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The FPC Youth Team strives to equip young men and women in Christ to graduate confident in who God has made and called them to be: rooted in a balanced knowledge of God and his Word, encouraged and challenged to seek new growth in the Spirit, equipped to lead and serve others, and filled with gospel-hope as they face trial and hardship.
We aim to aid parents in that effort by creating a warm environment that invites both joyful camaraderie and serious discussion, by systematically discussing, studying and applying the Scriptures and the shared history of God’s people, and by inviting teens to walk alongside us as we also pursue Christ in all that we do.
We desire to provide three environments to encourage that growth:
Sunday Night Youth Group
This year, we'll be following in the footsteps of the Son of God as we embark on a verse-by-verse study through the Gospel of Mark. We meet each Sunday evening from 5 to 7 pm to discuss and apply the material, but also to eat dinner together, fellowship as a family, and have fun playing games! Middle school meets at the church Gym and high school usually meets at a home in town, so sign up for the Remind texts (information below) in order to be kept up to date as to where and when we're meeting!
Weeknight Topical Studies
On Tuesday and Wednesday evenings, we gather together to hang out and go through a study that’s more topically focused while using the Bible as our guide. On Tuesday nights meeting at the Underwoods', our high school group will be going through Reformed, a study seeking to engage with the distinctives of our Presbyterian heritage with an eye to real-world application of our doctrine. For our Wednesday middle school study meeting at the church, we'll be in Types & Shadows, a survey of the many ways that God prepared his people for the advent of his Son through different symbols and figures that pointed to and prefigured his coming.
Wednesday Study and Fellowship Hour
On Wednesday evenings through the school year, high school and middle school students will be welcome to join us in the youth room for a relaxed time to study and hang out together! Students are welcome to come and go as their schedules allow, but the youth room will be open from 5-7.30 pm unless otherwise announced.
We also provide mission trips, summer conferences, camps and weekend retreats to encourage fellowship, service and transformation in the lives of our students. If you have any questions or would like to volunteer in any capacity, please reach out to Colton (colton@fpcbr.org). He would be delighted to hear from you!
Want to recieve middle school text messages? Text @fpcbrm to 81010. *Note: the middle school code ends with "m."
Want to receive high school text messages? Text @fpcbrh to 81010. *Note: the high school code ends with "h."
Interested in being added to our email list? Please click on the button below.
FPC Youth Trip Policy
“Freedom for Healthy Community”
Trips are a vital part of youth ministry. For spiritual formation or mission action, times away bond students and leaders and create openness to hearing God’s voice. Amidst the pressures of students’ daily lives, our trips create peace-giving freedom in a microcosm of healthy Christian community. To that end, we expect all of our students to experience freedom from particular negatives that normally surround them. A healthy youth community grows when these are absent:
Nicotine, alcohol, cannabis, misused prescription drugs, pornography, weapons, intimate sexual contact, illegal activities, and any conduct deemed seriously detrimental to the group.
Every student on our youth trips should feel free from these destructive pressures.
Therefore, use, possession of, or participation in any of the above will result in immediate calls to the student’s parents/guardians and a return home, at the parents’ expense, at the earliest practicable time. Also, during the trip, the church grants the Director of Youth Ministry the authority and discretion to determine if and when this policy has been violated.
Signed agreement to the above philosophy and ensuing policy is a necessary prerequisite for participation in any youth trip.
Further, in order to continue to create healthy, free, Christ-receiving, love-giving community, we continue to enact a no cell-phone policy on youth trips and expect that youth consent to receive direction from youth leaders during the trip. Along with our values of welcome, kindness, and acceptance, we believe this policy creates peaceful freedom for all youth participants.
Parent’s Signature_______________________________Date______________
Student’s Signature______________________________Date______________
Does the FPC Youth Ministry have technology and safety guidelines?
General Safety Guidelines:
There is nothing more important in Youth Ministry than the safety of our students. We will do everything to the best of our ability to keep them safe and secure while in our care. This speaks volumes to the families that we serve.
