St. Paul Lutheran Church | Melrose Park, Illinois

Service Times - English: Saturday at 5:30pm & Sunday at 9:00am | Español: domingo en 11:00am

A Letter and a Challenge from Emily

The Youth Group at St. Paul Lutheran Church is for students in 9-12th grades. We meet on Wednesdays from 7:00-8:45pm. We begin with a devotion to strengthen our relationship with Christ and end with open gym to strengthen our relationships with Christian friends. This is our theme verse for 2012:

Hebrews 12:1-3
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart."

On the third Wednesday of each month from October to May we serve at a PADS homeless shelter at Grace Episcopal Church in Oak Park on Lake Street. We set up the beds and serve the guests dinner.

Each summer we have a week-long trip. This summer, June 16-23, 2012 we will be attending Group Workcamp's Week of Hope in Charleston, South Carolina. We will be serving the entire week to the community of Charleston. We don't exactly know what we will be doing there until we arrive, but we are setting aside one week of our summer to serve Christ in whatever way He calls us to in Charleston, South Carolina. We still have one spot open for anyone entering 9th-13th grade. Check out the website (http://www.groupweekofhope.com/) for more information.

We also have fun activities throughout the year outside of regular Youth Group. We go to the beach and movies in the park during the summer, to a corn maze and bonfire in fall, and sledding and ice skating in the winter. We even did a scavenger hunt in Millennium Park last summer! We're always looking for new fun activities to do so feel free to contact Emily Samayoa with any ideas you may have!

We do two major fundraisers each year to help fund our trips and other activities. Our Youth Bake Auction is the first Sunday in December and our Easter family style breakfast on Easter morning. The money raised is split amongst the kids who work the event and placed into their own youth account to be used for youth group activities only.

Reaching Out and Inviting In

Let's make this year the year of Reaching Out and Inviting In. When Christ was here on earth he didn't sit in the temple and wait for people to come to him. He didn't just stay in one place with a sign on the door saying welcome. He walked... everywhere! He went out to the people and seeked out the ones who were hurting. Mark 2:13-17 tells the account of the calling of Levi (Matthew). Jesus was teaching to a large crowd and as he was walking along he saw Levi and asked him to follow him. He did, and Jesus went to his house to eat with him and his "sinner" friends. When the Pharisees questioned him about eating with him, Jesus replied, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."

This year I would like to challenge you to seek out the "sick" those who you aren't sure about their faith. When you see someone falling do you just watch and then tell others how they fell, hurt themselves, and how it's all their fault? NO! You grab them immediately and try to stop their fall. Is this our reaction when we see someone falling away from Christ? If it is, great! Let's try to do it more! If it isn't our first instinct, let's start practicing to get it there.

This year you will have many opportunities to reach out to the "sick" in our community through our church. Here are just a few:

Easter Breakfast: April 8. This is not only a fundraiser for the youth group, but also a chance to invite someone to church for a spectacular celebration of Christ's Resurrection in church with a delicious meal afterwards. The food will served family style this year, so we can have more time talking and growing relationships. We also have an Easter egg hunt for the kids and other fun activities to make this a family event. We are looking for people to help plan and advertise this event.

St. Paul Sports Camp: July 30-August 3 from 9-12pm all children entering grades Kindergarten through 6th. We will be focusing on leadership, good sportmanship, commitment, and focus, teaching the lessons through Bible stories and real life application. We need people to help plan, coach, act in skits, prepare and serve snacks, administer first aid if needed, register attendees, and advertise this event. St. Paul Sports Camp is a way for us to be reaching out to the neighborhood children and their families to show them that we are a safe place that is here to help raise our children in a positive manner.

Neighborfest: This is an old fashioned church picnic with a twist. On August 4, the day after St. Paul Sports Camp, we will have lots of food, music, games, and fun at a regular backyard barbecue! The goal of this event is to go out into the neighborhood and invite all of our neighbors over to start building the relationship between St. Paul with our community through a free backyard barbecue. We need people to be on the planning committee, advertising committee, and to find sponsors and/or donors for food and game prizes. There will be more exact tasks coming at a later date after the planning committee puts it all together.

Mentors for Week of Hope: June 16-23 nine of our high school youth and three adults will be attending Group Workcamps Week of Hope in Charleston, SC. We won't know exactly how we will be serving Charleston until we get there, which is challenging for the high school youth to prepare for. We are focusing on preparing our hearts along with our minds to be ready to serve in whatever way God asks us to that week. These kids will need encouragement during his week from people back home. We are looking for people to write encouraging notes to one or more of these nine youth that they can open throughout the week while we are there. You can write an anonymous letter or you can request to write to one youth specifically. Something that would take you five minutes to do could really give these kids a boost and keep them focused on Christ for the entire week.

Please pray about and plan on pushing your commitment level of serving to the next step this year. If you have any questions or would like to talk about how best to use your gifts this year, please contact Emily Samayoa, Youth Director, via email or phone emily@stpaulmp.org or 773-425-1375.