Youth Hike

Urban Hike

Is hiking a grueling trail in the nation's fifth largest city an oxymoron? That's what our kids thought when Nes told them he was going to take the senior high discipleship group on a hike in Philly. "We thought you were going to take us to Hunting Park," remarked one of the teenagers about a neighborhood park where dogs take walks, kids play basketball and street hockey and drug users shoot up. Little did they know that just 15 minutes from their neighborhood they would find a challenge and delight without leaving the city.

Nes began a new type of "youth group" for the senior high last fall. We found that we had a core group of kids who needed to grow deeper in their relationships with Christ. So we changed the format of youth group to be that of a discipleship group. It includes deeper studies into how Christ wants us to live. We also want to instill a sense of love for our city and community and a desire to transform it. The kids will be involved in service projects like cleaning the church, making repairs, and working on a garden lot.