Youth Retreats
Revolution Weekend is our biggest annual school-year event. Revolution Weekend takes place over MLK weekend. We bring in a band and a speaker who lead us in inspiring worship. Usually there is a balance of small groups, big games, and lots of time for resting and strengthening our faith and friendships. Our other retreats (one for middle school and one for high school each school year) are times of worship, campfires, and fun out at Lyle Lodge. They give youth opportunities to rest, declutter, be outside, unplug, and unwind. These weekends are low on stress and big on fun, faith, and friendships!
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Youth Mission Trips
Every summer, our Youth Ministries offer several weeklong mission opportunities: one for middle school youth (just completed 6th – 7th grade) which will be local, one for high school (just completed 9th – 12th grade), which is in a different location every year, and an additional opportunity for high school youth to serve with mentally handicapped children at Camp Barnabas in Missouri. These missions are an amazing opportunity for youth to take a week out of summer to experience the joy of God’s service. The experiences include helping with children’s church camps, home repairs and construction, volunteering in food pantries, serving people experiencing homelessness, acts of neighborhood reconciliation, working in community gardens, and building relationships with new communities.
Local Service
Service is an incredibly important way for youth to express their faith, so we do tons of stuff in our church and community. We volunteer for VBS, Summer JAM, and other Children’s Ministries events. We support First Street Methodist Mission by serving at the Mission and participating in collections throughout the year. We also serve in different capacities all year round to give our teenagers the opportunity to be God’s people in the world, including serving dinner at children’s shelters, packing meals for our neighbors in need, and responding to natural disasters through UMCOR.
Special Events
The youth have a lot of special events each year that are just for fun. Sometimes we host these events at the Justin Youth Building (Fall Kickoff, lock-ins, game nights, open gym days). Sometimes we get out for our fun (Main Event, Rangers and Mavericks games, Six Flags, Flight Deck Trampoline Park). Whether we stay in or go out, youth events are always a great time!
Youth Events
Basketball
Our youth participate in a UMC youth basketball league hosted at Genesis UMC. Our teams are both called the Fighting Penguins. The Fighting Penguins aren’t too interested in winning games (which is good since we hardly ever do!). We’re way more interested in making friends with youth from other churches, hosting “Half-Time-Nap-Time” at center court, and seeing which trick shots we can pull off. Basketball season is about six weeks starting in February and games are on Sundays.
Sixth Grade Confirmation
At First United Methodist Church of Fort Worth, all sixth graders are invited to join the Confirmation class. Confirmation is a continuation of the faith journey; and it is the beginning of a lifetime of commitment to the church. It is a special time set aside to learn about who God is, what United Methodist Christians believe, and what it means to be not only a member of a church, but also a disciple of Jesus Christ in our world. Confirmands will transition into Youth Ministries in February.
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