Chi Rho Class Starting on September 12!

CYF (High School) Youth Group meets every

MONDAY evening at 6 p.m.  Come join us!!!

Current Calendar, Click HERE!

Jest Fer Fun! Click HERE!

Youth News ARCHIVES Click HERE!

Youth News:

September 2010

Youth group News
The July car wash continued as planned, even though the weather was over cast & rainy. To our surprise the rain held off to just a drizzle here and there. We did a have some customers’ get their car’s washed. Thank you to all of you, who support the youth group. We raised $111.00; this money helps defer the cost of camp.

SAVE THE DATE: CYF & CHI-RHO BREAKFAST BUFFET, SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 26th, 9am to 1pm.
The buffet will include: beverages, sausage biscuits & gravy, scrambled eggs, home fries, bacon & sausage and pancakes. We will also be offering diabetic friendly alternatives. Suggested donations are:
Adults $6.00, children 3-11 yrs $4.00, and children 2 & under are free. Come hungry & support the Youth & Children of our Church. All money helps with the cost of camp. Advance tickets are available, see Colleen Munley or any of the youth in CYF or Chi-Rho.

NEW CLASS FORMING: Starting Rally Day, September 12th, the Chi-Rho class begins. If you are in 6th, 7th or 8th grade this class is for you. The class will meet Sunday morning at 10:50 am. We will meet in the Youth Room on the 3rd floor, after the Children’s Minute.

TEACHERS NEEDED: Colleen Munley is looking for several volunteers to teach the Chi-Rho class during Sunday morning worship. I am unable to teach every Sunday, due to other obligations and hope to have enough people interested in volunteering, that you would only miss worship once every 2 or 3 months. The lesson plans for each Sunday will be provided and any materials needed. Please see Colleen Munley or call her at 216/543-7165.

ATTENTION CYF YOUTH: The Annual Halloween Lock-In at Westlake Christian Church is Saturday, October 23rd. Save the date, more information to follow.
 

June 2010

  *** Download The June Youth Newsletter HERE!! ***

 Youth Group News
Summer time is almost here! Hard to believe that soon campers and counselors will be off to Camp Christian. This year, Tori Scheeff is serving as a CIT (counselor in training) at Otter Camp, the week of June 20-26. Joe Bobak and Colleen Munley are serving as counselors at Chi-Rho camp the week of July 11-17. Don Hudson may also be serving at Chi-Rho camp. Attending CYF, Hiram Conference the week of June 27-July 3 are 5 of our high school students; Jessie Bessner, Cristina Jorge, Becky Raspe, Samantha Raspe, and Tori Scheeff. Attending Chi-Rho camp the week of July 11-17 are 7 of our middle school age youth with a possibility of 3 more. A complete list of names will be in the next messenger. It is great to receive mail from friends and family while at camp. Please drop a line to any or all of those attending camp. Receiving mail is very slow, mail early in the week or before the week starts. Send mail to:
Camper’s name
Camp Christian
Magnetic Springs, Oh 43036

Last month we had indicated that as a service project, the youth group would participate in River Sweep. Due to very high winds, the area we planned on working at canceled. So, instead we headed over to The Cleveland Christian Home. Thanks to Norma Stearns we knew a work day was scheduled there. We helped pick up trash on the grounds, raked leaves, pulled weeds and put down fresh mulch in the memorial gardens behind the home. We had a lot of fun and learned some of the history of the home.

We have also started a weekly project. Each week at the beginning of our meeting, we take a half hour or so and go outside. We pick up trash, sweep the sidewalks, and pull weeds. We hope that our efforts to keep the church grounds looking good are noticed. We are also planning on repainting the parking lot lines. Thanks to Joe Bobak we will have a machine to help with the line painting.

Change of schedule, starting in June, the youth group will meet on Monday nights at 6 pm.

Save the Date
June 6th
July 25th
August 22nd

Why save the date? That’s right, it’s car wash season. Help the youth group raise money for camp. Get your car washed while you’re in church. Each date is a Sunday, from 10am to 2pm; we will be in the church parking lot, making vehicles shine. Please tell all your friends & family to support this worthy cause. Flyers will be in the bulletin a week before as a reminder. Thank you all for supporting the youth.

 

May 2010

Youth News!
In March, we sent 5 of our youth to Hiram Conference Mid-winter Retreat. The focus for the weekend was Conflict: Managing Stress in Your Life. Westlake Christian Church hosted the retreat; there were over 100 adults & youth in attendance. A great turn out! During the retreat each district elected new officers, Tori Scheeff is President of Dist.2, and her fellow officers are from Disciples Christian Church and Fifth Christian Church. They will work with Merydyth McKenzie, Katie Keresman & Andrena Sharp-Jones, our Dist 2 Advisors.

