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Sycamore View Youth Ministry                       

Helping Others See Jesus – Our Purpose!

In the New Testament letter of Philippians, we read an ancient poem about Jesus Christ (Phil. 2:5-11). This poem describes Jesus as someone who had it all and gave it all up to show the love of God to people. Jesus had power, status, and comfort in heaven, and yet, he came to earth as a fragile human to show us how to live. Simply put, the mission of our lives should be to become like Jesus. Following Jesus is an exciting, adventurous, risky ride that calls us to love God and love other people. Our youth ministry hopes to form teens into the image of Jesus. We want our teens to think, act, and love like Jesus did. Our church’s vision is to help others see Jesus (cf. Luke 19:1-10), so if our teens look more and more like Jesus each day, it will be easy for the world to see him alive in our church and in our youth ministry.

How do we become like Jesus?

We believe we become like Jesus through imitation. We learn about the life of Christ through scripture and through the presence of Christian adults. Then the Holy Spirit empowers us to imitate Christ in our everyday lives. Our ministry seeks to involve all teens in three main Christ-like areas:

1) Reaching Up – We believe that becoming like Jesus starts with loving God and having a personal relationship with Jesus. Our ministry attempts to help teens reach up to God through worship, bible study, prayer, and the practice of other spiritual disciplines (see John 15:1-5).

2) Reaching In – We believe that becoming like Jesus continues as we live together as a community of believers. The church is our spiritual family, and we reach in toward one another for encouragement, accountability, and comfort. Our ministry attempts to help teens reach in to other Christians through small groups, retreats, other activities that teach us how to better love members of our spiritual family (see 1 Corinthians 12:12-27).

3) Reaching Out – We believe that becoming like Jesus is incomplete unless we love people outside of the church. Jesus sends us into our schools, homes, and malls to show people that He loves them and he died for them. Our ministry attempts to help teens reach out to the world through mission trips, service projects, and special events planned for friends who have no commitment to Jesus (see Luke 19:10).