Our Journey of Reaching Youth

Angeles & Vaughan led a weekly afterschool program, monthly events, and one-on-one mentoring to bring youth together from outside of our church. Pictured here are our students sharing in some ice cream together with them. 

Our youth are growing up in a complex world. Social media has dramatically changed how teenagers interact together by exposing them to a whole new level of peer pressure and online bullying. Mental health professionals report that a growing number of teenagers have experienced depression, loneliness, and isolation at significant levels. Researchers find that the number of school shootings have risen dramatically in recent years, which then creates an anxious expectation for our students to believe that they will experience violence and trauma in their day-to-day lives.

Our Youth Outreach Ministry called, ‘Casa Monarca,’ created a safe place for teenagers to grow and flourish with us. Angeles, who served as our Youth Outreach Intern, shared the following story to paint a picture that describes how our ministry has impacted our students as they faced challenges from their complex world. Note: Their names have been changed to protect their identity.

Cristina has faced numerous incredible challenges throughout her life, constantly moving from state to state and home to home, never truly feeling settled. Growing up in a toxic environment as the youngest sibling, she struggled to speak up and communicate with those around her. Making friends was difficult, but she always tried her best to support her mental health. Before summer, she met Elena, who has since become her best friend. Elena introduced her to Casa Monarca, which Cristina found fascinating but was initially too shy and scared to join due to her difficulty in making new friends and communicating with new people. However, when she came to Casa Monarca for the first time, she felt it was life-changing. The supportive environment provided her with amazing experiences and new friendships that made her feel loved and cared for without judgment. Each week, she eagerly anticipated the new experiences Casa Monarca would bring. This organization has helped Cristina heal from past traumas, build confidence, and develop her ability to communicate and stand her ground. She is incredibly grateful for everyone at Casa Monarca and all those who have supported this wonderful program, allowing her to carry these beautiful memories and experiences for life.

We celebrate what God has done this past year through Casa Monarca. Every week we saw anywhere from 5 to 10 youth come together to be invested in by our young adult team of Vaughan and Angeles through a weekly afterschool program, monthly events, and one-on-one mentoring. Significant memories were made with our youth through fun experiences like attending a Mariner’s Baseball game, going ice skating, and having a beach bonfire with s’mores. Teenagers like Cristina and Elena felt safe to share their story, to talk about things that matter to them, and to learn about the importance of sharing in a community of faith. Vaughan once shared something like, “Seeing Angeles invest in kids, and after having been a part of this program as a teenager herself, this was special. And then, to see how we were helping parents, who reached out to us was something to celebrate for sure.” But, perhaps the greatest moment of this past year was seeing a student leader get baptized, and to start going to their church regularly.

We continue our journey of reaching the youth of our community. We know that many families migrated from their their homeland to this unfamiliar place with dreams to build a better life for their kids. Yet our foreign-born parents report feeling between 30% to 50% less support than what native-born parents report feeling in regard to their ability to care for their kids, which we know is particularly difficult for teenagers. So our church launched into youth outreach in the fall of 2021 by partnering with Youth For Christ until their program ended in 2022, and we were asked to continue the ministry as ‘Casa Monarca,’ which was challenging to do without a youth leader. So in 2023, we hired a Youth Outreach Director, who worked closely with our Youth Intern to offer a weekly afterschool program, monthly events, and one-on-one mentoring until their program ended last month due to unforeseen challenges. Now we are praying about what is next for our church as we seek to support any and all parents, who are looking for a safe place for their kids and youth. We will continue to provide an intentional kids & youth program on Sundays for those inside the church, which has been growing and thriving, but we are not yet sure what it will look like for us to reach kids and youth outside of the church like we have been doing these past 3-4 years. In the meantime, we praise God for one family in our church, who is opening up their home this fall to youth from their local middle school and high school. And we praise God for a new member of our church, who is exploring ways to serve youth through Jubilee Reach or to start a sports outreach ministry himself.

Pray for our goals in this coming year. Our first objective is to hear from the Lord and follow what he wants for us. Our second objective would be to find a new leader or ministry partner, who we can come alongside and support as they seek to meet the needs of our foreign-born parents. Our third objective would be to secure the funding we have budgeted to continue this ministry, but in a new way. Our final objective would be to ensure this new outreach would work through the members of our church. Pray for us as we seek God’s will for our church, and as we endeavor to meet the needs of our foreign-born community.