In April, during spring break, the youth group had a sleepover & we painted the youth room. Some final touch ups still need to be done, but we are on our way to a bright & fun youth room. We are looking for a sofa for the youth room. If anyone has an old sofa they would like to donate, please contact Colleen Munley.

During the sleepover we planned many things for the upcoming months. We are volunteering for the River Sweep on May 8th. This is a clean up day of the waterways in Cuyahoga County. We will be working with Al Betts to clean up the fenced in area and keep the grounds garbage free. We will again work the booth at Open Air @ Market Square. We are planning car washes again this summer. Of course we can’t forget attending camp. It will be a very busy spring & summer.

 

January/February 2010

 
The Youth Group was very busy over the holidays; we helped with the Hanging of the Greens, which was a lot of fun. We were able to interact with other members of the congregation, in a casual way. Of course, we attended the Lake Catholic High School Christmas concert. I and some of the youth attended the Y.E.P. holiday party. Several of the youth participated in both Christmas Eve services. And we had a Holiday party/sleepover at my home on New Years Day. The youth decorated cookies, played games, did crafts, and watched movies. We all had a lot of fun!

Here we are into February, where did January go? I don’t know. I guess time flies when you’re having fun. Franklin Circle’s Youth Group was overnight hosts to District 2, Chi-Rho & C.Y.F. youth groups that attended Winter Jam ’10, a Christian Concert at CSU Wolstein Center on Jan 29th. We have our sub sale Feb 7th. This sale helps the youth raise money for the cost of camps & conference.

Speaking of camp, we are heading down to Camp Christian Feb 12th, for a weekend retreat with Westlake Christian Church, North Eaton Christian Church and possibly youth from a few other churches. Our theme for the weekend is Love & Service, how do you show God’s love through the services you do. One of our projects for the weekend is to prepare care packages for military service persons associated with each church. We are asking for donations, if you are able to contribute, our group is in charge of toiletries. Please see Colleen Munley for a list of items. Another item we are looking for is cards & letters. The troops love to hear from all of us and mail brightens their days! Consider sending letters, cards, pictures or posters with us that we can include to be shared with other soldier’s.
 

Looking forward to March, the youth group has another weekend retreat, March 5th, 6th and 7th. Hiram Conference Mid-Winter, host church is Westlake Christian Church. The focus of the weekend is dealing with stress & conflict. Can’t wait! All youth grades 9 through 12 are invited.
 

December 2009

After the Youth Sunday Worship service, we had a request to print the Six Steps to Speak up, that was part of our message. We found this information on a wonderful website www.tolerance.org , this and other helpful materials can be found there. The site, Teaching Tolerance, a project of the Southern Poverty Law Center is designed for teachers but anyone can find practical information to use in their everyday lives. I want to thank every one who supported me and the youth in our endeavor to lead the congregation in worship and look forward to doing it again.

Six Steps to Speak Up
1. Be Ready. You know another moment like this will happen, so prepare yourself for it. Think of yourself as the one who will speak up. Promise yourself not to remain silent.

2. Identify the Behavior.  Sometimes, pointing out the behavior candidly helps someone hear what they're really saying: "Janice, what I hear you saying is that all Mexicans are lazy" (or whatever the slur happens to be). Or, "Janice, you're classifying an entire ethnicity in a derogatory way. Is that what I hear you saying?"
When identifying behavior, however, avoid labeling, name-calling or the use of loaded terms. Describe the behavior; don't label the person.

3. Appeal to Principles. If the speaker is someone you have a relationship with — a sister, friend or co-worker, for example — call on their higher principles: "Bob, I've always thought of you as a fair-minded person, so it shocks me when I hear you say something that sounds so bigoted."

4. Set Limits. You cannot control another person, but you can say, "Don't tell racist jokes in my presence anymore. If you do, I will leave." Or, "My workspace is not a place I allow bigoted remarks to be made. I can't control what you say outside of this space, but here I ask that you respect my wishes." Then follow through.
"The point is to draw a line, to say, 'I don't want you to use that language when I'm around,'" Bob Carolla, spokesman for the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill. "Even if attitudes don't change, by shutting off bad behavior, you are limiting its contagion. Fewer people hear it or experience it."

5. Find an Ally/Be an Ally. When frustrated in your own campaign against everyday bigotry, seek out like-minded people and ask them to support you in whatever ways they can.
 

6. Be Vigilant. Remember: Change happens slowly. People make small steps, typically, not large ones. Stay prepared, and keep speaking up. Don't risk silence.
 

