One of the projects supported by the Champion Grant was this past summer’s Soul in the City, hosted by Grace Anglican Church in Fleming Island, Florida. Middle and high school students spent a week living in community together so that they can deepen their relationship with Jesus and focus on the needs of others. The week included full days of service, worship, teaching, and time for students to build new or deeper friendships. Students and their leaders served at not-for-profit worksites in two different counties completing projects ranging from yard clean-up to building relationships with children in the community. While the structure of the week is very similar to an overseas mission trip, Soul in the City is designed to support ministry and outreach locally. This helps young people realize that they are invited to live life on mission, even and especially where they live.

Soul in the City 2022 had representation from fourteen churches across six denominations. 61 students were registered, and many students shared about the impact the week had on deepening their relationship with Jesus. Jack McNeil, the Director of Youth and Families at Grace Anglican, shared that “students shared  powerful spiritual breakthroughs regarding healing and forgiveness (particularly from broken homes), and recommitments of faith.”

During a week of serving others and participating in the work that God is doing in a particular community, students are often able to experience the love of God personally in a powerful way.

Being surrounded by a Christian community was particularly powerful for the young people who participated in Soul in the City. Jack told us about an exchange student from Britain who experienced being around other  Christian teenagers for the first time during this trip. “By the end of the week, he was very emotional saying goodbye to the young men he built friendships with over the week. He was so thankful for Christian fellowship. He expressed being reinvigorated spiritually, and ready to share his faith back at home with greater  boldness.”

The Champion Grant helped offer scholarships to six students, which made the trip accessible to more families. If you are hoping to help young people engage in the mission of God, but need financial support for your ministry ideas, the Champion Grant exists to support trips just like this one.

This summer, the Jurisdiction of Armed Forces and Chaplaincy hosted a retreat for middle and high school students during their annual convocation. Students spent time with the rest of the jurisdiction during morning prayer, worship, and meals in addition to having dedicated time on their own. Throughout the retreat, students’ time together was focused on learning about and practicing prayer. Discussion often included challenging questions and a sense that many of these young people wanted to make faith their own.

This was the first time the JAFC hosted a program specifically for students, and their commitment to the emerging generation was evident in the way they welcomed students and worked to support parents. There was dedicated family time which allowed children, students, and parents to connect and process the events of the convocation and retreat.

For students, this time together was an important reminder that they are not alone in many of the challenges they face. At lunch on their first day together, one student said, “raise your hand if your dad is in the military” to which all the students raised their hands. Then he said, “raise your hand if your dad is a chaplain” with the same response. In seeing the humor here, this student continued to ask such questions as friends around the table started to groan and raise their hands. Even with something as small as this, it was a clear picture of the community that these students found in simply being together.

Spaces away from regular routines and rhythms allow us to pay closer attention to the relationship God is inviting us into. The hope is that this focused time away will empower students to continue growing in their faith as they go back to their daily life. This retreat gave these young people a chance to form new friendships with other Christians their age and gave them practical ways to deepen their relationship with God.

How might you create space for students to grow in their friendship with Jesus? How could the Champion Grant support your ministry ideas?