2023 was another great year for youth ministries at Hillcrest Church. God has been moving powerfully, and it’s evident. We saw 8 students take the next step in their faith to be baptized, we had many students hear from God for the very first time, and we’re in a season where we’ve never seen our students so open to inviting their friends out to youth. It’s an exciting thing to get to be a part of!
Tuesday nights are youth nights. We meet to spend time together playing games, eating the amazing snacks that Karen makes for us, worshiping God together, hearing a message and then hanging out in small groups. These nights have continued to be full of fun and growth. I praise God for the youth leaders that He’s brought to this ministry. Each one of them is able to connect with a different group of teens, and their consistency and care have made a world of difference. One Tuesday night per month we do SOAP study nights (focusing on a section of scripture: Scripture, Observation, Application and Prayer) and open mic times. SOAP study nights have been a gift to our busy teens who often feel that they don’t have time to read their Bibles or to connect with God. On these nights, we focus on giving them many creative opportunities to spend time with God or to share what God has been up to in their lives. Tuesdays are encouraging and life-giving nights.
Friday nights continue to be a great time of connection with our teens. Hillcrest Youth is partnered with YXH, our local network of youth pastors here in Medicine Hat. As a YXH team, we put on a monthly city-wide youth event for teens in our city that is hosted at a different location each month. Hillcrest hosted our first YXH night in February of 2023 and saw over 200 local teens attend. It continues to be a blessing to be a part of the YXH team as we get a chance to connect Christian teens from all over the city. Outside of YXH nights, we host one Friday night event per month at Hillcrest for our teens. These nights range from simple karaoke/open gym nights to full church-wide themed nights. We have a lot of fun.
Our youth group has continued to attend two youth retreats per year out at Whispering Pines Camp. These weekends away have been increasing in attendance each time we go out, and we see so much life change. They may be exhausting, but we have never regretted them. It is amazing to see how God takes this simple time away and speaks so clearly to our teens.
We also attended the first-ever, locally hosted, YXH conference over May long weekend. It was another great opportunity to take time away with our teens to focus on the Lord and to see them responding and praying for each other.
In 2023, Levi and I started up a youth ministry podcast for teenagers. This has given us the opportunity to interview former students, current students, local youth pastors, and some of the celebrities who came to the YXH conference. We love giving the microphone to local people who have wisdom to pass on to our teens. It’s great to give them a chance to hear from so many voices. It’s also been a great way for us to connect with our students during the week. They are so busy, but many of them do have time to put in their earbuds and listen to this content on the bus or when they need a little weekly encouragement.
At the end of May, we graduated out 8 of our youth group students (6 pictured below) in our annual youth group graduation event. In September, two of these graduates went away for a year of Bible school. We’re so proud of them and excited to see how God uses them as they step out into this next phase of their lives.
We saw so much growth in our students over 2023 and can tell you with confidence that God is already doing great things in this ministry in 2024. We are so grateful for your prayer support for our teenagers, our youth leaders and the youth staff.
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