November 2009

Youth Group New
Youth Sunday is November 8th. What does that mean? It means the youth group will lead worship that day. We’ve spent much time preparing for this day. They decided to share with the congregation, something from their week at camp. We are also requesting a special donation that day, the monies donated will be offered up at Camp Christian next summer. A special offering is taken called D.I.G. (Dividends In Growth) at CYF conference each summer. This past summer Hiram Conference raised over $9000, and we would like to be part of this offering. The money raised from all 4 CYF conferences is designated to helping many ministries, such as the Cleveland Christian Home, the camp scholarship fund, a retired ministers fund, just to name a few. We will tell you all more about this important offering on Youth Sunday.

In our preparation we need to thank Carrie Culleen, chair of the Worship team, she came in and talked with the youth, about the different aspects of worship and why they are important in our denomination. We also met with Leila Streidl, who is the church historian, and had a wonderful history lesson. We need to invite Leila back, there is only so much one can cover in an hour. Both people were very helpful in our preparation. THANK YOU!

We also met with Louise Clark, who shared her love of scrapbooking with us; we all had a lot of fun creating pages with pictures from, camp and other outings. Louise donated the supplies we used and promised we could get together again. We also attended the annual Halloween Lock-In at Westlake Christian Church, all had a spooktacular time. We also need to thank our volunteer chaperones, Joe Boback and Don Hudson. We have several members of the congregation scheduled to come in and work with the youth group. I believe the youth are enjoying the opportunities to meet & get to know more of the congregation. We also did a small service project; led by Cari Monhart, Tori, Jessie and Amber cleared a patch of dead weeds in the corner of the parking lot. They must have done well, as we got Claude Pittman’s approval. I’m sure we’ll have future projects.

That’s all for now ~ Thanks to everyone~ Colleen
 

October 2009

Youth Group News
 

The new school year has started and so has the new time for the youth group’s weekly meeting. Chi-Rho and C.Y.F. meetings are Thursday evenings from 6-8pm on the third floor in the youth room. All youth are invited to join us. We have bible study the first hour, this fall the bible study program we are using is called “Exile & Restoration”.  Focusing on Old Testament scriptures, from Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Isaiah, Job, Ezra, Nehemiah and the Psalms. This will take us through Thanksgiving.  Each lesson includes focusing on a faith issue, reading the scripture text, discussing the bible story, and how it relates to today. The lessons also include an activity, sometimes a craft or a game.  In the second hour we will have many different activities, from planning Youth Sunday, to special visitors coming in to share their gifts.  If you feel you have a gift to share with the youth, please contact Colleen Munley at 216-543-7165.  We also are in need of drivers and overnight chaperones for a Lock-in at Westlake Christian Church on Saturday, October 17th.  This is a District 2 C.Y.F. event that Westlake has been hosting for several years now.  The youth will go to a local haunted house, and then back to Westlake for some fun and scary movies.  We will attend the worship service at Westlake C.C. before heading home.

The last couple months we have included a paragraph, written by the youth that attended camp.  So far we heard from Jessie, Cristina and Becky. So this month we hear from Tori, our final C.Y.F. camper.
 

Tori Scheef:
This year I was very lucky, I spent two weeks at Camp Christian. My first week I was a C.I.T. (counselor in training) at Otter Camp. This was a totally amazing experience, working with the adult counselors and the 3rd, 4th and 5th grade campers, I really learned a lot about myself. I can’t wait to do in again next year! Then my second week at Hiram Conference, (by the way, the weeks were back to back) also totally amazing. If you haven’t spent time at Camp Christian, if can be difficult to understand how we who have been there feel. I cannot articulate the feeling that comes over me when I am there. It’s so easy to be yourself, it’s as if the Holy Spirit enters everyone there, and we all just express love and our faith. It can be very overwhelming too, because you know you have to go home at the end of a wonderful week. So you try to figure out how bring that spirit back home with you and not let the everyday grind wear it down. This year I was on the consecration committee, we planned a very special service that focused on our theme for the week, which was “Power & Prejudice”. We take an oath of secrecy, so I can’t tell you what we did or what it’s all about. I invite you to come and see for yourself. Thank you to my church family for supporting the camping programs, it really means a lot to all of us that go to camp. Thank You! Tori

Well, that’s all for now. We hope to see any youth, ages 13-18 join us on Thursday nights at 6 pm.
 

