The New Canaan Congregational Church offers a generous variety of youth programming within our six youth groups. With a combination of service, fellowship, and fun, each group strives to create a Christian community where youth can come to know that they are loved, and learn to love themselves and others. Each group meets regularly on a weekly basis through the school year, and is divided by age group:

           

Guppies is for third and fourth graders, and meets on Thursday afternoons from 4:00-5:00pm.  There are over 50 registered Guppy participants, with approximately 35 regularly attending.  The Guppies can look forward to events that teach more about the stories that they have learned in Sunday School.  Guppies favorites include the Plague Game, Easter Smash and Bash, and the Nativity Rap.

 

Junior Youth Group (JYG) is for fifth and sixth graders, and meets on Thursday afternoons from 5:00-6:00pm.  There are over 50 registered JYG participants with approximately 35 regularly attending.  They can participate in events such as local service projects, game nights, and discussions about spirituality and issues they face as fifth and sixth graders.

 

Middle School Youth Group (MSYG) is for seventh and eighth graders, and meets on Sunday afternoons from 4:30-6:00pm.  There are over 90 youth registered, with approximately 45 regularly attending.  These youth can participate in events such as local service projects, lock-ins, ski trips, meditation experiences, religious discussions and a 3-day mission trip to a drug and alcohol treatment center.

 

Youth Group (YG) is for ninth through twelfth graders, and meets on Sunday nights from 7:00-8:30pm.  There are over 200 youth registered, with around 160 participating on a weekly basis.  Participants can take part in events such as working with local shelters and other service projects, ski trips, game nights, discussions on issues faced by teenagers, and a 10-day mission trip in the spring.

 

The Quest program, also for high school aged youth, has two formats to provide varied opportunities for spiritual depth:

 

Quest for the Truth meets on Tuesday evenings from 7:00-8:30pm in the church library. Quest for Truth is a communal discussion of theology, ethics, and our own personal questions of faith. We share stories of our faith journeys, based in knowledge of God as revealed to us through scripture, tradition, reason, and experience.  It is an opportunity to gather with other high schoolers and put away questions for tests and exams in favor of asking life’s biggest questions, including our own purpose and God’s plan for us.

 

Quest for the Spirit focuses on the ancient spiritual traditions of the church: meditation forms drawn from ancient monastic traditions (e.g. Benedictine meditations, lectio divina, and Gregorian chant); guided meditations developed by St. Ignatius of Loyola; Quaker “centering down;” Protestant “centering prayer;” Buddhist breathing and walking meditations; and Eastern Orthodox gazing exercises with icons.  After a brief introduction, we experience each meditation together and reflect on our shared experience.  After reflecting on our experience, we close with prayer. The goal of Quest for the Spirit is to learn and to be drawn into age old Christian practices that help us create a place in our lives to learn new ways to experience God’s presence.  Most of the meetings are in the YG Lounge from 7:00-8:30pm on Thursdays, but we also head out to meditate under the stars, around the pond at the Nature Center, or on a bluff at the Ward-Pound Ridge Reservation.

 

 

Mission Trips

 

Going on a mission trip is a life-changing experience.  When the youth have the opportunity to work on meaningful projects that greatly improve the living conditions in communities, it shows them how much they can accomplish and impact other people’s lives.  Youth need to know that although they are not yet full adults they are fully capable of doing significant work for people who really do need their help.  Mission trips are also a way for youth to learn about and live out the Christian call to service and loving their neighbors.  We do not go on mission trips simply because we can; we go because we recognize and embrace God’s love for us and God’s desire for us to share God’s love with others and be in community together.  Living out our call to love and putting faith into action is transformative.  The experiences that youth have on these trips impact them for the rest of their lives.

 

The YG mission trip is 10 days long; the destinations are sites that are typically unfamiliar to the youth of New Canaan.  When finding a destination there is an emphasis on connecting with a community and building a relationship between the youth and that community.  The program on the mission trip includes group work projects, meaningful interactions with community members, prayers, vespers, and worship.  With a balance of hard work and fun, the trip is designed to bring a ministry of love and hope to those in need.  Participants leave our trip with a changed perspective on their world and a better understanding of the difficulties faced by those who suffer the burden of poverty, disability and neglect.

 

For more information, please visit the Youth Groups’ website at  www.ygonline.org.