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The Wilbraham United Church youth program provides a Middle School Youth Fellowship (MSYF) for grades 6 - 8 and a Senior High Youth Fellowship (SHYF) for grades 9 - 12. Both are great, growing, Christian fellowship groups that can only be made better by your participation!

The primary goal of both groups is to help young people build genuine bonds of trust and respect with each other. With God's guidance, we try to make sense of our world, exploring the ways our religious teachings and our real lives connect. Youth Fellowship provides: a regular opportunity to share successes and failures with a trusted group, a place to seek answers to important questions, opportunities for spiritual reflection & faith development, and the chance to just "be" together with other youth. These things can have a lasting impact on each of us and prepare us for life in extremely significant ways.

Please consider getting involved! You may be a little hesitant, not knowing what goes on, so here's some basic information…

The Middle School Youth Fellowship group meets twice a month on Sunday nights from 5 - 6:30 p.m. in the Youth Room (downstairs) at Wilbraham United Church. Senior High Youth Fellowship meets every Sunday night (with very few exceptions) from 7 - 9 p.m. (same place!) Both youth groups are ecumenical which means members come to us from different churches and religious backgrounds. We do a variety of things during our meeting times that include group building, trust building, and faith building through games, discussions, worship and other creative activities. We get involved in mission and service projects, do some fundraising, plan recreational activities, and make plenty of time for good old-fashioned fun and fellowship. It's a great place to make new friends and build on the friendships you already have -- you will learn a lot about yourself, your beliefs, and other people!

In addition to weekly meetings, the senior high group goes away twice a year on "retreat". The spring and fall retreats are full weekend experiences that provide much needed rest and renewal for an often over-extended bunch of youth and advisors! Retreat weekends explore a central theme designed to help us learn more about ourselves while bringing us closer to each other and to God.

This year, the middle school group will be holding a winter retreat in January. We celebrate the end of the year with an overnight in early June. Both events are intended to bring the group closer together with a mix of structured activities and free time. There are attendance requirements for all YF overnight events, so make sure you attend meetings frequently enough to participate in the overnights!

I suggest that you try attending several meetings (we're talking maybe a couple of months) before you decide whether or not Youth Fellowship is for you. Many of our members were first encouraged (some would say forced) by their parents or friends to give it a try. Those same kids are now among our most active members. They came… they tried it… they made new friends…they loved it! Attending regularly is an important part of becoming involved in the group - you can't connect with other people if you aren't there, right?! Of course, it's understood that conflicts occur, so don't stop coming if you miss a few meetings! You are welcome to join us whenever you can attend.

How about checking out the next meeting? I guarantee you won't regret it or your money back (just kidding, it's free!) If you have any questions at all, please do not hesitate to contact me!!

With God's Peace,

Deb Shepard
Director, Youth & Family Ministries

Questions? Comments? More Information Needed?

Deb Shepard
500 Main Street, Wilbraham, MA 01095
(413) 596-2511
debasheps@aol.com

OR

Wilbraham United Church
500 Main Street, Wilbraham, MA 01095
(413) 596-2511