The Youth & Family Ministry is focused on SERVING others, looking past our differences to UNIFY our teens, our congregation, and the church as a whole ; REACHING OUT to the lost; and ENCOURAGING everyone with whom we come into contact. Everything we do revolves around these four directives.


Vision: There are five key aspects of the Christian life that we want to impart and instill in our students during their time with the Downtown Youth Group. We want to start this journey early so that when a student graduates and makes the transition from high school to college,  or whatever life holds, they are prepared and equipped to keep and deepen their commitment to Christ and to knowing Him and making Him known.  The five key aspects are:

▪  Pursuing a DEEPER relationship with God: Christianity is about a relationship with God through Jesus Christ as the Spirit moves us closer to Him. We encourage our teens to focus their time and energy on getting to know who God is and understanding how God sees them because of His great love for them. It is not about rules; it is about the relationship.

▪  More SELFLESS: Jesus' life was about others. He died to save others.    He rose to set others free from the chains of death. Everything he did was for other people. We want our teens to understand this and as Jesus said, to find life by losing theirs for the sake of others. We want our teens to BE ON FIRE to reach the lost for the sake of Christ.

▪  Committed to MINISTRY & SERVICE: We want our teens to be active members of the Lord's body. We want them to be trained to see the needs of those around them and to know how to respond and help. We want them to be servant leaders in Jesus' church because that is what He is.

▪  More INTEGRATED into the church body: In an effort to help the transition after graduation, we want to connect teens with as many mature Christian adults as possible, and to encourage teens to interact more with their families, and other members of the congregation so that the “Youth Group” will not be their only experience of “church.”

▪  More FAMILY FOCUSED: Today's world is extremely busy, and it is difficult for families to have time to spend together. But it is imperative that they do. We want to encourage positive interaction between teens and their parents and for families to grow closer in their relationships with each other as they grow closer in their relationship with God.