United Church News
November 2001

Junior High Youth Event

Article from United Church News, November 2001, page 1

More than 200 junior high youth from four of the Ohio Conference’s five Associations sang and danced, laughed, acted in skits, created individual pieces of art, met some new people, worshipped and—just maybe—learned something about hearing God’s call in their lives at the Conference-wide youth event, Start Something, Too—God’s Calling You, on October 21.

Lakeview UCC, Maineville (Southern Ohio Northern Kentucky Association); Grace UCC, Lancaster (Central Southeast Association); Avon Lake UCC, Avon Lake (Western Reserve Association); and Trinity UCC, Tiffin (Northwest Ohio Association) hosted the programs that were inspired by events held for high school students last spring at Pilgrim Hills Camp. The three-day spring events, sponsored by Eden Seminary, were called Start Something—God’s Calling You. Their success prompted Conference youth leaders to offer a similar program to junior high students but to hold simultaneous events on a Sunday afternoon in churches closer to home in each Association. The Eastern Ohio Association held their event at St. Paul’s UCC, East Canton on November 3 [after press time], the weekend the Association has established for their fall junior high event.

At each location, the young people gathered around tables with colorful fabric pieces and fabric paints to create personalized squares for an Association banner. Laid out together, the completed squares resembled a brightly-colored quilt decorated with each artist’s name and drawings. The individual squares will be sewn together, and the five completed banners will be displayed together at the Ohio Conference 2002 Annual Gathering at Heidelberg College, June 13-15.

Speakers at each location began the meetings by talking to the participants about God’s call and some of the people who have heard and answered it.

Start Something, Too offered a choice of workshops at each church. Leaders whose vocations or avocations ranged from drama teacher to clowning to naturalist, from AIDS activist to Habitat for Humanity volunteer, shared their sense of call and mission with the young people. Workshop topics involved things young people might be called to do or to be. Social action and mission groups talked about AIDS, diversity, Habitat for Humanity and SARA (Sharing America’s Resources Abroad), the Ohio Conference international mission program. Leaders in environmental workshops talked about energy conservation and protecting wildlife and their habitats. In Lancaster, the young people who chose the environment workshop learned more about some of Ohio’s wild creatures. They also had the chance to get close to some small animals brought in by leader Greg Wittmann.

There were workshops on Bible stories, planning worship, and creating videos. At Avon Lake, video workshop leader Dave Howell told the youth about Pryme, the Cleveland-area program he organized to recruit and train youth to effectively use creative writing and electronic media production.

At Maineville, Danielle Fowler captured the afternoon’s activities with a digital camera. The resulting slide show was a hit as the young people got to see themselves on screen at the end of the day.

The Western Reserve and Northwest events had drama workshops. At Avon Lake, leader Kristy Ostrica engaged workshop groups in creative activities designed to get the group members involved and comfortable with each other. The workshop ended with a role playing game where participants improvised the actions of people of different ages walking to a bench and waiting for a bus. The actors were not allowed to speak. The rest of the group had to guess from the actor’s movements which person was portraying a 2-year-old, a teen, or a centenarian, for example.

Music—from upbeat hymns to praise music to contemporary tunes—played a part in the day’s activities at each church. Participants at Tiffin and Avon Lake enjoyed live music from contemporary bands. The song leader at Maineville linked the group together into a ‘train’ that circled the room to "The Locomotion." In Lancaster, participants marched to the South African freedom song, "We Are Marching in the Light of God."

At the end of the day, young people and adults shared a meal (hot dogs were a popular menu item) and fellowship around the tables. Youthful enthusiasm and spirit, the hospitality of the host churches, and the leaders’ inspiration and guidance combined to create a successful day.