By Kelly Rosenau, Hope Church Youth People don’t agree on much, but I think we can all agree that historians will probably look back on 2020 as one of those train-wreck years. Personally, I’ll never look at toilet paper or the word “unprecedented” in the same way. Everyone has struggled in different ways this past […]
By Beth Carroll, Associate Pastor of Discipleship What needs to change? What needs to continue? Though these are two questions I ask every summer before the school year as I plan for youth ministry, they have become crucial questions I now ask weekly. COVID-19 has forced all of us to reassess how we live our […]
By Pastor Beth Carroll Necessity truly is the mother of invention. Hope Church youth have had just as much change in their lives as any adults, and they amaze with their ability to roll with the punches and make the best of not being able to be with their communities. Like most organizations, our youth […]
By Beth Carroll, Assistant Pastor of Discipleship Over the past months, I have been discerning whether God is calling me to the Associate Pastor position at Hope Church. My discernment has taken shape in three threads: 1) What is the big-picture work to which God is calling me? 2) Does that calling intersect with the […]
by Beth Carroll, Assistant Pastor of Discipleship Though the ministry year is well underway, it’s never too late to join in on the fun that is being a youth sponsor. I have spoken with a number of you who, though curious about engaging relationships with young people, end up saying no because of some specific […]
As part of Hope Church’s work with the RCA’s Growing Young Cohort, our Growing Young team recently had a listening session with Hope Church’s youth. We asked the youth several questions about their feelings about church and what it is like to be a young person today. It was encouraging and inspiring to hear what […]
By the time you have read this, you will likely have just enjoyed watching our youths lead us in worship for Youth Sunday. For this particular Sunday each year, the youths and pastors spend about a month preparing and reflecting on the lectionary texts, laying the groundwork for the theme and direction that arises for […]
In January, Elder Barbara Knoops and I spent 2 days at the RCA offices in Grand Rapids steeped in understanding more deeply the experiences of being a youth and young adult in today’s culture. The Growing Young Cohort is a fantastic resource the RCA is providing to help churches become more intergenerational and Barb and […]
“We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28 One of the values that I want to foster in our youth is the knowledge that God is with us. Sounds simple, right? But when I say God is with us, I […]
“Nothing in all of creation tastes sweeter than apple pie.” – Genesis 51 I am convinced that this verse would have totally been in the Hebrew Bible had the writer of Genesis lived in Michigan instead of the ancient middle east. In fact, in my “new earth” at the end of the eschaton, there will […]