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Youth

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Welcome to Gravity Youth Ministries!

To make sure you stay connected with all that Gravity Youth Ministries has to offer, make sure to:

  • Sign up for weekly emails from Lucy

  • Text @fg8hb9 to 81010 for updates and text straight to your cell

  • Follow @GravityYouthMinistries on Instagram and Facebook!

-Lucy Swanson, Director of Gravity Youth Ministries


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PRAY.GRAVITY

Join us SOON for Pray.Gravity 2024, a month-long prayer movement, for the entire month of March, where we, the community of Central, are committed to intentionally be in prayer daily for our students. Pick up printed prayer guides as well as bracelets with specific names of students on them in the Atrium beginning WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 28. We look forward to praying together for the month of March and CANNOT WAIT to see what God does in and through our teens and community of Central! 

Please note, a student’s registration is NOT complete

until payment has been submitted.

 
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SUNDAY MORNING

In Person & ZOOM - 9:30

SUNDAY NIGHT

In Person- 5:30p - 7:30 (Dinner, Devotional, and Small Groups)

WEDNESDAY NIGHT

5:00p- 7:00p Dinner & Groups (Jr. High and Sr. High)

 

We are really interested in the activities you are involved in outside of Gravity, such as sporting events, music groups, recitals, performances, etc. We would love to come see and support you in those activities! We don’t know about any of those activities unless you fill out the form below, so please do so! Once you hit Submit, your information will be sent and you just never know who might show up to that event! Please complete the form with as much information as possible. Thank you!


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GRADUATING SENIOR RECOGNITION SUNDAY

We at Central, want to celebrate you and your family as you complete High School. this is joyous time to celebrate a huge accomplishment. We will be celebrating our graduating Seniors on Sunday, April 30th. Senior celebration and recognition are all voluntary. we just want to come along side you and celebrate your awesome accomplishment together. It does not matter if you have been at church almost every time the doors were open, or if it has been almost impossible to get you through the doors, no matter what - we want to celebrate you and your family. Please register for our Senior Recognition Sunday below. All registrations must be received by Friday, April 21st.


SCHOLARSHIPS

2022 Dates Deadline to submit forms: April 20, 2023 Senior

Recognition Sunday: April 30, 2023

Carol A. Mounts Memorial Scholarship

Established by the family and friends of Carol A. Mounts this one-time scholarship is to benefit a qualified high school graduating senior student entering an accredited four-year/two-year institution or accredited trade school. It was Carol's belief that the long-term moral, economic, social and political health of any society was based on an educated population. To that end this scholarship is awarded.

 

Les Oliver Music Scholarship

For 2023 Applicants, email an official copy (if available) or copy of their high school transcript complete with ACT or SAT scores, 3 reference letters, the completed full application page (available online) and a photo. (color or black & white is acceptable) All documents must be returned to the church by the deadline stated below, whether emailing to cblackwood@centralrogers.com or bringing physical copies to the main office. The scholarships will be awarded on Senior Recognition Sunday.

 

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Confirmation is open to students in 8th grade and above, and is an experience in which a student explores his/her faith in preparation for making a public profession of faith, and become a full fledged adult member of Central United Methodist Church. Gravity offers one session of Confirmation per school year, running winter through mid-spring. Mentors are the glue to our Confirmation experience, so this adaptation will continue to honor that and allow deep relationships to form between students and adult members of Central.

 

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We recognize that a huge element of student's faith is "getting their hands dirty," using the gifts that God has given him/her to share God's love with others.  Gravity offers a variety of opportunities: 

Ozark Mission Project

Join Gravity students and leaders as we love and serve our neighbors this summer in Arkansas through Ozark Mission Project!   

Trunk or Treat

Each Gravity Youth Small Group comes up with their own trunk (Trunks belong to the Small Group Leaders) while dressing up and passing out candy to the community!

Turkey Bowl

During the TURKEY BOWL Weekend, Teens from Central UMC and Rogers First UMC are encouraged to bring in canned and dry goods for the Grace Food Pantry.

In 2020, Gravity Youth students collected 2,056 Items (Total churches combined: 3,120 items)!

 

Created by God is the United Methodist human sexuality curriculum

for 5th -7th Graders. 

Created by God provides time for answering questions the students have about sexuality.  All questions and discussion are within the context of respect for one another and the faith that sexuality is one of God’s good gifts.  As with any gift, we are commissioned to be good stewards of that with has been received.

It seeks to

  • affirm growth and change as part of God’s plan for life

  • recognize and celebrate human sexuality as a good gift of God

  • suggest guidelines for love-filled relationships

  • challenge young people to assume responsibility for making wise choices

  • open the lines of communication between parent and child

“We recognize the continuing need for full, positive, age-appropriate and factual sex education opportunities for children, young people, and adults...The Church offers a unique opportunity to give quality guidance and education in this area. . .”

— United Methodist Book of Discipline, 161, The Nurturing Community, Section G, Human Sexuality

Created by God workshops take 8 hours of student/leader time.  Large group presentation, small group discussion, as well as frequent question and answer sessions fill the time spent together. 

Created by God is led by Karen Anderson (karen@hotelfox.com). Karen has many years of experience with tweens and has lead workshops all over the state each year and is one of only 3 certified instructors.

Space for these classes are always limited and anticipate to fill up quickly.  A waiting list will be established once the workshop is full.  Parents with students on the waiting list are encouraged to attend the mandatory parent meeting so their child can still attend if a last minute spot opens up. 

Our kids are so busy and/or probably won’t want to attend…

How do we get them to come?

It’s up to the parents to have the children come – parents make the decision for the children. I tell my own kids that some things are an ask and some things are a tell.  Created by God is a tell.

It is important kids get accurate, honest and biblically based information from the church in this safe, nurturing setting. It needs to be a priority over other weekly activities.

A child will never remember missing that one extra-curricular activity. This is a parent’s opportunity to use the Created by God workshop as a springboard to talking openly about human sexuality with his/her child for the rest of his/her life.

“It takes tact, grace, and wisdom to discuss these things with students without offending or embarrassing them or their parents. It is challenging but worth it. It is much easier for a middle school minister to teach a preventive message than it is for a high school minister to rewire students’ established bad habits. ”

— Kent Shaffer, churchrelevance.com

 
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“And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow him.  Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him.  Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.” - Colossians 2:6-7

College can be a very trying time for students and it can be tough to stay close to God with all the changes.  College Connection started in 2008 as a way to help keep our college kids encouraged in their faith walk as well as remind them that they are loved and thought about during the school year.  To this end, College Connection sends postcards, letters, and care packages periodically throughout each semester. 

Our first care package mailing for the 2016 school year went out the week of Thanksgiving – 41 boxes!

Students - If you are a college student from Central, please make sure the church office has your updated school address.  Please contact Amy Penny with details.

Parents – If you have a college student, please make sure the office has his/her most recent college address.  Call the church office at 479.636.1630 or send details to Amy Penny.  We are also in need of items to include in the care packages!  Ideas include: small snack items, gum and candy, hygiene items, fun items from the Dollar Spot at Target/Dollar Store, fun socks, novelty items, magazines, removable wall hooks, colorful sticky notes, reminders of NWA, powdered laundry detergent, fun pens, etc.  We also need help in covering the cost of postage.  Vendors – we can make most items work!  Donations can be turned in to Tami Stewart in the church office.

Thank you for your help – partnering with College Connection is just one more way you can keep the baptismal covenant of “surrounding these persons with a community of love and forgiveness that they may grow in their trust of God…”

If you have any questions or would like to volunteer to help, please call contact Tracy Hillis with the form below: