If you were in worship last Sunday, you heard me share that we will have a record number of young people attending the Winter Camps at Camp Friedenswald the next two weekends. At last count, we will have 10 High Schoolers and 12 Middle Schoolers attending their respective weekends. That’s a record for at least as long as I’ve been around.

Additionally, we will be recognizing a record number of young people as part of the Coming of Age Celebration on February 4th.  We will be blessed by the gifts of these 9 young people as they lead us in worship, and we will have the opportunity to bless them as they enter this new phase of life. 

Also, the Christian Education Commission has been having a lot of conversation recently about how to best adapt to the reality that our Godly Play inspired children’s classes have been attracting a growing number of participants. At one point, we had 19 children participating on a Sunday morning. We went into this new experiment knowing that it was a big age range for one class, but we never would have guessed there would be this many children coming on a regular basis, some families even showing up because they heard we were moving in this new direction. 

I was pondering these record numbers and good challenges and found myself thinking that it felt like this was all coming out of nowhere. But I quickly realized that’s not the case.

At a time when so many other congregations are having trouble engaging their young people of any age, we seem to be bursting at the seams not because of some random stroke of luck but because so many of you all have invested your time, energy, and love into our young people.

The members of the CE Commission have worked incredibly hard to dream up this new opportunity for the children and bring those dreams to life. Our youth sponsors and mentors have shown our young people that there are adults in the congregation who care deeply about them. Our teachers, aides, and snack preparers make Sunday School a hospitable place to learn and grow together. And many, many more people have done other things both big and small to let CMC’s children and youth know that they are an important part of our community.

Even if you don’t consider yourself someone who is “good with kids” there are plenty of ways you can help us continue to invest in our young people. One of the easiest is to participate in writing Notes of Blessing for our Coming of Age participants. Even if you don’t know these young people, you can still share words of wisdom, a meaningful Bible verse, or just name your hopes for them as they grow.

See the announcement in the bulletin for more details about how to participate, including a link to an electronic form.