Youth Advisory Committee

This has been a year of transitions for the youth and the youth leadership of our church.  In June, we bade farewell to Director of Youth Ministry Chris Mereschuk as he graduated from seminary and accepted a call to ordained ministry at First Church in Glastonbury. We are so fortunate that within the body of our church staff was a marvelous successor to Chris’ leadership, in the person of Rev. Erica Thompson. Erica, with her husband Brian, led a very active youth group at their previous church in Weymouth, MA.

We are also fortunate that we were able to find a great assistant for youth programming in the person of Christina Harton. Christina and her husband Brian are taking the lead in the Sunday morning programming for our 7/8th grade students as well as co-leading the High School Fellowship program on Sunday evenings with Erica and Brian Thompson.  Christina is also helping with the Confirmation class for our 8th grade students.

One of the first tasks Erica took on in her Youth Ministry role was to redecorate the Youth Room and the Youth Classroom.  Both rooms are very comfortable places for our young people to congregate and they no longer are furnished with castoffs and hand-me-downs.  It is a very tangible way to let our young people know how much we value them.

There are several activities in the youth arena that deserve highlighting:

•             High school fellowship now meets every Sunday evening, with a program  of activities that run the gamut from community outreach to lively conversations to fun and games.

•             Youth activity schedules are easier to find as they are included with a link in the Thursday e-mails, Hill Church News and are posted on the AHCC website.

•             Young people are more actively involved in worship, through participating as monthly liturgists and having             our Confirmands serve as ushers.

•             Over twenty high school students went to Florida to help rebuild homes as part of the spring break mission trip in April of 2007.  Plans are underway to go to Mississippi and assist people affected by Hurricane Katrina.

•             Youths prepared a meal for one of the Lenten Suppers and Andrew Stevenson offered an inspiring look at his faith journey.

•             Thirty six 8th graders joined our church through the Confirmation process in May 2007 and 30 are currently preparing to join in May 2008.

We are richly blessed to have an active and engaged Youth Ministry.  Our teens are open to learning about living a Christian life and they are being guided by a wonderful group of caring adults.

Respectfully submitted,

Molly Reynolds and Denise Trammel

Co-Chairs, Youth Advisory Committee