Dear Parents,

First of all, I would like to express my gratitude to you for entrusting me and the leaders with caring for your teens. It has been a joy to spend time getting to know them over our Sunday morning meetings. Thank you for allowing me and the leaders to speak into their lives.

This letter is to communicate our Summer schedule and cast some vision for Alive Middle School moving forward. Sunday May 7th, will be the last Sunday morning meeting of our Spring semester. This past semester your teens learned about the major theme of God’s rescue mission throughout the entire bible and how the church gets to play a role in it. We also took some time asking the question, who is Jesus. I believe God is stirring up thoughts in your kids regarding this question and what the answer will mean for their own lives. I’m praying with you that the Holy Spirit will guide them.

Now that the semester is over we will be joining Alive in most of their scheduled events. This includes Wednesday night meetings at 7pm for a time of worship and then, on most nights, a separate teaching and discussion groups. They will also be invited to the summer events like Alive Beach Day and bowling at Splitsville in Downtown Disney. It’s our hope that your teens will be able to participate in as many of these events as possible to further build memories and relationships. We will be releasing a Summer schedule shortly.

I would like to take a moment to highlight the Alive Middle School Retreat. This will be on site at Metro Life from the 26th-30th of June. If there is an event that becomes a priority for you this Summer please make it this retreat. We are praying and preparing for a week of God’s power. We will be seeing how there is One God, One Way, One People and One Mission. In addition to games, teachings and worship; we will be serving the church, members and the community. It’s my hope that your kids will not just have a great time but they would truly encounter Jesus. Please pray with me for this time.

This retreat does have a cost of $125 and we want to be sensitive to that burden. Because of this we are working on creating a few contexts where your teens can raise support. Please look for this to be communicated in the coming days on our webpage and in announcements.

Lastly, I want to touch on what is to come after this Summer. We asked for a year to see how the Sunday morning meetings would work out. I believe God has given us a unique context on Sunday mornings to capture the attention of the Middle School group. That being said, it comes with it’s own set of limitations. By meeting on Sunday mornings alone we lose a relational aspect that we believe is important to effectively and faithfully engage your teens. Due to time restrictions and the setting of a class room we lose the opportunity to ask deeper questions and build relational capital. Because of this I believe we will make a full transition back to Wednesday nights after this Summer.

I’m hesitant to state that we will have no more Sunday morning meetings moving forward because I see how effective this time can be. I love meeting teens who’s parents are just visiting the church and seeing your own teens inviting their friends. So I ask again that you pray with me for wisdom and that God would raise up additional Alive Middle School leaders through our young adults.

Again, I thank you for your partnership in the church and the trust you have placed in the leaders and me. We know that Alive Middle School ministry is both eternally significant and persistently mundane. It takes car rides, time, money and scheduling sacrifices to get your kids involved. We don’t take your investment lightly so we aim to be faithful with the time and events we have. Please reach out to me with any questions.

You brother in Christ,

Shane