2025-36 Schedule & Theme
This year we will be reading a book together: You Need Friends by Jake Thurston. Audio book will be available in September.
Fall 2025 Service Projects/Hangouts
September 4 - Kickoff
September 18 September 20 - Games @ Bluegrass Rehab
October 2 - Fall Break Fayette
October 16
November 6
November 20 November 22 - Serve Thanksgiving Meal
December 4 -
December 18 - Christmas Party
Spring 2026
January 4 - Ice Skating
January 15 -
February 5 -
February 19 - February 28 - Games @ Bluegrass Rehab
March 5 -
March 19 -
April 2 -
April 16 -
May 7 - End of School party
A Message From Next Gen Pastor Christina:
For those who don't know me, my name is Christina Embree, one of the pastors at Open Door, and for the upcoming year, I have the honor of leading the youth and young adults of Open Door Church and Plowshares Home Churches.
A little bit about me - I am passionate about discipleship for the next generation, especially connecting them to adults who love God and others. I hold degrees in children's, youth, and family ministry as well as a spiritual formation, but my heart is really in the local expression of godly discipling communities. I am looking forward to hosting our youth and young adults gathering at my home this year.
So, what is the plan for our youth & young adults? I'm so glad you asked!
Our Goal: To provide a time and space for our youth in middle school through young adulthood to gather for community, learning, and fun together.
How will we do this?
First, through an opportunity to Worship: Twice a month, we will gather for home church where we will worship, eat dinner, pray, and learn together. We would love to have youth and young adults help in leading worship, preparing the meal, and leading discussions - Contact me to find out more about these opportunities!
Our Youth Home Church gatherings will take place on 1st & 3rdThursdays* from 7-8:30 pm at 3518 Ramsgate Ct. Lexington, starting on September 4, 2025.
Second, we know that for young people, faith is often expressed in action. We desire to give every youth and young adult a place to live out their faith through Service. Each quarter the youth will have a chance to actively serve our community in some way through an outreach with a local ministry partner. You can see the schedule above!
Third, we know that our youth love to just hang out with each other. We've planned a "Just for Fun" Activity for each quarter including our ever-popular annual Ice Skating trip to Triangle Park.
We have many more plans for the future including a community meal, missions trips, and more but for now, we are wanting to start here, with opportunities to worship, service, and just have fun together.
Our youth and young adults face unique challenges in this ever-changing world. The best thing we can do is offer them the unchanging foundation of grace and peace found in Christ. That is, as always, our ultimate goal - to point them to Jesus.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Transportation - We are unable to provide transportation at this time, however, if you let us know at nextgen@opendoorlex.org that you need a ride, we can help you find one!
2. Timing - We will try to keep our time together to one hour, with a half hour at the end for snacking, hanging out, etc. 7-8 is Food & Formation, 8-8:30 is Fun & Fellowship!
3. Teaching- This year we will be reading You Need Friends by Rev. Dr. Jake Thurston. You can read about the book here: https://www.youneedfriends.com/. Pastor Christina has written an accompanying curriculum.
About Our Youth & Young Adults
Our Youth & Young Adults ministry connects youth in 6th grade through 30 years of age in community, learning, and fun together with a heart towards establishing intergenerational relationships that lead to lifelong discipleship,
We do this in three ways:
Home Church: Each month the youth will gather for an activity and a time of learning together. We use the Shine: Current curriculum each time we gather for our lesson and discussion! We also have special events like our Fall Kickoff, our Christmas party, an End of School Celebration, and our various summer activities!
Quarterly Service Activities: Each quarter the youth will have a chance to actively serve our community in some way through an outreach activity in addition to their monthly gathering. This includes our summer missions trips; in 2019, we sent a group of 8 to Chattanooga, TN with Youthworks and in 2018, 2023, 2024, and 2025, we spent two days in Lexington working with 4 different nonprofits around the city. In 2021 and 2022, we joined with three other churches in serving three different communities in Kentucky. We emphasize that Christ is already at work in the world and we have the opportunity to join His mission no matter where we are! Dt. 31:8 “It is the Lord who goes before you.”
Weekly: In our Home Churches and the weekly Gathering, we welcome all ages to attend and participate. We especially encourage our Home Church Shepherds to find ways to utilize the emerging gifts of our young people in active roles within the service including Scripture