Dear Parish Faithful,
All those interested and invested in our parish youth ministry, please read the following letter.
- Fr Steven
Hello TORCH family!
We are reaching out to connect after a great launching year [2023-2024] for TORCH (Teen Orthodox Revealing Christ’s Hope) here at Christ the Savior. Many faithful before us have passed the “torch” year to year, providing fellowship and spiritual growth to the youth at Christ the Savior and we are really thankful for it culminating into TORCH this year and hopefully for years to come!
We wish to thank Jacob and Adalia Boehne, who have announced that their participation as leaders with the youth ministry is coming to a close. They have multiple years of serving in this capacity and we are so very grateful to them!
Now we are solidifying plans for the 2024-25 TORCH school year:
We are excited to share that our TORCH leadership team has expanded this year, enabling our youth group to fellowship in more frequent and diverse outing opportunities.
Jonathan and Sharon Crawford, Josh and Maurie Hanauer, and Ben Linnabary are helping facilitate our activities this year and the 24/25 calendar Has been being completed and distributed!
ONE REMAINING NEED is a parishioner (or more!) who can participate with our middle school students at the pre-Vesperal Gatherings. (These happen on the 1st and 3rd Saturdays of each month at For the Life of the World Cafe.) It would entail facilitating middle school student break-out time after the main group activities, eating dinner (all) together, and walking to church for Great Vespers! Thank you for considering! We have one volunteer and need at least two (per diocese guidelines) for the participation of our middle schoolers in the Pre-Vesperal Gatherings!
Please reply to Jenny from this email and let her know.
Thanks for taking the time to read through this! Also, a big thank you to those who have sacrificed to enable their teens to participate in TORCH throughout the year! We really appreciate the opportunity to live and serve with our students “for the life of the world!”
In Christ,
Jenny & Rhett Harkins
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Dear Parish Faithful,
Introducing our newly-organized Parish Youth Group - "TORCH" - with the Identity/Mission Statement below. This ministry is led by Jacob & Adalia Boehne, and Rhett & Jenny Harkins. Please direct any questions that you may have to them. Please access the link to the scheduled events for the Youth Group in the upcoming year. The Youth Group is designed for our students from 6th - 12 grades.
- Fr. Steven
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Introducing ' T O R C H '
In an effort to better express the spirit of our youth group’s identity and mission, we’re introducing 'TORCH' — Teen Orthodox Revealing Christ’s Hope — as our name. We see it as an apt icon of our role as members of the Body of Christ. Being filled with his Holy Spirit at Baptism and nourished weekly by his Presence in the *Holy Mysteries, the living flame of Christ’s love illuminates our lives.
Jesus teaches “You are the light of the world… let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. (Matt 5:14,16). Our hope is to nurture this light of faith by: regularly studying the Scriptures and aspects of our liturgical life; worshipping in church together; serving the community in missional ways; and growing closer to one another as a family of faith. Being equipped and built up as the body of Christ, our prayer is that the hope of his love will shine forth with increasing radiance.
*Many saints of the church have envisioned the Eucharistic presence of Christ as fire. It’s inspiring to contemplate in the Divine Liturgy when we all heartily cry “Amen! Amen! Amen!” the descent of the Holy Spirit onto the altar like a blaze of fire- the altar roaring like the burning bush; and as the priest brings us the flaming chalice, we draw near with our spirits as candles or torches in various degrees of flame- much smothered from the wear of the world, and are ignited afresh! Refined and rekindled in the Beloved’s fiery Love, we blaze brightly once more and descend radiant Tabor into “the entire night of this present life” sharing this light and life with all we can along The Way.
Through fellowship, education and experiential participation, TORCH serves as a catalyst for our teen youth to discover more of who they are in Christ and how to walk out this high calling of love.
View our schedule at right, or download in PDF format here: