At Christ Church, the nurture and formation of young people in the Christian faith is the duty and delight of the whole congregation. Christ Church is committed to providing young people with the opportunity to affirm themselves as children of God, to celebrate their giftedness, to discover their ability to make change in the world around them, to have a safe place to ask questions about the faith, to learn how to pray and to make the scriptures their own, to grow in relationship with God in a community of other Christian youth, and to be fully initiated into the worship and sacramental life of the Church. Christ Church offers its young people a graded series of youth groups that meet weekly and that use the Episcopal “J2A” (“Journey to Adulthood”) curriculum.

6th Grade Youth Group

Christ Church’s 6th Grade Youth Group marks a transition from Sunday School to “youth group;” here, 6th graders get a taste for what a “youth group” is like. 6th graders meet weekly with their adult leaders, the group is more discussion-based than previous Sunday School classes, and special, non-Sunday morning events or activities (e.g., laser tag, bowling and pizza, minor league baseball games, etc.) are scheduled. 6th grade is an exciting time for faith formation, with 6th graders growing more aware of their inner life, becoming better able to express themselves, and increasing in the making of connections between the Christian faith and daily life.

Rite 13

Rite 13 is the youth group offered to 7th and 8th graders. In the Rite 13 youth group, the community begun in the 6th grade is strengthened and nurtured, and special effort is made to recognize and honor each individual’s talents and gifts as being important to the group. Rite 13’ers explore what it means to be called to live in accordance with God’s word revealed in Christ, and they begin to discover and affirm the powers of creative energy God has given each of us to effect change in the world. Rite 13 culminates at the end of the second year with a public, Sunday morning rite in which the young people are acknowledged to have passed from childhood to manhood and womanhood.

J2A

J2A – short for “Journey to Adulthood” – is made up of 9th and 10th graders and is at the core of the J2A process. In J2A we celebrate the transition from youth to adulthood. The J2A’ers discover skills for adulthood (e.g., effective listening, expressing opinions and feelings without aggression, establishing relationships built on mutual accountability, etc.), they explore in greater depth the riches of the Christian tradition, and they learn about prayer and the responsibilities of Christian discipleship. A key feature of J2A is the pilgrimage, made at the end of the second year. The pilgrimage is an opportunity to leave the familiar to seek God in new places. The pilgrimage is often a powerful, formative experience in the J2A’ers faith journey.

YAC

Members of the Christ Church YAC – usually 11th and 12th graders – are fully active in the life of the church. Some serve on the vestry, many participate in the formation of children in the Sunday School, and some are active with diocesan youth events. The friendships and sense of community formed in Rite13 and J2A continue to grow. Seeds sown in the earlier teen years bear fruit as discussions about faith and about how our decisions and lives are shaped by faith deepen. As YAC’ers look ahead to college, we assure them of God’s abiding presence in their lives and seek to be an anchor for them in their time of transition. The YAC meets once or twice a month, usually on a Sunday evening.