Signup and Expense Procedures
We felt it would be beneficial to you as a family to have a brief description of each of the events that you will find on the yearly calendar. This will help you as a family decide the events in which you would like to take part. If you have any more questions about these events, please contact Brian.
SCHOOL YEAR EVENTS
RENOVATEEach January, we will host the best youth rally in the state of Indiana (as voted on by the youth staff)!! RENOVATE is designed for 7th-12th graders and will include top notch speakers, class teachers, entertainment, prizes, etc. The rally is run by our “staff” (our teens) and will be a great way to kick off the new year! The weeks and months leading up to RENOVATE will be filled with opportunities for parents to be involved, so come to the ministry fair to see where you can serve!
Spring Family Series
Every spring quarter (March-May), we conduct our Spring Family Series (SFS). This time is designed to give our members some practical skills that build and strengthen families. Throughout the month of March, our parents and teens will meet together to work on growing in their relationships. In April, our parents will move on to a class discussing the latest teen trends. This series, “Understanding the American Teenager,” is designed to give adults a more in depth look into the teenage world. In May, the adults enjoy a general parenting class designed to sharpen their skills as providers for this generation. Our teens are not left out during these two months; they will be enjoying a Life Skills class that will cover topics ranging from “how to prepare for college” to “checkbooks and credit cards”
Family Days (Fall & Spring)
These days and fellowships are planned to give families an opportunity to come together, have some fun, and grow closer to each other and the Lord through worship, devotionals, and family time. It also provides the family of God a chance to be together and share in ways that God intended us to.
Family Retreats
Each fall, we provide a family retreat specific to certain needs. It is designed as a three-year rotation where the first year is dedicated to Fathers & Boys, the second year to Mothers & Girls, and the third year to Families together. A family that is a part of this Youth Ministry throughout a teen’s Jr. High and Sr. High years will have the opportunity to take part in each of these retreats twice. We pray that these special weekends will enhance family life and relationships.
Life Groups
In keeping with our desire to strengthen families, we have special small groups for ‘families with teenagers.’ Starting in September and concluding in May, these groups meet once each week (often on Sunday evenings) for a meal and devotional time.
New Year’s Lock-In
The night of New Year’s Eve, we will have the teens ‘lock-in’ at the building for fun, reflection, and goal-setting for the New Year.
Spring Retreat
In the spring, we will have a retreat for the entire youth group designed to be an inreach/bonding effort. (only youth group members are invited on this outing...no visitors please)
Open Activities
There will be a number of activities that you will find on the calendar that we call Open Activities. Some of these activities include: Youth Hayride, Bonfires, Super Bowl Sunday, Christmas Progressive Dinner, Sr. High Banquet and more. Each of these is a great opportunity for our teens to invite their friends to come and be a part.
Outreach Sundays
Each quarter, our teens will be encouraged to donate to OR participate in an outreach opportunity. These four weeks will be connected to a different service program (TORCH missions, Mi Esperanza, Community Kitchen and Bloomington Housing Authority).
Rites of Passage
By and large, as a society, we no longer honor rites of passage as our children grow older. We feel that it is very important to honor these to help our teens and their families understand the seriousness physically, mentally, and spiritually of these transitions in life. Therefore, we provide celebrations to honor four particular rites of passage: 1) 7th Grade Induction, 2) Becoming a teenager, 3) Getting a Driver’s License, and 4) Senior Baccalaureate. We hope all families choose to participate in these wonderful events.
7th Grade Trip
In May (before their induction in June), we take our 7th Grade class away for a trip designed to help them get to know us better and become more comfortable with the youth group as a whole.
Service Projects
Each quarter, our group will have an opportunity to serve the Lord by serving those in need. These service projects will normally take place on a Saturday and will include things like raking leaves, repairing roofs, painting houses, Christmas Gift Delivery, and much more. We hope both our teens and their parents will be willing to give of their time to help those in need and demonstrate the love of Jesus Christ.
SUMMER EVENTS
Bloomington Work Camp (Local Mission Effort)We are working in conjunction with the city of Bloomington to sponsor a work camp for one week during the summer. Our group will work scraping and painting houses, landscaping, power washing, and pretty much anything else we can physically do to help our community.
Back to School Bash
We will kick off the school year with our annual Back to School bash. It will be held at one of Bloomington’s parks and we will spend the afternoon together eating and playing games.
Foreign Mission Effort
The Foreign Mission Effort will take place every other summer for a period of at least one week. Because this will be an “out of the country” mission effort, the cost will exceed $1,000 and only 9th-12th grade teens are eligible for this mission effort. It will be led by Brian along with help from other parents and adults. There are additional requirements for eligibility for this mission effort.
Girls’ Getaway
Several adult female volunteers will plan a getaway each summer especially for our girls. We encourage all of our youth group girls to plan to participate!
Guys’ Getaway
Several adult male volunteers plan a getaway each summer especially for our guys. This usually involves camping! We encourage all of our youth group guys to participate!
7th Grade Induction Banquet
Our new 7th graders will be formally introduced to the NC3 Student Ministry on the first Saturday in June. Please come and show them your love and support.
Sunday Evening Activities
Note the Sunday Night Activities scheduled throughout the summer. We will be doing a variety of activities including devotionals, Movie Nights, Laser Tag and, several others. We will need chaperones and help at these activities. If you are able to help out with one of these activities, please let one of us know. There will also be some impromptu activities that may take place on Sunday evenings.
Wilderness Trek
Every other summer we will take a group of our teens to Colorado for a week long trek in the Rocky Mountains. They will spend time learning how to be alone with God and how to work together as brothers and sisters in Christ.
Church of Christ Day at Holiday World
The NC3 Family is the sponsoring congregation for this annual Saturday in Santa Claus, IN. Discounted tickets allow for area churches to bring large groups to share in the rides and food at this family friendly theme park.
Destination Unknown
Once a month, during the summer, we will load up the church bus and head to an undisclosed location for a devotional. Usually these locations are within the city limits of Bloomington and are intended to relate our everyday surroundings to God.
Senior Trip
Near the end of the summer (usually August) we have a special trip designed for our senior class to help them grow closer together and prepare them for their leadership role in the youth group.
Youth In Action (Louisville)
In August we will travel to Louisville, KY for this annual youth rally. This trip is open to all 7th-12th graders and pretty much wraps up our summer activities for the year.