Over President’s Day weekend every year, Emmanuel’s students travel up to Forest Home to participate in their Opportunity to Serve (OTS) program. This year we had a blast and we would love for you to hear a bit about it! We love doing OTS. The trip is actually a great avenue to get at the things that we try and accomplish as a group!

 

But first let me share about the nuts-and-bolts of the trip.

 

Instead of participating in Forest Home’s programming, we assist the kitchen staff and serve the campers who are attending Forest Home. This means set-up and clean-up for all the meals of the day, walking around with water pitchers to swap them out with empty ones and others’ tables, clearing tables and sanitizing them, serving in the buffet line, mopping and sweeping, and a few other things that come up. As you can imagine, this takes a lot of time!

 

But, the beauty of that time is that we get to spend it together.

When I asked the students what they like about this trip, here were some of the responses:

“It is fun to make friends with people you usually wouldn’t make friends with. And just like getting to know everybody better.”
“It was fun hanging out with the buddies.”
“A great way to strengthen friendships, and make new ones.” (One student jokingly chimed in, “and break them.”)
“It’s a great way to make new friends and discover more about yourself.”
“It’s an opportunity for you to grow closer with Christ and people around you.”

 

So, what do we try to accomplish as a group? There are two things that control the philosophy of ministry.

 

1. An Inch Wide and a Mile Deep

 

This is actually the headline on the website for the youth. We think it is very important. It is a subversion of the phrase you have probably seen before, “a mile wide and an inch deep.” Instead of being a group about trying to grow numerically, we are a group about trying to grow in how deeply rooted we are in Jesus and Jesus’ community.

 

This way, when new students do come, they are rightly attracted to the beloved community of support and trust, not some special program. OTS helps us grow deeper as a community as we serve alongside one another and invest in one another throughout the weekend. This year it was also a great opportunity to invest in some new friends who hadn’t been on a trip with our group before.

 

2. 70, not 7

 

The other controlling concern is that we would think primarily not about the students’ 7 years in the youth ministry, but their 70 or so years after it. Most of these students will leave after high school. It is unlikely that they will plant in Thousand Oaks once college is completed, if my experience with my friends is any indicator (it is so expensive to live here!). That being said, they will live a life with Jesus and Jesus’ community for significantly longer than they will their time here at Emmanuel.

 

So it is important, in my estimation, that we form them to create attachments that they can carry with them for those 70 or so years. It is likely that they will remain closer with their friend group over those decades than the will with me, or their Sunday school teacher, or one of the pastors. As ideal as I’d like it to be about my ability to keep in touch, I don’t want to be naïve!

 

Their relationship with the Church must reach much deeper past just me or any other leader. In fifteen years, we want them to have built a community of support in the church that transcends Thousand Oaks. Any trip that helps foster that beloved community is of great value to us.

 

As many of you at Emmanuel know, our students are fantastic.

 

They have big hearts, really care for each other and the community, and are intimately a part of this church. When we baptize children in our church, we say as a community that we will support that family and their child. We appreciate all the ways you all integrate us into the life of the church. We appreciate your prayers and support, and we appreciate that students from various backgrounds and levels of belief and disbelief have been able to call Emmanuel their church home.