2024 was another great year for youth ministry at Hillcrest. We had three baptisms, saw many students start to take an active role in leading worship, had students participate in helping to serve at the Legacy banquet, and saw many continuously inviting their friends to youth group. One of these invited friends committed his life to Jesus and was baptized within a month of being invited. We also had several students share their testimonies on youth nights and it’s been powerful to get to hear what God is doing in their lives. We are praising God for His goodness!
Tuesday nights are our favourite nights of the week. On Tuesdays we meet as a youth group to spend time playing games, eating snacks, worshipping God together, hearing a message, and then we head to small groups. In the spring we focused on the teachings of Jesus, and in the fall, we did a deep dive into encounters with God and how to have a personal relationship with Him. We’ve also continued to do our SOAP studies (Scripture, Observation, Application & Prayer) where we get a chance to spend solo time with God and hear from others about what God has been up to in their lives.
Friday nights continue to be a space where teens can invite out their friends and just enjoy having fun together. Some of our favourite events from 2024 include a space-themed murder mystery event that was planned by 2 of our students and a leader, karaoke & chill nights, our Glitter & Gold Christmas banquet, and YXH nights. YXH is a team made up of local youth pastors who host city-wide youth events every other month and these continue to be a great time, but also a time where we see growth in our students. One of the other highlights of 2024 was the introduction of our Youth Group Olympic Games where each small group of students have been competing over the course of the youth season. They created country names, flags, and each week get a chance to add points for their group through games on Tuesday nights. They can also gain points through larger youth event nights like the Summer Olympics or Winter Olympics. These games have really drawn in our boys. Our grade 8&9 boys have put in an impressive amount of effort to stay at the top every week.
Sunday mornings our teens meet in the youth room during the 10:00 service for a time of building community. It’s been a great opportunity for some of our students to grow in leadership and gain some job-related experience as we’ve been able to train a few of them to run the youth room coffee shop. Following the 10:00 service, we encourage the teens to join us in the 11:20 service, and many students have taken us up on that and have made church services a regular part of their routine.
In 2024 we had 19 of our grade 12 students graduate. These students have been keeping in touch post-grad, and I’m thrilled that most of them are regularly attending church services and that many of them are already volunteering in the churches that they attend where they’ve moved. Three of our graduates have returned to youth group as youth leaders. Another three of our graduates are currently away attending Bible College. It’s great to see what God is up to!
In March and October of 2024, we had youth retreats out to Whispering Pines. We consistently see life change and spiritual growth when we take our students out on retreats. God has been so faithful as we set aside the time, twice per year, to take our students to camp. These weekends are full of God moments and relational building that I wouldn’t trade. In May of 2024 we also attended the second annual YXH Conference. It’s been a great thing to continue to be involved with the conference. Last year we saw more than 30 of our students attend, and Levi and I were happy to get a chance to use our youth podcast to do conference breakouts where we interviewed Peabod and a couple of the conference speakers.
In the fall of 2024, Davis Pomrenke joined our youth team and has been an incredible help within the area of youth worship. He’s been building new worship teams made up of our teens, and he’s been encouraging them and equipping them as they learn instruments and grow in their skills. He’s also been bringing in worship leaders from around Medicine Hat to share their stories and skills with our students. This has been a huge area of growth for our youth ministry.
Last, but not least, we are incredibly thankful for our amazing youth ministry volunteers. God has been so faithful to provide us with a team of leaders who we can trust and who genuinely care about seeing our students grow in their faith. We couldn’t do it without them! Our team feels more like family than a group of individuals, and it’s a blessing to get to do ministry with each one of them!
Thank you so much for your prayers and support of our youth ministry. This is an area of our church where we are continuously seeing God at work, and we are thankful to get to be a part of it!
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