Youth Ministry Announcement

Beloved Parents and Families,

Christ is in our midst!

This year has presented a number of unprecedented challenges for our families, and, particularly, our families’ relationship with our Church. For many of us, we never would have expected to find ourselves sheltering-in-place for such a long duration, or facilitating distance our child's distance learning in the 2020-2021 school year. Furthermore, many of the iconic, mainstay events and ministries, central to the life of our community, have not been viable due to current local and state health guidelines. We mourn that loss, and we look forward to the moment we will be able to be reunited as a community. Until that time, it is incumbent on all of us to find a path forward.

This fall we have an opportunity to work towards developing the life of the Church in our homes. As a community, we will be facilitating a number of online ministries for our youth and young adults. This email is all about those ministries! These ministries are an opportunity for your child to remain close to the Church, continue to develop a relationship with Christ, and with their peers. Parents, these ministries will not find their fullest expression and impact without your guidance and support.

Ascension Youth Ministry

Our youth will be meeting by age range. Each of the following ministries have their own page on our website with all the information you will need to get your child or teen started. Please register your children for each ministry so that we can admit you to our Zoom meetings and reach out to you directly.

Sunday School
1st - 3rd Grade

JOY
4th - 6th Grade

Jr GOYA
7th - 8th Grade

GOYA
9th - 12th Grade

This year our GOYA will be broken out into a Jr. GOYA and GOYA. This is because our high school GOYA members will have a special age-appropriate program called the Relationship Project. This special ministry will help us address pressing and important topics for our teens like relationships, our relationship with God and identity.

The Relationship Project

Parents: your high school GOYAn will need workbooks to participate in the Relationship Project. You can purchase the workbooks here. There will also be an informational meeting on the Relationship Project through the Metropolis of San Francisco's Family Wellness Ministry on Tuesday, September 22nd at 7 PM. Parents please register for this meeting by clicking on the giant button below. Contact Fr. Nick if you have any questions!

Young Adult and Parent Ministries

We also want to be a source of support for you and will be continuing several adult ministries and launching new ones. We have a new Young Adult ministry for those that have graduated high school and gone on to work or to continuing education. This group will meet the 4th Sunday of the month at 6 PM. Our first meeting is this Sunday, September 20th. If you are a young adult interested in attending--reach out to Fr. Nick! We've already got a great group who will be meeting!

One particular ministry we would like to invite our parents  to be involved in is our Foundations for a Faithful Home reading group. This reading group will focus on the life of our Faith in our homes. To frame our conversation will read a discuss a chapter from Blueprints for the Little Church: Creating and Orthodox Home.

We will meet on Mondays beginning October 5th at 6 PM. We hope that this ministry will be an opportunity to discuss how we can practically develop the life of the Faith in our homes, and discuss challenges that we are facing as families. We hope that you can join us!

Please do not hesitate to reach out to me if you have any questions, concerns or challenges that you are facing. No doubt this has been a unique year, with many unprecedented changes. Please know that we are here to help, assist you and are praying for you.

In Christ's service and yours,

Fr. Tom Zaferes and Fr. Nick Mueller