Where the youth and families are
Our families are almost all on the other side of the boat! They are still with us, and they are busy, with sports, jobs, families, sickness,….
When we started to reach out to them digitally, they were/are present and participating in:
Sunday morning KidZoom and SNAIL,
A private FB group that has grown to 28 families.
A 144-member mailing list of families and youth
As the world has normalized enough for onsite connections as well, this cohort leads the way in hybridity:
They are the regular openers of Soul Food and watchers of YT worship recordings
They attend the “Doing Differently” quarterly events on Saturday and Sunday afternoons
They are the attendees and leaders at Longest Tables and sandwich-making sessions.
Our youth go trick-or-treating for hunger, and took part in our Spirit Quest “Doing Confirmation Differently” group.
And it’s a two-way digital highway – intentional interactions are made by RevE, and me all the time. Young adults watch, support, share, remember and value our continued connection with them, often years later.
AND: 101 parents and caregivers have joined our mid-week Mini Connections private Facebook group. They found us through our social media’s consistent progressive, affirming messaging, or through a friend’s recommendation. Many of these parents of pre-schoolers are allergic to religion, and are pleasantly befuddled by gender-neutral bathrooms and pride flags…in a church building. Their numbers are growing as they evangelize about Cedar Park United’s space of welcome, sanity and safety.
Numbers: we are meaningfully, consistently connecting with 271 families,