ups and more. Details in the youth newsletter. See you there!

Students, teachers, and education staff - we love you and we are praying for you!

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Loving God, we give you thanks for schools and classrooms and for the teachers and students who fill them each day. We thank you for this new beginning, for a chance to share God’s love with new friends. We thank you for sharpened pencils, pointy crayons, and crisp blank pages waiting to be filled. We thank you for the gift of making mistakes and trying again.

We give you thanks for these students and teachers, and we ask you to bless them with curiosity and wonder in a time that can be filled with joy, excitement, and often a little bit of uncertainty. May these stickers be a reminder to them that they have everything they need to learn and grow this year in school and in Sunday School.

Bless their backpacks and water bottles, chromebooks and computers, classrooms and playgrounds. Keep our schools safe, O God. Bless these students, families, teachers, and leaders. Help them to remember that they are beloved children of God, created in your image to “Act justly,” “Love mercy,” “Walk humbly” at home, at school, around town, and in the world. Amen.

A morning of blessings! Grateful for all of the youth who join us for worship this morning - especially those who shared impact statements about summer trips. If you missed the chance to pick up a back-to-school blessing sticker this morning, we will have them available at our Youth Kickoff on September 8th!

That’s a wrap on Montreat 2024! Grateful for this week together to explore faith, grow in relationships with each other, and plant peace in such a thin place. 🌱 ☮️ ⛰️

Thursday’s theme has been “Persistence.” There will be times in life when you have to discern if it’s time to Prune, Persist, or Pause. We were also reminded that the hard work of Planting Peace takes REST and that if Jesus could make time for rest, surely we can too.

Happy Wednesday! Today’s theme was “Pruning.” We talked about the need to prune things that no longer serve you in order for new peace, love, and joy to be able to grow. Free afternoon brought us rest and time to explore new parts of Montreat together!

Tuesday! We continued to explore our theme of “Planting Peace,” thinking about how we can TRUST God to be our gardener, providing soil, sunshine, water, nutrients, and care.

When we think “Perhaps this isn’t a good time to plant a seed” God says “Plant anyway.”

PLUS two bear sightings!

Montreat Monday! Today we got to know new friends in small group, play games together, and explore what peace really is.

“None of us are whole until ALL of us are whole.”

Hi from Montreat! We are excited to be here and ready to contemplate what it means to plant peace in the world. 7 first-time youth conference attendees!

That’s a wrap on VBS! What a wonderful week of Camp Firelight. Anybody seen counselor Joe B??? I think we’re seeing multiples!

VBS Camp Firelight continues! Grateful for these youth who are helping with art, recreation, snack delivery, music, mission and worship prep, photography and more!

Thanks to these awesome youth (and a few more not pictured) who are volunteering with Camp Firelight VBS this week!

Lots of leadership from our crew today! Middlers sharing their drama during worship, high school choir singing an anthem, lunchtime string quintet, lakeside instrumental concert, and high school chamber concert this evening.

Loving our time in Montreat! Worship, small groups, fantastic music classes, and time to be together as a back home group.

We made it! Settling in for night 1 of Worship and Music.

Worship and Music Conference bound! Please pray for our group of 13 youth, 6 children, and 11 adults as we travel to spend the week together in Montreat!

Closing worship and prayer stations for our last night at CROSS. Grateful to God for all of the learning, laughing, loving, and serving that we experienced this week!

Our last day of service with CROSS! This morning we worked at Kinship Plot, a non-profit in east Charlotte working to create a “food forest” for the local neighborhood. This was hard work in the hot sun and our team rocked it! We worked on removing sod from the labyrinth and replacing it with nutrient rich soil for new plants to grow in. We also mulched, weeded, and watered five plant guilds and harvested fresh onions!

This afternoon we went to Moore Place, one of Roof Above’s permanent supportive housing sites. We stretched our empathy muscles as we learned more about what the experience of homelessness might be like during an educational program, then we played bingo with some of the residents!

Bowling and ice cream for our CROSS free night!

CROSS day 4! This morning we served at Crisis Assistance Ministry, stocking the free store with clothes, home goods, and toiletry products. Mecklenburg County residents who are experiencing financial crisis can “shop” from the store free of charge for basic necessities.

This afternoon we were led on an Urban Walk through uptown. We learned about things like hostile architecture, gentrification, and other ways that folks may or may not feel welcome in our city, depending on their different life experiences.

CROSS day 3! This morning we went to Samaritan’s Feet and packed over 375 pairs of shoes that will be sent to people in the Republic of Congo who don’t have access to adequate footwear. This afternoon we served at Baby Bundles, packing over 1200 items into 30 bundles for parents of new babies!

CROSS day 2! This morning we served at Hope Haven, a residential facility for folks recovering from substance use disorder. We prepped boxed lunches, cleaned the dining room, and made and served hot lunch to their families, staff, and residents!

This afternoon we are spending some time at the Charlotte Prayer Room experiencing many different ways to encounter, thank, and praise God.

We made it to CROSS! Orientation, meeting our intern, and time in the game room. Excited for the upcoming week of Local Mission!

So special to celebrate our high school graduates in worship this morning. We love you Hayley and Fana! App State is so lucky to have you both!

She is strong, witty, and dependable. She shares her faith through the way that she loves people. She is a leader in our youth group and one of the best role models we could imagine. Tonight we celebrated and blessed our beloved senior, Fana Vanderwel, recipient of the 2024 Del Barnhill Memorial Scholarship! We love you Fana!

Grateful for these Sardis Youth who spent their Valentine’s Day serving and sharing dinner with our neighbors at Room in the Inn this afternoon!

Worship at First Scots Presbyterian this morning for their Youth Sunday. Thank you for leading us to look for God’s light in ourselves and others!

We are headed home! Thank you for a wonderful weekend!