Youth Ministry off to a Great Fall

It’s hard to believe that it’s been more than 6 weeks since I joined FUUSN’s team. I’m thrilled to get to support Youth Ministry at FUUSN and to work with so many amazing youth and adult advisers. I wanted to share a taste of what we’ve been up to so far. A big part of this Fall has been focusing on getting to know each other and building a sense of community. In October, we started with a collective art project: a giant puzzle. Each person decorated and collaged their own piece of the puzzle. At the end of the meeting we put all of them together and reflected on how we all bring something unique to FUUSN and to Youth Group. At another meeting we did a “challenge activity,” where youth group members had to work together to solve a challenge. In this case, the challenge was crossing a giant “chocolate river” [ie. carpet] on “marshmallows” [ie. pieces of paper]. Some participants were told they were unable to see, some were unable to speak, but all of them had to work together to make it across. Activities like this one help us to explore challenges that come up when we try to solve a problem, and help us to prepare for working together in upcoming months to plan Coffee House and the Youth Service. For any of you who may not of heard of it, Coffee House is a youth talent show that FUUSN Youth puts on in the Spring that showcases the talent of youth across Newton. We kicked off planning for Coffee House in November and celebrated by cooking and eating pizza together. As we transition into Winter, I am excited to see Coffee House come together, and to continue to get to know all of the amazing young people involved at FUUSN.                                                                   Dani Patrick, Youth Programs Coordinator