September 2009

Youth Group News
We are off to a great start with the fundraising to help with the cost of camp.  We want to thank everyone who supported the car washes we had in July and August.  As well as the bake sale we had.  The two car washes raised $430.00 and the bake sale raised $43.00.  We can’t thank you all enough. The kids worked hard, we had the C.Y.F youth and quite a few of the younger children helped out. I also would like to take this time to thank the adults that helped us.  Helping with both car washes Cari Monhart and helping with the August car wash, Sue and Kurt Raspe.  Also to those who donated bake goods Pastor Allen, Claire Munley and Jessie Bessner.  A big Thank You to everyone!

Last month we heard from Jessie and Cristina about their experience at Camp Christian. This month we continue with Becky.

Becky Raspe

My C.Y.F. experience at Hiram Conference. At Hiram Conference at Camp Christian I had the best time!  This is my favorite year so far. I felt renewed and satisfied with my experience.  I met amazing people and made good, everlasting friendships. I also met up with old friends, that I knew from Chi-Rho camp.  I learned a lot about my faith and had fun doing it!  The banquet was a very fun experience and very touching to hear the speeches that other campers gave. A lot of people cried at the consecration service, although I did not cry, I was very supportive to my all my friends.  Many of them officially found God and I’m really happy that I was there for them. Camp Christian is the best!

Thank you~ Becky

August was a busy month, many of the youth helped out with Vacation Bible School, we had our second car wash and we attended a district wide C.Y.F picnic at Horseshoe Lake Park in Shaker Heights.  I would like to thank Louise Clark, as she volunteered to drive & chaperone at the picnic.  We are very excited to be able to attend events with other youth & youth leaders from churches in District 2.  We have a great opportunity to develop stronger relationships with the people we meet from camp.  Our next event I believe will be in October.  As soon as we get details, we will advertise the event.

The youth groups, Chi-Rho and C.Y.F. will meet weekly on Thursday evening from 6-8 pm starting September 3, 2009.  We will have bible study, crafts, rap sessions, where we can talk about important issues on the hearts & minds of the youth.  We will also be planning Youth Sunday, which will be in November.  And we will have special visitors from time to time, talking to the youth about a variety of topics.  All youth are invited, join us on Thursday nights in the youth room.

Graduates Update:

Since our Blessing of Graduates ceremony we had in July, we have learned of other students we would like to lift up and celebrate their accomplishments. First, we celebrate with Marion Carney, as her son Mario Rios Jr., enters the sixth grade at Bolich Middle School in Cuyahoga Falls. It is our understanding that Mario is very excited as he begins his middle school journey. Also, Hannah Eccleston and Kara Eccleston, niece’s of Janelle Eccleston graduated from high school this past June and are now attending Oklahoma State University.
 

Meredyth McKenzie, District 2 adviser
Andrena Jones Sharp, District 2 adviser
Katie Keresman, District 2 adviser
Kris Terry, District 2 president
DeAndre Bell, District 2 vice president
Jen Wilson, District 2 secretary
Tori Scheeff, District 2 delegate
Nia Sullivan, District 2 delegate

 

New Youth Director Hired

Welcome Colleen Munley!

Colleen Munley began on Sunday, March 8 as the new Youth Director of Franklin Circle Christian Church. She will work with our Middle School (Chi Rho) and High School (C.Y.F.) youth and will involve adults in the congregation to help with youth programs and activities.

Her responsibilities include counsel and care for our youth and their families, reaching out to the youth of the community, planning and leading youth programs, activities, and events, recruiting and training youth leaders, and helping the congregation as a whole appreciate and support the youth of our congregation. Colleen will work with the Christian Education Team in coming up with goals and plans for the youth program, and will be supervised by Pastor Allen.

Colleen grew up in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), attending church, youth group, and camps at Camp Christian. She has lived in Northeast Ohio most of her life, and is raising her family here. Her partner is Cari Monhart and their three children are Nick Scheeff, Tori Scheeff, and Matthew Monhart.  Colleen is a graduate of Midpark High School in Middleburg Heights. Within the congregation she is also a member of the Diaconate, chairs the New Worship Initiative Team, and is a member of the Education Team and Worship Team.

Please offer Colleen your words of support and welcome. We do hope that those members of the congregation who pledged to support new staff for our youth will continue to fulfill those pledges, and anyone who hasn’t done so already will pledge to support this position. This is an exciting “leap of faith” for our congregation!
 

Chi Rho is the name given the Middle School Youth Program of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)  Christian Youth Fellowship (CYF) is the name given the High School Youth Program of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).

Upcoming Youth Group Calendar For 2010

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The After School Program Has CHANGED!

It is now the Youth Enrichment Program!!!!!

CLICK HERE to find out more!
Every Saturday and Sunday, 2-5 p.m.

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