Cultivating Lifelong Disciples

Published October 23, 2026
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What is it like walking into youth group at Christ Church on a Sunday evening? Some of you may have memories of your own youth group experience, or maybe you’ve never been to a youth group before. Perhaps the words “youth group” bring to mind crazy stories you’ve heard over the years about students being forced to drink a hot dog milkshake out of an old boot. While we do value fun as a way to help students break down walls and feel safe sharing the joyful and difficult parts of their lives with each other, we would never humiliate students or want that fun to come at someone’s expense.

So what is youth group like at Christ Church? We asked Landon Kooistra to give you a glimpse into what our 7th-12th graders experience twice a month:

“Youth Group at Christ Church is a mix of games, good food and great learning opportunities. We kick things off with dinner where we're all eating together which helps build bonds with each other as a whole group, then we split into smaller groups, one participating in games and the other having a lesson in the sanctuary. The smaller groups are especially nice for the lessons because you can more easily feel the sense of community and fellowship as well as feeling that you can ask more questions and contribute more because there's less pressure. Then we wrap up the night with worship provided by the recently established worship team where we are not just expressing praise, but we are opening our hearts to God’s Spirit, allowing him to form us. This combination of activity, food and worship strengthens and unites the youth community at Christ Church.”

Landon captured so much of what we’re trying to accomplish on a Sunday night: having fun together, fellowship over a shared meal, biblical teaching that isn’t just academic but helps students wrestle with how to embrace Christ from the heart and live out their faith, consistent small groups where students can be known and ask big questions, and a student-led worship team that casts everything else in light of our primary purpose of glorifying and enjoying God.

All of this requires a ton of volunteers! We’re grateful for the foundation that Roger Qi, alongside Joelle McCormick and other staff, helped build over the last 4 years, both in terms of recruiting volunteers and laying a gospel foundation for our students. Now we have Caleb Balaraju working alongside Joelle to disciple students and Jocelyn Miedema working behind the scenes as our Family Ministries Assistant. But even with an amazing staff in place, we can’t (and shouldn’t) do it all. We have a team of 15 volunteers who come to youth group to interact with students, lead small groups, and plan games.

And that’s just youth group. Another 16 volunteers teach our various 5th-12th grade Sunday School classes. Others help behind the scenes, volunteer to go to or host monthly fun events, or lead our students on fall and winter retreats, summer camps, serve days with community organizations, and mission trips. While all structured programs are crucial to what we’re trying to accomplish in the lives of our students, there’s also a need for prayer and relational discipleship outside of structured programming. Here is our goal for youth ministry:

Partnering with parents to cultivate lifelong disciples of Jesus who are known in community, know they are loved by God, and make the gospel known in every sphere of their lives.

Part of my role as Pastor of Family Ministries, alongside Caleb and Joelle, is to partner with and support parents. We’re also working to give our students more places to take ownership and serve the church (like Landon writing part of this letter, or the youth worship band, or our students serving in A/V or nursery, etc.). But we need your help so that our students can be known in community!

You may have heard the heartbreaking statistic that 50-80% of students who grow up in church stop attending church by the time they’re 29 years old. While church attendance isn’t the only marker of lifelong discipleship, it’s a big one. However, of those who remain, a common denominator is having 3-5 Jesus-loving adults besides their parents who invest in their lives personally. That’s where you come in!

You can serve our students by:

  • Letting us know you would be willing to host or attend a one-time event with students or be a leader on a trip or retreat
  • Volunteering to be a Sunday School teacher or Sunday evening youth group leader
  • Becoming a prayer partner who commits to praying regularly for a particular student (so far this has been our 55+ seniors, but we would welcome anyone who wants to pray regularly for a student)
  • Mentoring students by grabbing lunch or coffee, doing a book study, or cheering them on at their games or performances

In all of this, we have policies and guidelines to keep our students safe, as well as training and resources to help adults know how best to connect with students. If you’re interested in serving in any of these ways, please let me know and one of our youth staff will help you get connected!

And most of all, pray! Pray that God would work through all the various people of Christ Church to cultivate lifelong disciples of Jesus who are known in community, know they are loved by God, and make the gospel known in every sphere of their lives.