Youth group to be held at Trinity Lutheran Church

By Tucker Henderson

Reporter

Trinity Lutheran Church in New York Mills hosted its first Wednesday Night Youth Group last week, which gives local youth between grades 7-12 the opportunity for fellowship and growth in faith this fall.

The youth group, which will be held each Wednesday from October 23 to December 3, provides an after-school option for those who would like something to do on a Wednesday night after school, homework, or practice. The doors open at 5:30 p.m. to accommodate everyone.

“We have confirmation on Wednesday nights for four weeks in the fall and four weeks in the spring,” said youth group leader Matt Schneider. “Traditionally, my generation of parents were used to every Wednesday, so a lot of parents were kind of saying, ‘hey, why isn’t there something every Wednesday, we’d like to see kids here more often,’ so that’s kind of the idea.”

Schneider holds the title of elder at Trinity Lutheran Church and has focused his energy on the church’s education side of things for the past five years in the role. He said that this youth group is an extension of that focus.

“I kind of took that role to heart and if that’s part of my responsibility, I’ll try to do my best to start some stuff,” he said. “My oldest is also a seventh grader, so he’s kind of at that age now where hopefully he’ll be involved and get his friends involved and hopefully we’ll be able to start something here.”

The first week’s youth group had a low turnout, partially due to the NY Mills Eagles volleyball playoffs that same night, but it’s something that won’t discourage Schneider from continuing Trinity’s mission. Whether it’s Schneider’s own two sons that come or over a hundred like the Open Youth Rooms often get, the impact on the individual is what’s important.

“We’re trying to get them to prioritize their faith life,” said Schneider. “They have a lot of other influence from the world that they deal with everyday and sports and school and whatever, and ultimately, in my mind, your love of Jesus and your salvation should be the most important thing. We as a society, don’t try to prioritize that enough.

“Also to just try and make the church building not feel like it’s just a place for a service,” he continued. “We can have fun at church too.”

Each evening has activities for the youth to do and include devotional time as a group. Schneider said that the first devotions the group went through included looking at the influences of the world and the role of Christians and their own influence in the world.

“Trying to open their eyes to what influences are all around us and how we can influence others around us,” he said. “To open their eyes to that, you know social media is enamored with influence and these kids might not ever really realize that they’re being influenced. What should our influence be on others? What are we called as Christians to influence others? That’s our devotion tonight.”

Schneider said that the first set of activities the group will be working on is designing and painting corn hole boards that will ultimately be donated to the church for youth activities. He mentioned that Open Youth Room has corn hole games a lot of times, but they always have to rely on someone else to bring the boards. This way, students will be able to give back to the church in that way and benefit others with their contributions.

“I really enjoy engaging with kids as much as I can,” said Schneider. “I’d really love to see more kids get involved and more kids look forward to coming to church and not feel like it’s an obligation. I look forward to having a fun atmosphere, that’s the goal. I’m just hopeful that we get a few more and we’ll get some more traction.

“It’s one of those things that if you don’t try, you can’t ever start it,” he continued. “We’re starting small and I understand that, we’ll get there.”