I’m thrilled to share some exciting updates coming to Vineyard Youth this August! These changes are thoughtfully designed to better support the spiritual, social, and personal growth of our middle and high school students.
After much prayer, reflection, and valuable feedback, we’re introducing three key enhancements to our youth services at the VC Campus, starting the weekend of August 9th-10th. Here’s what’s ahead!
- No More Saturday Night Youth Services (5 PM)
- Sunday Morning Youth Service (11 AM) for Middle School Students Only
- New Sunday Night Youth Service (6 PM – 7:30 PM) for High School Students Only
1/ No More Saturday Night Youth Services (5 PM)
Over the years, we’ve seen that many families prioritize Saturday evenings for family activities, sports, or rest. This has led to low and inconsistent attendance at our Saturday night youth services, with many students that attend on Saturday night already attending on Sunday morning as well. Additionally, with limited youth leader availability, it has been challenging to create a consistent, engaging environment.
Despite repeated attempts to change the structure of the service, Saturday night youth services have never been the service the students and leaders deserve it to be. By discontinuing Saturday night youth services, we can focus our energy and resources on providing better experiences during our Sunday services, which is where we encounter the most growth, attendance, and engagement.
2/ Sunday Morning Youth Service (11 AM) for Middle School Students Only
Starting August 10th, our Sunday morning service will be dedicated for middle school students only. This change allows us to tailor the message and activities to their unique needs while encouraging high school students to participate in the main service and to serve in some capacity during Sunday morning services. This shift will help high schoolers become familiar with the larger church community and prepare them to stay connected beyond their youth years, as well as offering middle school students the opportunity to engage with other students and ministry activities in a time that works for them and in a service that is designed for them. Additionally, youth leader availability is already much higher on Sunday mornings, meaning middle school students will continue to benefit from the relationships that make the most difference in our youth ministry, those that are between the youth leaders and the students they serve and lead.
3/ New Sunday Night Youth Service (6 PM – 7:30 PM) for High School Students Only
We are thrilled to launch a dedicated Sunday night service just for high schoolers! This time slot better aligns with their social and academic schedules and allows us to dive deeper into topics that matter most to them. It also fosters a stronger sense of community by offering a space designed specifically for their stage of life. Many churches already model this service structure of Sunday night youth services very well, and we are in a season of meeting with many of these churches and learning from them as we create something special for our high school students. The best part of our youth services is often the table group time, and by offering a sunday night youth service for high school students we can expand upon this time, providing more in-depth discipleship and relational ministry and diving deeper into some tough topics and subjects that our high school students are dealing with and need to hear input on from a biblical standpoint and point of view.
Why These Changes?
- Age-Specific & Targeted Ministry: Tailoring services for middle and high schoolers allows us to address their unique spiritual and social needs more effectively.
- Better Engagement: Focused services lead to deeper relationships, more meaningful discussions, and greater overall participation.
- Stronger Community: High schoolers will engage in the broader church through Sunday morning attendance and service opportunities, while both age groups benefit from dedicated spaces to grow in faith.
- Faith is Spelled RISK: We spent countless hours in prayer and fasting regarding these changes. God made it clear that this is the direction our youth ministry is supposed to take, and we will remain obedient as He leads. The youth staff team and all our pastoral staff is fully behind these changes, and as we have started to announce the changes to youth leaders, we have already begun to see a spark of excitement and expectancy as we lean into what the Lord is doing in this new season of youth ministry.
We understand that changes can bring questions, and I am here to answer them. If you have any concerns or would like to discuss these updates further, please don’t hesitate to reach out. I am so excited about the future of Vineyard Youth and can’t wait to see how God continues to move in the lives of our students!
Thank you for partnering with us as we invest in the next generation.
With Love & Gratitude,
Isaac Sharpnack
Youth Pastor
Vineyard Church North Phoenix
623.934.4000 | VineyardNorthPhoenix.com