Junior and senior high students are well represented at St. Matthew's and are welcomed as valuable contributors to everything we do.

Education. During our Sunday education hour (9:15-10:15), youth meet with our youth minister and discuss their faith and issues relevant to them.  Additionally, they do a lot of other things. Among them:

• Getting together for hot chocolate and snacks befoe attending our Thursday evening Taize services.
• Visiting other churches for special worship services.
• Participating in summer mission trips through Group Workcamps to repair homes in a needy area.
• Attending the Cass Lake Episcopal Camp in the summer
• Going on ski trips and other outings together
• Participating in the Teens Encounter Christ program
• Participating in service programs like  CROP walk and gift making at the St. Barnabas apartments
• Being acolytes for church services and serving as readers and choir members
• Putting on occasional dramas and readings at services
• Participating in youth events put on by the Episcopal Diocese of Minnesota

New for 2008:  Youth Mentoring Program

St. Matthew's is initiating a new youth mentoring program, where each youth is paired with an adult mentor in their faith formation.  Our Youth Minister will be providing support with conversation topics, events, activity suggestions, and monitoring, with the expectations that each pair would meet one to two times a month.  The relationship would continue for six months and then the individuals would move on to other things or new mentoring relationships.  We look forward to establishing this program as a way to help both youth and adults deepen their faith and build community.

For more information about St. Matthews youth programs, contact our youth minister, Lindsay Thalacker.