ABOUT US

What is a youth group?

A youth group is a weekly evening program designed to make disciples. The youth group format usually looks something like this:

What kind of church is Eastgate?

Eastgate Bible Chapel is an evangelical Christian church. We are Protestant, not Catholic, and we are theologically conservative, not theologically liberal. The mission of our church is to glorify God in all that we do. See our Doctrinal Statement for more information about what we believe as a church.

What can I do on this website?

Lots of things! The primary purpose of the site is to provide a way for the parents/guardians of the students in our ministry to become informed about our ministry, updated about our ministry, and involved in our ministry. Probably the most relevant links for parents/guardians will be the Downloads, the Events, and the Calendar. But we've also created a page for you to gain Resources, look at Pictures and watch Videos of our ministry in action. Finally, always feel free to Contact the youth pastor with any questions or comments.

How early can students come to youth group?

Students can show up to youth group as early as 6:15pm. Please try not to drop off your students before then as the leadership team will be in a meeting and your students will not be supervised.

When should students be picked up from youth group?

Youth group officially ends at 9:15pm every time. We begin encouraging students to check (or call) for a ride at 9:30pm. You are obviously free to pick your students up before 9:15pm, but they might not get a snack if small groups go a bit long. You are free to let them hang out longer than 9:30pm, but be aware that leaders need to clean up after youth group and try to get on the road by 10pm.

If I have students in 8th grade can they do attend HSYG?

Please wait until your 8th grade student is in high school before he/she attends HSYG.

If I have students in 9th grade can they attend JHYG?

Please encourage your 9th grade student to attend HSYG. It is very similar to JHYG in format and content and is not as scary as he/she may think.

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What kind of events do you do?

We have a good variety of events throughout the year, from wild and fast paced JH events like the Indoor Campout (a one-night event where we bring camping inside the walls of church) or ShredFest (a one-evening event where we play tons of games using 60+ pounds of shredded paper), to outward-thinking HS events like the Night of Prayer for the Persecuted Church or the Day of Outreach (a service event where we do free yard work for our neighbors). Other events include beach retreats, evangelism conferences, Eagle Fern Camp, camping trips to the Cove, sledding trips, Guys/Girls nights, concerts, Bible Marathons, holiday parties, movie nights, the TCL Preview, and Spring Thaw.

How often does Eastgate's youth have events?

Besides the weekly event we call 'youth group' and the weekly worship service we call 'church,' Eastgate's student ministry has a new youth event once or twice every month. About 3-4 times a year these are major events, and about 8-12 times a year these are minor events.

Does youth group happen all year long?

Most years we take a break during the Summer season because Eagle Fern Camp is such a big ministry for us, so we tend to run youth group from September through June but have other events besides Summer camp during July and August.

What is the best way to get updates about this ministry?

The best ways to keep up-to-date about our ministry are to visit our Calendar frequently, and to sign up to receive our free monthly newsletter via email or snail mail. You can do this by filling out the form provided on the Contact page.

What is the mission of Eastgate's youth group?

Eastgate Bible Chapel's student ministry exists to make disciples of Jesus Christ of those who are 11 (6th grade) to 18 (12th grade) (Matthew 28:18-20).

What is a disciple?

Simply put, a disciple is a follower of Jesus. More elaborately put, a disciple is a person who has accepted God's free gift of salvation and has begun a personal relationship with the one true God through Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:8-9). This gift is made available only through Jesus' death on the cross (Acts 4:12). This is because even a single sin separates us from a perfect God so somebody needs to be punished for that sin (either us or Jesus) if we want to have a right relationship with God (Romans 3:23). All who turn from their life of sin and trust that God's kindness is what saves them and not their own moral goodness or religion are disciples of Jesus Christ who, at their core, love him and want to be like him (John 3:16).

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What are the values and objectives of Eastgate's youth leaders?

Above all, we value loving God and loving people (Matthew 22:34-40).

Loving God - To express our love to God we...

SING HIS FAME in worship (John 4:23-24)

SPREAD HIS FAME in reaching others (Matthew 28:19).

Loving People - To express our love to people we...

TEACH the Bible (2 Timothy 3:14-17)

LOVE and SERVE the Church (John 13:34-35; 1 Corinthians 12:12-30)

SHOW COMPASSION to the world (Galatians 2:10)

How do Eastgate's youth leaders go about making disciples?

We gather together in different forms throughout the week to...

Sing and pray to acknowledge God's fame
Read, study, and apply God's Word
Use our gifts to love and serve God's people

We scatter to different places throughout the week to...

Share the Gospel message with those who are unsaved
Live out the Gospel message to those who are uncared for

If the youth leaders don't get paid for doing youth group, why do they put so much time and energy into it?

God has loved us so well and given to us so generously that we can't help but love and give to others (1 John 4:19).

What do we believe about God, the Bible, Jesus, etc?

We believe God is a Triune (three-in-one) spiritual being (Father, Son, Spirit). We believe the Bible is God's inspired revelation of himself written down for us (2 Timothy 3:16). We believe everything is all about Jesus and that everyone should be all about Jesus (Colossians 1:15-20). See our church's Doctrinal Statement for more details.

What makes us different from other church youth groups?

Probably not much. We take our disciple-making mission seriously so we have a strong emphasis on helping non-Christian students begin a new relationship with Jesus and on helping Christian students grow to become more like Jesus from the inside out.

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