PAST CHURCH ACTIVITIES
Serving at the Homeless Center
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Youth Group at the Homeless Center (7)
The youth came out in force to serve the community. Literally. They not only served lunch to at the homeless center, but helped clean up. They look great in hair nets!
Pastor: Fran Lane-Lawrence
Having served for several years as Executive Director for a non-profit Presbyterian community center, Pastor Fran has a heart for community ministry and mission beyond the walls of the church. “We live in times when people aren’t coming to the church. The church has to go to the people if we are to give witness to Christ.” She believes serving God is about hearing God’s Word and having the courage to go into the world act upon that Word.
Pastor Fran, a native of Kentucky, comes to Niles with her husband, David Lawrence, also an ordained minister in the PCUSA and her youngest son, Ross. She has four older children; Phillip, Jonathan, Donna, and Sallie. She is grateful to God for the opportunity to serve Christ’s church and is pleased to be part of the ministry of First Presbyterian Church. “It is a wonderful community of faith, rich with tradition, full of new ideas for the future and always ready to be transformed by God to serve God’s people."
The Big Mission Trip
Each year the junior and senior high youth groups embark on a mission trip to a community in the US that really needs their help. These are true mission trips to help those who have asked for assistance. Although the accommodations are spartan (often involving sleeping bags on a church floor), the sightseeing is modest (what can be seen from the bus window), and the weather may be hot and humid, the labor is hard, the friendships are for life, and God's world is improved just a little bit. What better way to spend a "vacation?"
Contact Arlene Richardson (269-684-2858) for more information.
Youth groups
Any youth grades 6-12 are invited to become part of a fun and meaningful group. The youth groups meet twice a month during the school year, starting in September. Activities last year included:
- Movie Nights
- Serve at the Homeless Center
- Westminster Worship/Coldstone Creamery
- Hayride at the Smith Farm
- Christmas Shopping Babysit
- Lock-in at the Church
- Air Hockey Tournament
- HeroSong with Big Daddy Weave
- Frisbee Disk Golf
- The BIG MISSION TRIP