Teens Discovering the Way of Christ
One of the most pressing concerns of the church today is how to reach young people. Valerie McHatten and Joel Mercer have devoted much time and prayer to this question in their more than 20 years of serving youth ministry.
Having encountered Jesus through a vibrant youth group in their teens, they know how essential a youth group that is firmly rooted in the teachings of the Church is during these formative years. So, in 2014, these two friends started a youth group at the former St. Peter's Church in Saint John. But responding to the call to help form young missionary disciples would not be without its challenges. The first came in 2018 with the closure of Saint Peter’s Church in 2018, prompting a move of the youth group to Saint Mark’s Church in Quispamsis. And the second came in 2019 with the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. “After Covid we lost all but 5 teens,” Valerie said. “We knew we needed a change.”
In the summer and fall of 2024, Jim Anderson, Director of Missionary Discipleship Formation, and Patricia Lee, Director of Catechesis, hosted “Visioning for Youth Ministry” sessions for anyone with a heart for youth ministry in the Diocese of Saint John. Valerie and Joel attended these sessions and began the process of seeking the Lord’s will for the youth group. “Through the leaders’ discernment, we decided to move to a Saint John location,” Valerie said. They assembled their dedicated team, and with the help of some local lay-leaders, recruited some member of the Saint John Young Adults community to help, and “The Way: Faith Study” was born.
The Way is a faith study for high school aged students that meets every two weeks at Paroisse Saint François-de-Sales (77 Ragged Point Road in Saint John). Each session begins with a meal, games and fellowship, and then breaks into small groups to explore their faith with the help of CCO Faith Studies. The response has been very positive, with numbers steadily growing each week.
Training and empowering young people for leadership is another goal of this group. “The idea is to eventually have a revolving ladder where new leaders take over and current youth join the Youth Ministry team,” Valerie said. “We also hope to eventually build a core team and have high school student lead middle school ministry with supervision of adults.”
