We welcome all youth who have completed sixth grade through high school graduation. We are Mission
Centered and focus on building relationships with youth and adults. Our Youth are a vital heartbeat of this
congregation. We participate and help in all church functions; Chicken Dinners, Fall Festival, all church
Thanksgiving meal, Bible School, Annual Meeting, we prepare and serve an Ash Wednesday soup and chili
supper and breakfast after Easter Sunrise Service. Every fifth Sunday is Youth Sunday. On these Sunday’s we
usher, light candles, do the scripture reading, and pick the songs for worship. On any given Sunday you will
find youth participating in worship service in one way or another. We light candles every Sunday and help with
Sunday School.
Every summer members of the congregation send us “work requests”. These are things they need done at
their homes that they are unable to complete on their own. They provide the supplies and we supply the
manpower. We clean yards, rake leaves, clean gutters, trim trees, you name it we do it!!
Some of our favorite youth events include a community Trunk or Treat. This event is free for our community.
Members of our congregation decorate their trunks, the kid’s trunk or treat for candy, we have games, face
painting, cotton candy, popcorn, and we serve a meal to everyone that attends. Those in attendance vote on
their favorite car and we award prizes the following day during church.
At Christmas, our church gets names from our local Peace Pantry of families in need. St. Martin’s shines at
Christmas!!!! We spread Christmas Cheer for approximately 100 local families by providing them with
presents and a turkey for dinner. The youth pick a large family with children, we shop, and wrap presents with
pretty paper and bows. We help on the day these are distributed; this is one of our favorite things to do. It is
so exciting and wonderful to see their parents smile and sometimes cry when they pick up their gifts. They are
so grateful, and we are happy to help. We also bake cookies for our church choir to deliver as they make their
rounds to our shut ins and those in nursing homes to sing and spread Christmas Cheer.
Every other year we go out of town for a Mission Trip. To places like Bayou La Batre, Alabama, and Niagara
Falls, next year we plan on going to the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Carolina. We serve the community
through work programs including yard work, painting, cleaning, and providing a program for the area youth
every day. We have learned that people are the same no matter where you go. Communities are our partners,
friends, and the places we serve. Throughout our partnership with a community, we listen closely, speak
carefully, and serve humbly. By listening closely, we can learn and understand the real needs that a
community has. When youth serve on a mission trip, they get to be a part of real change by participating in
the work that God is already doing in that particular community. We call this Respectful Service. 
Also, every other year we host a Box City overnight on our church lawn. We get boxes of all sizes and shapes
and “build” our homes for the night. We collect small toiletry items and make bags for our area Homeless
Youth Initiative. They include toothpaste, toothbrush, deodorant, soap, socks, shampoo, razors, shaving
cream, and other personal items.
One of our conference camps is Shannondale. It is in Shannon County near Salem and Eminence. Our youth
leaders plan and lead a youth Canoe Camp every July. We have other churches throughout the state that
participate. We spend a week together, worshiping, singing, and canoeing. We have morning vespers on the
beautiful Current River and evening vespers around a campfire at Timber Lodge. It is a week of unplugging,
meeting other youth, and spending time in God’s wonderful creation.
We believe; when youth and communities connect they join in the bigger story of what God is doing in the
world around them. We strive to provide meaningful Christ-centered activities for middle and high school
students that broaden perspectives, ignite passions, and expose possibilities to inspire youth to grow.