About Our Youth
Whenever a child is baptized at Trinity, we each promise to: “… pledge our support to that child. Offer our love, our resources, and our faith so that he or she may grow and learn in the community of the church.”
Children's Ministry Program
Sundays | 9:30 AM (SEPTEMBER – MAY)
Children’s Ministry shares the love and promise of God with kids from age 3 years to 6th Grade.
At Trinity we strive to lift up the understanding that Faith is not meant to be a “school” subject to learn and file away, but the center of a person’s’ identity. We also intentionally have moved away from a “Sunday School” label because a child doesn’t have to enjoy or “be good at” school to have great faith. Our Sunday morning Children’s Ministry Rotation Workshop model shares the Bible stories through the senses: See It. Tell It. Make It. Move It. Taste It.
3 Year Old – Kindergarten
Each Sunday morning, loving teachers and shepherds provide our youngest Children’s Ministry participants with a place to learn about Jesus’ love and meet other children who will walk with them through the early years of their faith journey.
1st – 6th Graders
Sunday Children’s Ministry uses the Workshop Rotation Model. This way of teaching recognizes that different people learn best in different ways. A bible story or concept is taught for five weeks in five different ways (SEE iT, TELL iT, MAKE iT, MOVE iT, TASTE iT). Each week, children rotate by age group into a different “experiences” that present the Bible stories and faith concepts in different, fun and memorable ways.
For more information contact our Children’s Ministry Coordinator, Alyssa Brockman | trinitywestbendcm@gmail.com
The 2023-2024 Children’s Ministry Program will kick off on September 10th … MARK YOUR CALENDARS!
Youth Group | Programs
F<I<S<H<< is a youth group experience for 4th – 6th Graders, designed to help our youth connect with each other, their church and God in an atmosphere of fun, joy and acceptance. There is nothing that helps a youth recognize their faith as an important part of their lives as well as having it associated with friends, belonging and good times. It adds a deeper dimension to what can be accomplished in one hour a week of Children’s Ministry.
F<I<S<H<< meets one Sunday a month during the school year. Generally it’s a celebration of a holiday or season with a faith focus held in Trinity’s Fellowship Hall from 11:00 AM to 12:30 PM. The 90 minutes is filled with a light meal, themed games, prizes, activities and fun. Several times a year we go offsite for bowling, snow-tubing, etc.
Vision and Goals for 4th – 6th Grade Ministry
In grades 4 – 6 children’s friendships become more and more vital to their opinions, behavior, and self-image. 4th – 6th Grade Youth Ministry provides a vehicle for deepening and expanding the connections between children made on Sunday mornings. In this way, we seek to help our younger youth develop friendships with those who will be their fellow travelers in the faith through their confirmation, Senior High, and adult years.
Goals:
- Bring 4th – 6th Grade youth “peers” together on a regular basis for fun and group building experiences designed to encourage friendships.
- Provide opportunities beyond Sunday morning activities to deepen and enrich their faith.
Give our younger youth a sense of valuing each other for who they are to God, even when they don’t get along with each other.
First Communion Workshop
Fifth Grade | our young people learn about worship during their 5 week “Keeping the Promise” rotation. Along with this, they attend a (Friday evening and Saturday morning) “First Communion Workshop” with their parent{s}. This year they will receive their first communion on April 25th.
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Our 7th and 8th Graders meet Wednesday evenings throughout the school year from 6:30 PM to 8:00 PM. There are two full weekend retreats in Fall and Spring. There is also an overnight at a Hotel for our beginning 9th Graders. The 9th Graders attend Confirmation through the second Sunday in October, which is their Confirmation Day.
Using videos, discussions and activities, Confirmation ministry allows youth to explore and question the faith in the framework of Baptismal promise and Luther’s Small Catechism. The goal of Confirmation is to provide youth with the experiences, community, support, and information they need to decide if they WANT to make a spot for Christ at the center of their lives and to model that faith.
Senior High First Sunday
OPEN TO ALL 9TH – 12TH GRADE FOLKS
Throughout the year, there are monthly opportunities (usually on the First Sunday of the month) for our Senior High Youth to deepen their faith, friendships and ability make a difference in their community and beyond. This is a monthly opportunity to get together (sometimes at church, sometimes elsewhere) to share a light meal, and take a little time to renew ourselves as a child of God.
- Connect or reconnect with friends.
- Re-center yourself with a short, interactive worship experience
- Recharge your passion for compassion
There will be worship and service opportunities along the way that may include:
- Retreats
- Lock-ins
- Special Activities
- Summer Trips
- and fundraisers for summer trips
Summer Servant Trips
The Sr. High Summer Trip is an annual opportunity designed to give our 9th – 12th grade youth a chance to encounter a world and a faith that’s much bigger than just West Bend and Trinity Lutheran Church. In a community of fellow faith travelers, youth on the summer trip explore issues of faith and life through service, worship, community building, education and fun.
The Trinity Summer Trip ministry is designed on a 3-year cycle, with each year emphasizing a different setting in which our youth can “share the love and promise of God” YEAR A, is an opportunity to serve in the name of Christ in an outdoor, ecologically focused setting. The emphasis is on community building, discovering the wonder of God’s creation, and working together to care for God’s world. YEAR B, is an opportunity to serve in the name of Christ in an urban setting. The focus during this year is on developing understanding, respect and compassion for urban issues and the people that face them everyday. We serve in a variety of urban service projects, discover a variety of needs that are not a part of what we usually face and discover skills and passions we can develop to be God’s presence in a big city setting. And in YEAR C, the emphasis is on helping youth recognize that they are part of a powerful historic movement with many opportunities to grow and serve. It is in YEAR C that Trinity travels to the ELCA National Youth Gathering.
Thus, every summer trip includes aspects of growth, service, worship, community and fun. Our “Senior High Summer Service Trip” ministry provides so much more than a “vacation” for our young people. They are given important “eye opening” opportunities that can change their lives and the whole church.
