WESTERN HILLS YOUTH MINISTRY
The WHYministry is made up of great teens and adult staff (called Guides) who strive to know Christ, become more like him inside and out, and help others do the same.
It’s a small but growing group of 7th through 12th graders who share one thing in common: they’re interested in finding God. That’s it. To be a part of the WHYministry you don’t have to be a Biblical scholar, a tremendous athlete, or the most popular kid at school. You don’t even need to be a Christian. You just need to be curious about God.
We offer many opportunities for teens to build strong relationships, ask hard questions, examine their beliefs, and make a difference in the world. Check out the essentials section to learn more.
UPCOMING EVENTS
PROGRAMS
Sunday Morning
veritology means “the study of truth”. Each week, we read a section of a book of the Bible, then ask the questions "What lessons can we learn from this scripture?" Students become instructors, and we're all taught by the Holy Spirit as we develop the skill of studying scripture.
We meet at 930am; High Schoolers in room B24, Jr Highers in room B25.
Sunday Night
A church can’t be the Church unless the people build and maintain a loving, committed community. Our goal is to get together often and do just that. At [together], we make time for each other.
We meet in room B24 most weeks. The doors open at 430pm and we head home by 7pm; come when you can, leave when you have to.
Wednesday Night
Based on Colossians 3.1-2, at UPRISING we strive to exalt God in worship, elevate our thought-lives, see things from a higher vantage, and lift our eyes off of ourselves. In essence, we want to carve out a part of our week in which we reevaluate our priorities, realign ourselves with the image and work of Christ, and reestablish his Lordship in our lives.
We meet at 615pm in room B24 (doors open at 550pm).
ESSENTIALS
Call them "values", "core convictions", or "irreducible minimums", there are essential truths on which we build our ministry. They are the principles that we both strive for and live by.
Western Hills Youth Ministry exists to glorify God by helping junior high and high school students develop into passionate, knowledgeable, and committed disciples of Christ. We believe that we exist to bring glory to God, so everything we do will be designed for that purpose. Whether it’s our times of study, worship, and prayer, our intentional acts of service, or even just how we relate to each other and those around us, this core truth will be our motivation.
At every gathering, every person will feel welcome and valued. During our weekly programs, big events, and special activities, we will work to create an environment where everyone, teens and adults, is treated with warmth and respect. This will be the responsibility of both the youth and Guides.
Ministry is bigger than the classroom. We don’t just create opportunities for teens to learn about God. We want God to be a part of our daily lives. We want meaningful community and life-change. We want to be used by God and to bring him glory every day, not just Sunday mornings. We don’t want “church friends” and “school friends”. We want to weave our lives together.
We are more than a “youth group”. A "group" tends to be closed to outsiders and purposeless. We will strive to be a ministry: always open to new people and in which each member serves, encourages, supports, and even corrects the others. Ours is not a ministry “for teenagers”. It is a ministry by teens and the adults who work with them.
Our aim is to create moments in which teens can experience God and his work. Knowing about God is good, but it doesn’t compare to knowing God. And experiencing God - in worship, in service, in scripture, in prayer, or in the community of believers - is the beginning of knowing him.
We are part of the greater communities of Western Hills Christian Church and of God’s kingdom. We are not “a church within a church”. We are not “the church of tomorrow”. We are a part of the Church world-wide and inter-generational. And as such, we use the Bible as our guide, we join with the community of believers in worship, prayer, and service, and we seek to be unified with other disciples.