The Baptist Church of Beaufort Visioning for our Youth

Mission Statement for Youth:

Because God so loved the world, The Baptist Church of Beaufort demonstrates its heart for all youth by helping them:

• Experience God
• Love Each Other
• Serve the Community
• Touch the World

Vision for the Youth Ministry:

Experiencing God:

Our youth should learn from meaningful and timely Bible study which guides them in their personal growth and in ministry as students and future church leaders. They yearn to have a relationship with Christ and be Disciples of Christ and their study must prepare them.

Youth members desire a meaningful role in the church body and want to be included in active ministry within the church. They want to take part in the corporate worship programs but want to be free to worship in their own way as well during youth time.

Love Each Other:

Youth have a sense of belonging to an international community and embrace diversity. Therefore, they must learn tolerance without loosing their own firm sense of who they are as Christians. They need to understand and love themselves as Christians so they can see others through Christ’s eyes.

Our current group has become one of very diverse individuals who have a love of God in common. They are very connected and caring with each other. This attitude has made youth (many unchurched) want to be a part of this group. This committee would like this to continue and feel it should become one of the main focuses of the youth minister and leaders.

Serve the Community:

Young people are drawn in so many directions that they must have meaningful experiences for service activities to become a priority. Youth members desire hands on service opportunities with groups they can feel emotionally attached to. They also desire active roles within the church body. They desire leadership opportunities within the youth group. Both parents and youth felt strongly that there should be a program for leadership training in which the older members lead many of the programs. We will have to work harder than ever to instill the importance of a personal relationship with Christ in our children and youth as they are exposed more and more to “the world”. We must all see ourselves first as members of the family of God and then members of a global community.

Touch the World:

As the world becomes smaller and smaller and the ability to feel that we can all “touch the world” is more meaningful, our youth must be prepared to “go to the ends of the Earth”. We must prepare our youth to have both confidence and discernment as they do indeed go out into the world. We must prepare them to meet people of other cultures and faith and to share the gospel with them as loving examples of the Christian faith.

What must we do to make this vision a reality?

• Hire a full time youth minister who meets our church’s requirements but more importantly can build meaningful relationships with the youth group members.
• Develop a system for spiritual formation and discipleship through age appropriate Bible study and special programs. These should be based on “real world” issues to feel timely and important to youth.
• Create a system of leadership training which includes leadership roles for students within the program using successful models for involving people entering from our children’s program and from outside the church. A person’s role in this program should depend on spiritual maturity rather than age.
• Develop active, visible roles in the church to be filled by youth. IE: Youth choir, ushers, assist with children’s ministry, etc. Allow youth members to participate in planning and executing church sponsored events such as the 4th of July event or the Fall Fair.
• Create an exciting and safe place for our youth to worship and have fellowship. They must have a welcoming place to invite friends outside of the church family. We will work to keep our youth safe by living by the church’s child protection policies.
• The Youth must have mission opportunities that allow them to express their love for the Lord and fulfill their desire to make a difference.
• Create tools such as T shirts and CDs and use technology such as You Tube to open communication with other young people as they share their faith with them.
• Active and enthusiastic adults must be recruited to help lead our youth program. Candidates for youth leadership should be interviewed to assure that they are spiritually mature and their beliefs represent those of our church. These adults need training which will allow them to be effective assistants to the youth minister and youth leadership. Such topics as grief counseling, our church’s child protection policy, understanding the current youth culture and even first aid should be included.

This vision is not just that of this committee but of the current youth group members, parents, and other adults who are involved with youth outside our own church.