Lancaster Youth Group Mission Statement

Our mission is to grow in our relationship with God as we Reach Out to others with the love of Christ, Reach Up to God through worship, prayer and study of His Word, and Reach In so that we might encourage one another and build close friendships.

Reaching Out

It is our desire to share the message, compassion and love of Jesus Christ with others.  We have a number of service and outreach activities that we do.

A number of our teens are involved in summer mission trip to Guyana and Mexico. (See mission section for more details.)

Each year we are involved with the Mid Ohio Valley Work Camp

Every month we do some type of service project for our church or community.  Some of the things we do are:

In the fall we meet on a Saturday and rake a number of yard for the elderly and others who are not able to do it themselves.

We split up in groups and have a service scavenger hunt, going out into the community and doing a number of different good things for others.

The Kidagers and Junior Youth Group join us for this project. We gather many items for Foundation Dinners here in Lancaster.

In December we collect gifts for families who do not have money to give their children a good Christmas.  We have done this for families at the Lighthouse (a shelter for victims of domestic violence) and for young families at Capitol City Academy in Columbus, Ohio.

Reaching Up

Our second focus is on giving God the praise for all He has done in our lives as well as deepening our spiritual relationship and knowledge of God’s Word.  We achieve this through:

Classes specifically designed for today's youth are offered on both Sunday morning and Wednesday evenings.

Twice a month the group meets at Jason and Jeri Blackwell’s house for a time of fellowship and Bible study, discussing issues teens have and answering questions our group has.

Every other Sunday evening we have a devotional after evening worship.  These devotionals are hosted by parents of teens and usually last between 2 to 3 hours (depending on whether Monday is a school day).  The host usually prepares some type of snack/meal for the group and the teens have a good time hanging out and playing games or sports.  Then we have a devotional which includes a lot of singing and a short message given by our youth minister or the host.

Reaching In

The final focus of our group is on building strong relationships with each other.  It is important that as our young people grow closer to God and work to be more like Christ that they have good Christian friends to help and encourage them.  So we have many activities that are primarily for just being together and having a good time together.  Some of the things we do include:

Past events include attending a Cincinnati Reds Game and a Columbus Destroyer game.