Dear Parish Faithful,
All those interested and invested in our parish youth ministry, please read the following letter.
Hello TORCH family!
(This is a longer email so we’ve emphasized the key points.)
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!
The Boehnes 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 is the time we are solidifying plans for the 2024-25 TORCH school year.
Here are some things we are focusing on:
1) We (Jenny & Rhett) can’t do it alone! - we are looking for co-leaders - of ANY capacity - to
help:
A) Folks who can be at any and every gathering.
B) Folks who can host, help, organize, or simply be present for a single to several events in the year. (Maybe you're passionate about something you want to share with our older students and you can host a one-off event, study, workshop, trip, etc!...)
C) Folks who can volunteer their gifts and resources to support TORCH. (Maybe your company can sponsor printing t-shirts; or you’re able to design a poster for an event hosted by TORCH; perhaps you've discovered a cache of money in your walls and want to provide for a TORCH outing or outreach project, etc!...)
2) We “waded in” this past year, focusing on core elements of what this ministry can be, and we believe it can and should expand into more for our students.
More outings, events, and possibly even more gatherings.
This would take others with vision and time to help execute.
3) The age range was too broad this past year. 13-18yrs old is such a formative time that the lower and upper ages in this bracket can differ widely in some of the core content they necessitate. With the teens willing and open to sharing the real challenges and questions of their current contexts, we feel they deserve the time and attention appropriate to those discussions.
We are wanting to multiply the TORCH program into middle school and high school groups. This could flesh out in different ways- from something like a joint gathering with small group breakouts to a totally independent group... either way, more leaders are necessary to make this happen. (If we’re not able to meet this need then the 2024-25 school year for TORCH will be high school only.)
If you think you would be able and willing to join the leadership team, have a passion for the older students in our parish family, or just want to stretch yourself in a capacity of serving in this ministry,
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: