Journey to Adulthood

Students in grades 7-12
Sundays 9 AM to 10 AM
Located in the Christian Formation classrooms on the lower level

St. Timothy’s has long participated in the Journey to Adulthood Christian formation program as a means to explore the joys and challenges that God gives us in our lives.   Journey to Adulthood provides a solid foundation for Christian maturity for our 7-12 graders, their families and friends by engaging them in transforming relationships with God and each other; cultivating lifelong
habits of worship and service; and loving and nurturing them, as they become joyful disciples of Jesus Christ.

The program uses Bible study, prayer, rites of passage, outreach ministries and both serious and playful activities to underscore its core principles:

  • Manhood and womanhood are free gifts from God.
  • Adulthood must be earned.

The Journey to Adulthood program is broken down into three sections, each comprising two years.

Rite-13, for students in Grades 7 and 8, begins with our celebration of manhood and womanhood as free gifts from God, our Creator.  Junior High is the time when youth begin their discovery and understanding of what it means to be made in the image of God, both male and female, what it means to be a creative force in the world, and the responsibilities that come with freedom.  This transition through puberty is both demanding and exhausting!  Life to a young teenager is both tremendously difficult and intensely fun!  As a class, we start with building community, a safe place in which to explore and discover who we are becoming.  We’ll celebrate as members become teenagers!  We’ll look to the stories and traditions of our faith. We’ll pray for each other, listen to one another, and have fun with one another.  And as we create relationships with each other, we’ll also strengthen and deepen our relationship with God and our community.

J2A, for students in Grades 9 and 12, recognizes that at the end of Junior High and beginning of High School, young people begin to exercise their independence and start to explore who they are as individuals.  The questions “Who am I?” and “What will I be and do when I leave home?” are frequently pondered.  Developmentally, these young people are settling into the beliefs and behaviors that they will have as adults.  They are challenging – and sometimes seem to be throwing out — what their parents believe and forming their own ideas of God and their own relationships with God, religion, church, family…everything!  We will focus on what it means to be a young adult of faith.  What does it mean to be a Christian in today’s world?  Who has God called me and formed me to be? What are my spiritual gifts, my vocation, my ministry?

Over the course of the year, we discuss what it is that we believe and how we might express that faith in word and deed. We spend time trying out different ministry roles both in and out of the church.

Contact Jeanie Smith at 225-2020 or jeanie4816@yahoo.com