Youth Ministries at Bethel

CONFIRMATION INSTRUCTION

Our Junior Confirmation Instruction takes place on Wednesday evenings (6:30 to 7:45 PM) during the school year.* The Confirmation class is taught by Pastor Randy Bard, and can be started by those in the fifth grade. The course of study takes two years. The classes cover the Six Chief parts of the Catechism as well as a survey of the Bible. Our goal is to have the young people understand the difference between Law and Gospel, the person and work of Jesus Christ and God's plan of salvation. Students who successfully complete the two years are confirmed in the Spring of the year. The primary sources of instruction are the Bible and Luther's Small Catechism. *During Advent and Lent the students meet most Wednesdays for about half an hour following the midweek service.

YOUTH MINISTRY

The goal of our youth ministry is two-fold.

One is to prepare our young people for life after they leave home. The world is getting to be more and more hostile to Christians and we want to give our youth a strong grounding in their faith. We want them to be able to defend their faith, make God-pleasing moral and ethical decisions in their daily lives as well as being able to witness to their faith.

The second is to involve young people in the life of the church. Youth are not merely the church of the future – they are part of the church right now! We work at identifying appropriate ways for them to take part meaningful part in the ministry of the church, help work through what their interests are as well as putting them in leadership roles when possible.

We highly value the contribution that our young people can make, and want to do all we can to prepare them for their future.

Finally, we also recognize that we are in a partnership with the families of our youth - and make efforts to work with them in what they need to help parent their young person.

Upcoming Youth Gatherings

July 16-19, 2015 will find our youth heading to the District Youth Gathering in San Marcos (at the Embassy Suites Hotel) for Glorybound, the Texas District Youth Gathering. The theme is “Marked” (Isaiah 49:16) and is open to our current 8th graders and older. For more information please contact DCE Randy Moerbe (dcerandy@blcbcs.org).

July 16-20, 2016 is the date for the upcoming National Lutheran Youth Gathering, held in New Orleans. This event (like the District Youth Gathering) is held every three years, and will involve around 25,000 LCMS youth and adults. We’re starting fundraising for this event. This is open to our current 7th graders and older. Again, please contact DCE Randy Moerbe (dcerandy@blcbcs.org) for more information.