Youth Ministry
We were tired after a week in the Valley doing home repair and community service and sunburned from a day at the beach celebrating all that God had done that week…but we had Whataburger and each other and we were happy and so full.
The best way to stay up to date on youth happenings is to subscribe to our weekly email newsletter, The Rundown, where we detail all of our upcoming events for the week and beyond.
Summer U.M. ARMY Mission Trip
Mason, Texas, July 6th – 12th
TODAY you can register to attend our mission trip to Mason, Texas, where we’ll unite with youth from all over Texas to be the hands and feet of Christ by serving our neighbors in need while also having a super good time and growing our faith in both God and ourselves. What more could you ask for???
While camp costs $275 per participant, we only ask that families provide $100 per student and cover the rest of the cost through fundraising. Payment is not due at time of registration and scholarships are available.
This summer will be our 4th straight trip with U.M. ARMY and I can’t wait to see what God has in store for us in Mason.
Weekly Bible Study
Most Mondays (unless otherwise specified), youth from Northwest Hills UMC gather to kick it and read from the good book. Currently, we’re making our way through Ephesians.
This week, we discussed Paul’s revolutionary teachings on unity in Ephesians 2:11-21 in which Paul argues that, through Christ, all people have been reconciled into God’s family together. This text had a lot to offer us
We began by discussing the nature of in-groups and out-groups and what this teaching meant for the Gentiles to whom Paul was writing, as well as their Jewish counterparts in the nascent Jesus movement. We explored the purposeful nature of Paul’s words, comparing his reminder to Gentiles who were once “foreigners” to the covenant of God with the numerous commands in the Hebrew Bible for followers of God to love the foreigner and stranger among them. We discussed times when we’ve felt like foreigners or outsiders, the radical, community-changing nature of this peace that Christ has wrought between different peoples, and our call to welcome all people into the family of God. It was cool.
Next week, we continue with chapter 3.
Sunday School
This Week in Sunday School: Labels!
Humans are smart. We have big brains. Scientists and theologians generally think of this as a good thing…but sometimes our big brains get us into trouble. For example, our big brains are really great at categorizing and labeling things. This is a really great skill to have when you’re trying to figure out which berry is delicious to eat and which one killed Grog (Grog seems like a great cave-person name, RIP Grog), but it can be a harmful skill when it comes to how we understand ourselves and others.
So this week, after the Senior Sunday Reception in the Narthex, we’ll play a goofy game that helps us better understand the labels that we give to ourselves and others — both the harmful and the helpful — and we’ll look at God’s choosing of David to lead Israel to better understand how we can strive to see ourselves and others with God’s eyes.
Gather in the Bride’s Room at 10am.
Graduation Sunday!
SUNDAY, MAY 4TH
This Sunday, we’ll be honoring our graduating seniors in both the 9 and 11 o’clock services.
We’ll be hosting a light reception in the Narthex honoring our graduates immediately following the conclusion of the 9am service. All of our youth families are encouraged to come to worship to celebrate our graduates and wish them well as they get their Dr. Seuss on and explore all the places they’ll go.
Additionally, we’d love some help adding that special touch to our celebration with homemade desserts and breakfast foods for our reception. We’ll be providing a sheet cake and drinks. Please check out the sign-up genius link below to sign up!
City-Wide Lock-Out
As of the time of this writing, (April 29th), your local, Austin-area Methodist Youth Directors are hard at work finalizing our plans for this summer’s City Wide Lock-Out! As we get our confirmed and the vision we have for the night takes shape, this sign-up will be updated to reflect those plans — but we wanted to get this sign-up to y’all now so you could save the date and get our 2nd annual City Wide Lock-Out on your calendar!
You can learn more about the Lock-Out, including a rough outline of the evening’s projected activities, at the registration link below.
Sunday, March 23rd, 2025 – A DAY OF DOMINATION
After a Sunday of PURE DOMINATION, our youth are the REIGNING CHAMPIONS of the Greater Austin Area United Methodist Youth Annual Scavenger Hunt!
Tasked with completing a myriad of absolutely insane, and dare I say, at times, unhinged, challenges around the Domain and documenting them via photo and video, our youth stepped up to the plate and knocked the ball out of the flipping park!
We got makeovers for the Lord, we got our ears pierced for the Lord, some of us even begged for sushi from strangers for the Lord but no amount of public shame can tarnish the fact that WE ARE CHAMPIONS!!!
Congrats to Northwest Hills UMC Youth on being quantifiably THE BEST! Check out a few more pictures from this year’s Scavenger Hunt below.
