Tualatin Presbyterian Church is a 300-member congregation outside of Portland, Oregon. For years we struggled to serve our young people and their families, following the only model the church had known: a youth director leading a siloed high school youth and volunteers teaching a traditional Sunday school.
Now, we have a new staff person who tends the whole family ministry from children to adults. Rather than a traditional Vacation Bible School, she takes kids on local field trips to build community. Instead of dividing our kids by classes, our children run as a pack using art to learn and interpret biblical stories. Recently, I did a sermon series based on the art the children made. And instead of playing games and hearing a lecture, our youth have conversations off-site while exploring their city.
By acknowledging the old model wasn’t working, we became open to what God’s wild Spirit might be doing. So far it’s working… and it’s fun.
– Ken Evers-Hood, pastor
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