Welcome to our SPY MINISTRIES website! SPY MINISTRIES is our St. Paul’s Lutheran Youth Ministries. SPY incorporates all the youth in 6th-12th grades. You do not have to be a member of St. Pauls Lutheran to participate in our SPY events.

When you come to one of our various activities you will find that there is a purpose to everything we do. We have five Biblical purposes for our ministry. These purposes come from the book of Matthew chapter 22:37-39 “Jesus replied, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it, love your neighbor as yourself.” And chapter 28:18-20 “Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in Heaven and earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded. And surely I am with you to the very end of the age!”

From these verses we get our five purposes, which are fellowship, worship, discipleship, evangelism and ministry. We used these five purposes to come up with our purpose statement for our SPY MINISTRIES.

As a youth ministry it is our goal that each student would:

• GO show God’s love to the world
• GATHER in God’s name
• GROW in God’s Word
• GIVE of ourselves to others and
• GLORIFY God in all we do.

Everything we do fulfills one of those purposes. A few examples is throughout the year we have gone and served our community at the salvation army, harbor house and the animal shelter and those events fulfilled the purpose to GIVE of ourselves to others. Another event we went to this past year was the Dare2Share conference which helped us learn how to share the message of Christ with others, which fulfilled the purpose to GO show God’s love to the world. What an amazing opportunity we have everyday to serve God our Creator and Savior in all that we do! I hope and pray to see you at one of our upcoming activities.

For more information about SPY MINISTRIES you can contact Becky Hagge at rhagge@stpaulslutheran.net or at the office 815-932-0312.

Why Join SPY?

• It provides a way for youth to actively participate in the church.
• It establishes an organization where youth can have fun and fellowship with others their own age.
• It teaches youth in a creative fashion about Jesus, His church and living as a Christian.
• It provides a structure around which youth can form their value systems under Christian guidelines.
• It provides a sense of belonging and develops a Servant mind-set.
• It provides youth with a constructive outlet for their energy and social-growth needs.
• It assists the church in areas where help is needed.

If you are a St. Paul's youth in grade 6-12 and would like more information on what SPY has to offer you, please contact Becky today!