• The "Rule of Three" ensures that no FPCBR youth staff member or volunteer is ever alone with a child in a private space.
• There must be at least two volunteers in a classroom before youth are received. No one may be alone in a classroom with a child.
• No one is to be alone in a bathroom at any time with a child.
• Students may never be alone in a group (adults and minors) that consists only of the opposite sex.
• All staff and responsible leadership have access to all classrooms where youth activities are taking place.
• Youth staff driving on ministry business are to avoid cell phone use—even hands-free—when transporting children, while driving in heavy traffic, during hazardous weather conditions, or when it violates local law. Youth staff are never to read or send text messages while driving. Age requirements to drive students on retreats/trips is 25 years or older.
Technology Guidelines:
Social networking, texting, emailing and other forms of electronic communication are a reality in the lives of our youth. They offer an opportunity to develop and deepen relationships in new ways and are therefore a vital part of youth ministry work. However, their improper use can produce serious consequences.
The following guidelines apply commonly accepted principles of healthy boundaries for digital networking and communication. Our calling is to meet youth participants where they are, model healthy boundaries and love and care for students safely.
• No adult FPCBR staff member or volunteer can “friend” a youth participant on social media. It puts the youth in an awkward place if he receives a request from someone in a position of power when he would prefer to keep his online life private.
• All FPCBR youth staff and volunteers must agree to keep social media accounts set to private. If you choose to allow youth participants to follow you, please be aware of the responsibility to keep content free of inappropriate language and behavior (WWJP-What Would Jesus Post?).
• Only approve friend requests from youth participants when permission is granted by a parent or guardian.
• FPCBR youth participants should NEVER be tagged on FPCBR Youth social media posts. Likewise, youth staff and volunteers should NEVER tag youth participants in posts on personal social media accounts.
• FPCBR employees and volunteer youth workers who want to communicate with minors using text messaging, email, or other forms of electronic media must agree to follow guidelines set forth by the FPCBR Youth Ministry and obtain permission from the parent or guardian of the minor.
• Your emails and texts should communicate facts not feelings. If content of an email or text raises concerns, share it with a member of the pastoral team, or supervisor. Phone conversations and face-to-face meetings are the preferred mode of communication when responding to emotionally driven situations or emergencies.
• FPCBR youth employees and volunteers may not transmit any content that is illicit, abusive, pornographic, discriminatory, harassing, or disrespectful when communicating with each other or with minors involved in ministry activities.
• Avoid using “chat features” or going into private discussion chat rooms with youth participants (texting and phone calls preferred - with permission of parent or guardian).
• It is up to the adult to set healthy boundaries and tone. Youth use texting as a primary mode of communication. Texting for specific details (the time of the meeting/clarifying what to pack) is fine. Texting emotional or social conversations should be avoided.
• When contacting youth participants, the "home phone rule" is a basic rule of thumb –keep conversation to ten minutes max, do not text, chat, or email back-and-forth with students at a time you would not normally call their home, i.e. before 8 am or after 9 pm. If a youth contacts you after hours and it’s not an emergency, call them back in the morning after 8 am.
• Youth staff or volunteers who become aware of possible child abuse through electronic media must immediately notify their supervisor. The ministry will report abuse as required by law.
• Remind young people that if you see content on their pages that lead you to believe they are being hurt, may hurt someone else or may be hurt in the future, it is your role as a leader to report these concerns to their parents.
• Consistency with all youth participants on all platforms is of the utmost importance.
• Video chatting with youth participants is strongly discouraged – if you must, be aware of what you’re wearing and of your surroundings.
• Remember that you are setting an example for youth participants in every interaction, either in person or through use of technology. If boundaries start to feel cloudy, print off discussion so that you have a record and seek guidance from a supervisor.
• When using photos and videos of minors for ministry purposes, respect the dignity of every person depicted in an image.
Please email Jessica Saffell if you DO NOT wish to have your student's photo used.
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