I can’t believe it and I know you can’t either, but our children are growing up! I have been a student pastor many years and never thought the day would come when a child of mine is in my own student ministry, but here we are. I am excited for this new season in your and your students lives!

For most of you, your kiddos last Awana night was this past Sunday and may be asking the question - “What’s next?” So what I wanted to do for you parents is answer some questions you may have about the student ministry here at WBC as well as inform you of the future plans.

What is Student Ministry?

  • The Mission of the Student Ministry at Westport Baptist is to meet students where they are at in their journey of life and disciple them towards maturity in Christ. We do that through intentional scripture teaching and worship, as students are presented with the Gospel and challenged to live their faith in meaningful and impactful ways. 

  • Student ministry is for those grades 6-12.

What does Student Ministry consist of?

  • Our main gathering time is Sunday evenings 6-7:30 in the youth building.

    • This time consist of - worship, small groups, teaching.

    • Worship - We will be led by our student worship team through 2-3 worship songs to open our night.

    • Small groups - After the teaching time, we will break into small groups where we will be able to dive deeper and draw out more practical implications for those within the small group.

    • Teaching - 95% of teaching will be going both expositionally and exegetically through books of the Bible. We’ve taught from beginning to end books such as James, Daniel, Galatians, John, Jonah, and currently about to wrap up 1 Corinthians.

      • With this style of teaching, there is not a verse that is missed, which means there may be some sensitive topics taught on, that our students most certainly are dealing with or will deal with in the near future.

      • When/if we are approaching an area of scripture where a sensitive topic is dealt with, I will inform the parents on this in order to give them an opportunity to either a.) be prepared to speak further with their student or b.) hold them out if they think their student may not be quite ready for that particular topic.

  • Sunday school - Once the new fall semester comes around, Sunday School will transition and we do have youth Sunday School in the youth building every Sunday morning. If you would like your student to go ahead and make this transition over the summer that’s completely up to you and them.

  • Events - Our goal is to have some type of event monthly. I will include this past years event Calendar that I give out each fall to our students. Please understand that the prices are close estimates and may be subject to change as well as the dates themselves. We attempt to keep both dates and prices very close.

    • For instance, as you will see on the calendar, Camp was ‘scheduled’ for the month of July. We are not told until Nov what week we’ll get in. This year we got in week 1, which is the very first week of June. So, we will be switching Camp with our whitewater rafting. All to say, we attempt to stay fairly accurate with what we send out.

When will my child become a part of the Student Ministry?

Because of the craziness and lack of gatherings on Sunday nights throughout May (Mothers Day/Memorial Day), students going to camp the first week of June, THEN Father day….your Childs first official night will be

Sunday, June 22nd

That night we will be having pizza, drinks, games, and more. One thing I always express to our current students is INVITE FRIENDS! Whether it’s an event or a gathering the more the merrier. So starting on night one, they are encouraged to invite their friends as well.

The first event they can attend will be whitewater rafting on July 12. More info will be given to the entire student ministry mid-June.

Lastly, I am pumped for these rising 6th graders. As I look back on my own life I am reminded how the Lord used the student ministry I was in as such a pivotal and fruitful season and it’s my prayer that He will continue to bless your children through this ministry. If you have ANY questions at all, please do not hesitate to reach out to me.

CLICK HERE to see what I send out to parents/students as an event is approaching. The calendar is included at the bottom of that page.