A Covenant of Respect:
Youth group can be an awesome experience. There can be fun, bonding, learning, and the chance to go deeper in your faith with Jesus. Youth group should be a positive place, where anybody and everybody are welcome. It should be a sanctuary, where youth can come and not have to worry about if they will be accepted or not. A person should not have to be afraid of the people around him or her. A person attending youth group should know that they will be accepted here and that they will be loved. Youth group is also a place where youth can come to focus on God, learn about God, and be encouraged to stay on the straight path of God. With that being said, there are some ground rules that we all must follow to ensure that youth group remains a God-centered sanctuary.
- All cell phones will be turned off and kept in your pocket while we are meeting.
- There will be no public displays of affection while we are meeting.
- There will be no teasing, picking on, or making fun of anybody.
- There will be no kind of intimidation, physical, verbal, etc.
- Each person shall be called by his or her first name or last name, if given permission. No nicknames and no joke-names.
- There will be respect for all. We will be nice to each other, acknowledging each other’s presence, and we treat each other the way we each want to be treated.
- When someone is talking, all others are expected to remain silent and listen.
- When someone shares a personal story, their story remains in this room. It shall remain confidential and private.
- When we are in a time of worship, if you do not wish to sing, that is fine, but there will be respect for both the reading of Scripture and the singing of songs. So, no talking or goofing around.
These rules have been formed to help create an environment and atmosphere of respect, love, dignity, and Godliness.
As our dear brother in faith, the apostle Paul wrote in Ephesians 4:29-5:2:
Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption. Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, and be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you. Therefore, be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
-First United Methodist Church Youth Group