Events, Activities, and Focus for Winter 2023

Gatherings, Family Night, and Overnights

January 10th - Gather at 5:30 for Pizza and continuing to learn how to balance life and all its pressures.

Confirmation - One Step with the spirit

Our church will be holding a Confirmation Journey this year on Wednesday nights when we don’t have Youth Group. It is a time of exploring and digging into who God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit is, what is the church, how to be a Christian, the Bible, and many other parts of the the Christian Religion.

There are two ways in which to do this: one is to be the traditional route where youth take all the classes and have other assignments and explorations and join the church as a member at the end of the year. The second way is to look at which topics the youth wants to explore and show up for those times.

Classes at 6:00 pm downstairs in the Fellowship Hall.

Wednesdays time for renewal

Starting September 20th, the youth in 9th through 12th grades will have the opportunity to decompress and walk with Pastor Enno and other church leaders out in the community. The youth and their parents will have to sign a release from the school and a covenant with our leaders. There are three basics boundaries when with the group: 1. Stay in sight of the adults leaders (no going off by themselves); 2. No using smart phones or electronics (goal is be present with nature and with each other); and 3. Be compassionate (no harassing or teasing and respecting people and nature when out and about). Lunch will not be provided, everyone must bring their own.

Washington DC Trip 2023

Here is one article reported by our Minnesota Conference Staff about the trip. Click HERE

To Watch the presentation online, please click below!

Watch

Below is MJ Wharton giving testimony to Senator Tina Smith in a Senate Chamber Room.

Kyla Knapper

Hi! My name is Kyla and just this past week, I went on a trip to Washington, DC with the UCC (United Church of Christ). I am from Grand Marais, MN and collectively, there were two other youth and three chaperons that also went on the trip from Grand Marais. For me, the trip was a ton of fun and a good learning experience. Along with UCC churches from all over Minnesota and North Dakota, we got to visit museums and memorials such as the Holocaust Museum, African American Museum, the MLK Memorial, Korean War Memorial, WW2 Memorial, Vietnam Memorial and a few others. Throughout this trip, I learned how to meet new people and build connections. I learned how to talk to senators and congress people such as Amy Klobuchar, Tina Smith and Pete Stauber's legislative aide on issues about Gun Violence Prevention and The Farm Bill. From this amazing experience that I had with about 70 other youth and chaperones, I realized what it feels like to be heard by congress people and senators. One experience that I had with Tina Smith was when some of my peers were speaking on stories supporting Gun Violence Prevention. The amount of respect and care that Tina Smith put into her responses to us as youth was life changing. At that moment, every single youth that spoke with on the trip felt appreciated and acknowledged. My favorite thing about the trip was the team building and educating others on stories and experiences that we, as youth, have faced throughout our lifetime. I learned how to effectively do lobbying visits with politicians and further expand my knowledge on impactful historical events, like the Holocaust, to prevent issues like that from happening again in the future. Throughout my time in DC, I have a few things to take away. One is that I am extremely grateful for the donations and fundraisers that allowed me to go on the trip. Another is that as a church and a whole, the sense of community was really powerful/impactful. Last, DC was beautiful and I hope to go on youth trips to learn more about DC and politicians in the future.

MJ Wharton

The UCC youth trip to Washington DC was an incredible experience for me. One of the things that I loved about it was the lobbying work we did with state senators and representatives surrounding the Farm Bill and gun violence prevention. Within that process a couple of the youth were able to tell stories about our first-hand experience with the legislation. I had the opportunity to talk about how SNAP and WIC programs have positively impacted my family and community. My family runs a small farm outside of Grand Marais, and we attend the local market on Thursdays. This is a pretty unique life, but I was able to directly connect with the Farm Bill because of it. My story and the trip in general gave me an avenue to have an impact on this greater issue, and showed me the power I hold as a youth. Overall, this trip gave me new friends, an expanded worldview, and a sense of agency regarding our government. I’m incredibly grateful to all our donors for making this possible for me.

Cole Pederson

When I first heard there was an opportunity to go to Washington DC I was skeptical on if I wanted to or not. I thought that I would miss out on important things at home, or miss a baseball game or two. But having gone through the whole process of preparing, waiting and finally flying to the nation's capital, I am so glad I decided to go. Out of maybe 7 or 8 kids in our youth group, only 3 were lucky enough to go on this amazing trip; my sister, my neighbor Mj, and myself. Before we got on the plane to DC, I was under the impression that I would be sticking around those two people for most of the trip, I thought we would be a power trio from Grand Marais. But once I got on the plane and sat at least 3 rows away from either of them, things started to change. I was smack dab in the middle of a group of gids from the Duluth Peace church congregation. Right away, I knew this group of kids were gonna be my good friends throughout this trip. As the days progressed and we went through more and more experiences together, me and these kids from peace church really clicked. I also noticed that the assumption I had made before the trip was way off. My sister and Mj had found their people and I had found mine. But even though we hung out in different groups. Us three still became closer than ever on this trip. I think this was my favorite part of the whole trip. Even with all of the museums, memorials, and important legislature we met. The friends I made on this trip and the things we did together, also the bonds I deepened with existing relationships. Were the best part of the whole experience for me.