Youth Ministry Article by Emma To
We are happy to welcome the youth back for a new year of Youth Group! Thank you for all of the love and support from the congregation. I am excited to be the new Youth Lead! As a former participant of Wesley’s Youth ministries program, I am grateful for the opportunity to give back to the program in this new capacity.
In the year after I graduated college, the Wesley community was warm and generous in welcoming me back, and they gave me the time to integrate back into the congregation. I was welcomed onto the awesome AV team, given the opportunity to help with the new church strategic planning, and even allowed to just sit in service every Sunday. During my exploration, however, I knew that helping with the Youth program was calling me back. It was a formative experience that taught me how to public speak, be a role model, think introspectively, and put others before myself. It has guided my values and actions in ways that I had not realized until years after I graduated. As the youth lead, I hope to be able to give these same opportunities to the youth. I want to build a welcoming place for all students and give them chances to build collaborative skills that will help them as they approach new chapters in their lives.
For this school year, we are using Wesley’s new strategic plan to guide us. We are currently in our unit about Love that Welcomes, discussing what that means to the youth and how we can love different communities in our lives. We will move towards a “Faith that Forms” unit in the winter and end with “Justice that Acts” in the spring. I also look forward to having the youth integrated into the congregation by serving as liturgists, helping with God’s Garden, and our continued involvement with Nikkei Matsuri and other cultural events. I also want to have the youth build relationships with the people of Wesley, so if you have any questions, ideas, or opportunities, please feel free to share them with me at youth@wesleysj.net.
I look forward to continuing the important work of all the previous youth directors before me, and a rewarding 2026-2027 school year!
In the year after I graduated college, the Wesley community was warm and generous in welcoming me back, and they gave me the time to integrate back into the congregation. I was welcomed onto the awesome AV team, given the opportunity to help with the new church strategic planning, and even allowed to just sit in service every Sunday. During my exploration, however, I knew that helping with the Youth program was calling me back. It was a formative experience that taught me how to public speak, be a role model, think introspectively, and put others before myself. It has guided my values and actions in ways that I had not realized until years after I graduated. As the youth lead, I hope to be able to give these same opportunities to the youth. I want to build a welcoming place for all students and give them chances to build collaborative skills that will help them as they approach new chapters in their lives.
For this school year, we are using Wesley’s new strategic plan to guide us. We are currently in our unit about Love that Welcomes, discussing what that means to the youth and how we can love different communities in our lives. We will move towards a “Faith that Forms” unit in the winter and end with “Justice that Acts” in the spring. I also look forward to having the youth integrated into the congregation by serving as liturgists, helping with God’s Garden, and our continued involvement with Nikkei Matsuri and other cultural events. I also want to have the youth build relationships with the people of Wesley, so if you have any questions, ideas, or opportunities, please feel free to share them with me at youth@wesleysj.net.
I look forward to continuing the important work of all the previous youth directors before me, and a rewarding 2026-2027 school year!