We love and value youth at Cornerstone!
Check out our 2008-09 Year-in-Review below:
COMING UP:
~ Thanksgiving Variety Show ~ New Year's Eve Lock-In
Ecclesia
Cornerstone's Youth Group is named "Ecclesia Youth" which is a term derived from the Greek root ekklesia [εκκλησία], which literally means a "gathering" of citizens. Ecclesia Youth strives to be a safe place where youth can gather as a community (or a group of citizens of God's Kingdom) to share the struggles and challenges they face in their lives. Our deep desire is to help them come to a place of sincere, knowledgeable, and growing faith in Jesus through personal relationships with mentors and peers.
Gather on Sundays
The Teens at Cornerstone are very involved with serving during the Sunday Worship Gathering. They usher, run the audio/video, play in the band, sing on the worship team, help set-up and take-down, run the Snack Bar, serve in the Kidz Room, perform dramas, dances, paint during worship and participate in the biblical discussions during the Gathering.
After the Worship Gathering each week there may be drama and/or dance rehearsal for upcoming performances.
Gather During the Week
During the week the teens and youth workers stay connected via email and social networking sites like
myspace and facebook. They also try to gather at each other's sports activities, theatrical performances and other events and activities.
We are working on training some of the older students in order to begin small groups that would meet outside of the Worship Gathering in order to go deeper into their relationship with God and with each other.
Gather at Lock-Ins
Ecclesia Youth Photos
One of the most effective events that Ecclesia Youth does is our overnight Lock-ins. We open up the Lock
-In's to youth ages 8-18 and we typically lock ourselves in the church building for 28 hours. Each lock-in has its' own theme and special activites. For example:
mymessages lock-in ~ We discussed & learned about the harmful effects of gossip
New Year's Eve lock-in ~ We hosted a Variety Show (fundraiser) & brought in the New Year together
Worship Arts lock-in ~ We studied & explored worshipping through the creative arts (esp. painting)
Teen Girls lock-in ~ We discuss the topic of sexual purity with girls ages 12 & up
Teen Boys lock-in ~ We discuss the topic of sexual purity with boys ages 12 & up
Bible Read-a-thon ~ We read the entire Bible in less than 24 hours (fundraiser)
Wisdom Quest ~ We learn & discover how to make good decisions.
Gather at Acquire-the-Fire
Ecclesia Youth looks forward to gathering with 4-5,000 other youth & youth workers at Cox Arena for a 2 day stadium event called Acquire-the-Fire hosted by Teen Mania. This event always challenges the youth to get closer to God, to stand up against the destructive culture and to be change agents back in their schools. The next event takes place March27-28th and the theme is "Here Comes Trouble."
Gather on the mountain at SEP So Cal Youth Camp
We have an awesome youth camp called SEP So Cal that we are a part of, in fact Cornerstone's pastors are the Camp Directors. At this one week camp with 180 youth, they grow deeper in their relationship with the triune God - Father, Son & Spirit, they make fantastic life-long friends, they learn about themselves as they participate in fun and challenging activities, they are mentored and equipped to take ownership of their own spiritual walk and they are encouraged to bring hope to a broken and hurting world.