Teens that GO

Written by: Adam Borsay, Youth Director

There are many things that Gateway Church does well. There are many ministry goals and priorities that we are right to be proud of, and the majority of those goals and priorities are experienced every weekend at our Sunday services and throughout the week as our people gather together in one another's homes for Life Groups and other connections. However, arguably the most important thing we do as a church is something that isn’t always as visible.

What is this important thing, you might ask? It is that we are a church that GOES, taking the gospel to the ends of the Earth. If you have spent any amount of time within the Gateway Church family, you have probably heard our four values are that we “Worship, Connect, Serve, and, Go!” regardless of how long one has been a Christian or skills and gifts they have. Every week Pastor Josh reminds us that we are SENT–sent to go with the Gospel. This call to go is not just for adults, but believers of all ages. 

For the youth ministry at Gateway Church, we prioritize this value in a few specific ways. For the past few years we have either taken a youth mission trip or participated in a family focused mission trip each year. We also communicate to our students many of our regular mission trips are open to them, younger students, and their parents. This past summer we took a team of over 20 students and youth volunteers to the Dominican Republic in partnership with our long time ministry partners at Mission Possible to share Jesus with the students there. And this coming summer we are working towards taking a small group of upperclassmen to our partner church in Beirut, Lebanon. In addition to taking trips, we empower and equip our students to be lights within their local schools who share Jesus with their friends, invite them to participate in the life of the church, and encourage them to learn more about what it means to follow Jesus.There are so many local and international things we are engaging in that it can be hard to keep track of it all!

In addition to our tangible going opportunities and commitments, we are currently in the middle of a teaching series about our Go value that will culminate in an outreach event to a few local nursing homes in December. Each week our students are hearing from different Go department staff as they share about why we go and how students can be engaged with that mission as teens. Each week our students are bringing in donations to provide gifts for the residents of the local nursing homes that we plan to take with us as we share the love and hope of Jesus with residents there. 

When the students and their leaders visit the nursing homes, they will participate in a time of Christmas caroling with residents. Afterwards, groups of students will go through the facility to meet residents to give them a gift from the youth group and spend time praying with them and sharing the love of Jesus in a practical way. If you would like to help us by making a donation to assist in preparing our goal of 100 gift bags, you can drop off any of the following items at the church office by November 27: Travel size lotion, Chapstick/lip balm, Grippy and/or fuzzy socks, Crossword/puzzle books, Adult coloring books, Colored pencils.