Niagara Deanery Youth Group
What we're all about: The purpose of the Niagara Deanery Youth group is to provide the opportunity for youth from local Episcopal churches to gather together. All youth from grades 6-12 are welcome, no matter what your religious association. At our monthly meetings we have fun through games and activities, share praise and reflections, and of course eat together! We also strive to help our community through various outreach projects during the school year.

Meetings: 2nd Sunday of the month 4pm- 6:30pm We always have dinner! Locations rotate through local Episcopal churches.

Click Here for "A View From Our Youth" by Sarah Harrington

High School Aged Youth!
Don’t miss the opportunity to meet
our presiding Bishop Katherine Jefferts Schori
@ Diocesan Convention this October 29th & 30th. 
Applications to apply for a chance to be a Deanery youth representative for Convention will be available soon!  Check www.eyouthwny.org for details!

Deanery Youth Group 2009-2010 Calendar
Join us for a year of fun, friendship, sharing, and faith!
All youth in 6th-12th grade are invited and encouraged to bring friends!
Click here for Activities and Dates...

To learn more about youth events in the diocese go www.eyouthwny.org.

~ Calendar ~

Updates Coming Soon

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A View from Our Youth ~ Deanery Youth Group

Three years ago after graduating with my Bachelor’s in early childhood education, I took on the challenge of being the Niagara Deanery Youth Missioner.  This was a big shift for me, as I had spent the previous 5 years working with young children, and focused on academics and college life.  So, as I was thrust into the “adult world” I was called back to my roots, the church, with a chance to share my faith with the emerging youth of our deanery.  I was excited by this opportunity because my own middle and high school years in the church had led me to discover and form my own deep spirituality.  I was also very nervous because I knew what kept a kindergartener’s attention, but I wasn’t so sure about how to excite the adolescent crowd.   Now, thanks to the commitment and energy of both the youth and young-hearted adult mentors, I can look back and say that we have had a great time together as the “Niagara Deanery Youth Group”.  During this time I have watched many of our youth grow and develop in their faiths and lives.  Some have graduated and moved on to serve our country or go to college.  Others have moved out of their comfort zones and participated in larger Diocesan youth events, opening up a whole new world of “the church” to themselves.  Together we have grown in friendship and faith.

As our deanery continues to evolve and stay committed to youth programs we have decided to try a different approach.  Instead of a “youth missioner” and monthly meetings we have created a “Deanery Youth Ministry Team”.  This group of youth-minded volunteers will collaborate to provide a few deanery-wide youth programs during the coming year.  I pray that you will continue to support the youth within your own parish as well as these programs.  I believe that while it is important to cultivate the spirituality of our youth at the parish level, it is also necessary for youth to meet as a larger community.  My own experiences as a youth outside of my church infused in me a passion for sharing my faith and being involved in the church.  Meeting youth and priests from all around the Episcopal church and seeing the many differences that come together to make us a Christian community has made me assured that no matter where I may travel or go in life there will always be an Episcopal community that I can feel welcomed in.

Thank you for all of your support.  I look forward with excitement to the new future of our deanery youth programs! 

With peace,
Sarah Harrington

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