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About Youth and Their Families Ministry at Woods Memorial Church
“Empowering Youth and Their Families for Lifelong Discipleship” is the cornerstone that has inspired the leadership team, the youth, and their families. The Youth and Their Families Ministry at WMPC seeks to create a welcoming environment where youth are given opportunities to grow strong roots in their faith that will continue to grow well into adulthood.
In the midst of our programs and activities, we continually seek to be a relational community that passionately pursues ways to empower the leadership of our youth by providing pathways for them to become committed Christian leaders in the church and in the greater community. We focus on six specific areas:
There are many examples of service that make both our church and community proud. WoodsWork (WW) is the longest running youth and adult led mission trip at Woods. Woods youth and adults have partnered together for over 30 years to help serve communities all over the east coast. What makes WW unique is its leadership team of 12 youth and 6 adults. They work together for 9 months to plan every facet of the trip from start to finish (site selection, orientations, lodging, transportation, building plans, faith building programs and more). The WW team strives to serve God and the community through building homes and building faith. The trip lasts 9 days. In this time, over 75 youth will not only grow as disciples, they will help build three homes for brothers and sisters in need. This year’s trip has the WW team traveling to Union County, North Carolina.
Today, when youth in their 20's and 30's come back to visit Woods Church they continue to share testimonies about how WoodsWork helped impact their faith and their future for Christ and the good of others.
Another project on a smaller scale that support the local chapter of the Habitat for Humanity of the Chesapeake is called our annual Picnic Table Build. Both Middle and High school youth, with adult supervision work to build picnic tables for local Habitat families. This year’s group of 60 youth built 20 tables in one day!
High School youth serve the church and local community during Winter Relief week in early February. Woods Church opens their doors to the homeless in our area and the youth prepare and serve meals, mingle with guests and help with the daily matters of running a homeless shelter.
 Woods Church also has a thriving Families with Children Ministry serving the families with children ages 0 through 5th grade. This group encourages families to get involved with the issues of their community and world. Families have prepared lunches for the Lighthouse Shelter, collected Hygiene Kits for Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, created food baskets for our local food pantry, Serving People Across Neighborhoods, and donated socks to the homeless through the Arundel House of Hope. Another great example of this service was a Family Mission Night dedicated to Stop Hunger Now. Over 50 Woods families with children ages 3 and older helped to pack 3,000 meals helping to feed hungry children throughout the world!
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