New Directions will be starting its fall programs in just a couple weeks, but this year will see the addition of a new program for younger students.
Traditionally, the youth ministry has offered programs for middle school and high school students. But starting on Oct. 1, a program known as The Kid Connection will launch and is open to third, fourth, and fifth graders.
New Directions Director Mike Anderson said that it seems as though typical student issues are occurring now at younger ages.
“We feel like we need to get an earlier start ministering to the students,” he said.
Beginning in a couple weeks, The Kid Connection will meet every Thursday from 6-8 p.m. at New Directions, housed in the Greenfield Area Christian Center at 910 N. Fifth St.
Anderson said parents are welcome to hang around and meet the volunteers if they want.
The Kid Connection program will have a musical element, games and activities, and a teaching element, Anderson said.
“It’s a curriculum that will be pretty good, I think,” he said.
Anderson said that as far as he knows this is the first time the youth ministry, which was began in 1989, has offered a program for younger students.
New Directions’ youth programs and activities are facilitated with the help of about 40 adult volunteers, Anderson said.
The middle school program, Wildside, is set to begin at the end of September and will meet each Tuesday from 6-8 p.m.
The high school program, known as SALT (Student Action Leadership Team) meets each Monday at McClain High School during lunch. The high schoolers also take part in a monthly activity.
The ministry also offers life groups for student who “want to go deeper into their faith and in their relationships with others,” according to an announcement of the upcoming programs.
For more information about New Directions and the youth ministry programs, go to the ministry’s Facebook page or contact Anderson at 937-876-9868.
Anderson said that he and the adult volunteers “are very excited about the fall programs and reconnecting with the students. We are looking forward to a great year.”
Reach Angela Shepherd at 937-393-3456, ext. 1681, or on Twitter @wordyshepherd.
