Kids & Students

Kids Community

Groupings | Parent Equipping | Events

To Volunteer in Kids Community Click Here

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“But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God.” John 1:12

We are amazed daily at what God is doing among the families of northwest Columbus! God continues to provide everything we need exactly at the time we need it. He is Jehovah Jirah – our provider. It is our desire to follow as He leads Vista Kids Community to fill a unique place serving families.

From the beginning, we have felt called to a different approach toward children’s ministry. We pray that God will use our focus, time and talents to empower northwest Columbus as they seek to become disciples of Christ Jesus.

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Our Aim

Support and assist parents to develop the Kingdom attitudes and practices of their children by providing a creative, meaningful and safe church community

We are WORSHIPFUL by providing children and families with various worship experiences throughout all life stages, family situations and spiritual growth levels. Every seven weeks Vista Sunday worship services are attended all children Kindergarten and above.

We are RELATIONAL in order to build a multigenerational church experience. Vista attendees serve as helpers once a quarter to encourage mentoring and community. Vista parents serve as helpers in their children’s classes once a month. This allows families to see, hear and experience faith together impacting the home and building community between families. We believe the most important spiritual development for parents and children happens daily in the home and community.

We are MISSIONAL in order to help families apply spiritual concepts in their homes, communities and around the world by knowledge and practice of Christian service.

Middle School Rapids

We typically meet the 1st & 3rd Sundays and if there is a 5th Sunday, we will serve with Connections as a group. Be sure to check the Weekly Update each week for details! We will resume meeting on Sun., Sept. 4. Please contact Karen Silvestri (karensilvestri@yahoo.com) for more information.

Winter/Spring 2012 Meeting Schedule

Spiritual Intentions for those in 6th – 8th grade at Vista:
1) Take personal steps of faith

That students in the 6th, 7th and 8th grade would begin to take their own steps faith.

• Broaden: Local urban ministry exposure

• Engage: Faithfully and openly face personal/interpersonal challenges

• Learn: Basic doctrine instruction and discussion

• Grow: Gift-based serving (Last Sunday of each Month)

• Care: Being a friend to the outcast

2) Develop a dynamic group of friends

Begin to develop a group of Christian peers to walk with through high school. A group of friends that support, challenge and defend one another is best developed before high school challenges begin.

• Small groups discussion and fun

• Occasional events together

• Middle School conference

High School Lifegroup

Winter/Spring 2012 Meeting Schedule

January 15: Villa-Veracruz home: 4216 Hobbs Landing Drive, W., Dublin, 43017
January 29: Hokanson home: 6970 Harriott Road, Powell, OH 43065
February 12: Williams home: 6703 Merino Ct., Dublin, OH 43016
February 26: Frey home: 9201 Lerwick Drive, Dublin, OH 43017
March 11: Sartain home: 6794 Park Mill Drive, Dublin, OH 43016
March 25: Travis home: 5881 Leven Links Ct., Dublin, OH 43017
April 15: Jones home: 8483 Torwoodlee Court, Dublin, OH 43017
April 29: Keating home: 6694 Wynwright Drive, Dublin, OH 43016
May 6: Streator home: 6030 Springburn Drive, Dublin, OH 43017
May 20: Jones home: 8483 Torwoodlee Court, Dublin, OH 43017

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Vista High School Lifegroup ::

Our High School ministry is likely different than what you might imagine–we’d love to fill you in! If you’re a parent, please call or e-mail Donita Parizek at: 614-327-6099 or donitaparizek@columbus.rr.com. If you’d like to connect with our group co-leaders, Bryan and Jen Arnold & Aaron Stephens, please call or text 614.634.2284, or e-mail jenniferwarnold@gmail.com. Click here to learn more about our student leaders.

Mission, Vision and Values
It’s a great privilege and responsibility to be a church with a vibrant group of future generation leaders for God! Here at Vista, we’re surrounded by high school students, many of whom are excited about God and His plan for their lives. We’re privileged to be in the midst of one of the strongest Young Life (YL) presences in the country, and we’ve fostered a close working relationship with many YL leaders. YL has done an outstanding job over the years at reaching out to students who are largely uninterested in God.

The goal of the Vista High School Lifegroup is to continue to work with YL, but more particularly, to be available to students who come to church and who might be looking for a smaller, more intimate group,  ready to take a deeper dive into the sermons, their faith, God’s Word, service and fun events. We want to be available to meet the needs of the teens who come to us and we expect that each year may look a little different.

Additionally, we’re committed to the development of Vista leaders who want to disciple and reach students through Jesus-centered mentoring and consistent relational involvement.

Vision

When our teens graduate from High School it is our hope that they will be firm in their faith and ready to go out into the world to make a difference for Christ. We provide an introduction to a Jesus-centered way of seeing life (kingdom perspective), and pray they will faithfully follow Jesus in community, to transform our world for His glory. We strive to equip our teens with the Biblical values that Vista’s foundation rests upon:

Worshipful:  Loving God with all their hearts, souls, minds and strength; demonstrating their commitment to God by their choices and decisions. Standing firm in Jesus and learning to independently feed themselves through the Word of God. 1 Peter 3:15: “But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.”

Relational:  Loving their neighbors as themselves; living their lives in ways that encourages those around them. 1 Thessalonians: 5:11: “Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.”

Missional:  Joining God’s efforts and serving in their immediate communities and neighborhoods and in the world. Sharing with others how Christ has given them hope and changed them. Ephesians 2:10: “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

Spiritual Objectives

1. A strong sense of support for and experience in the local church, so that it is a high priority to locate, attend and be involved in church through their post-high school years.
2. A peer group of Christians and a “mentor” that they can attest to having helped them “stay the course” through the tough times and celebrated the great times through high school.
3. Evidence of an attitude and effort to reach out to their un-churched, non-Christian friends throughout their high school years.
4. Memories or fun activities, events, missions and journeys that they built and enjoyed together to strengthen bonds and learn to understand and support other people better.

Group Opportunities

Sunday Night Fellowship
Modeled upon our adult Lifegroups, our High School Lifegroup–including students grades 9-12–meets every-other Sunday evening to discuss Pastor Mike’s sermons, share in fellowship and engage in opportunities for service in the church and the greater community.

Mentoring and Discipleship
We encourage our teens to be involved in biblical community; if they desire additional fellowship and mentoring, we are committed to helping them find it, whether it be at Vista or through YL. There is not an expectation to be part of both groups.

For those teens who desire to have a spiritual mentor, we have many teen equippers at Vista who have hearts to mentor and disciple teens. This may be a one-on-one relationship or small group setting. Please contact us if your student would like to learn more about beginning a mentorship relationship with one of our adult teen equippers. We strongly support interaction with other age groups and people at Vista to foster the multigenerational feel.

Events & Trips
In addition to learning how to walk with Jesus and cultivating a God-centered life, we want to ensure that our students are having fun together! We make it a priority to plan fun fellowship time and events for the students to get to know each other better, and to just have fun! It’s during these times that we see relationships begin to grow deeper, which is especially important due to our church having students from several different high schools. In the future, we’re looking forward to planning additional events, and even trips like summer work camps and missions opportunities.

Service
We have made it a priority to stress the value of community and church service and outreach, as we work to “be Jesus” to those around us. Students have begun serving at Vista in a variety of capacities, whether it be in the Kids Community or the Connections team, which we serve as a group about every 6 weeks. We also have students who serve on their own, including the Miracle League, tutoring and CATCH Court, for example. Additionally, as a group during the holiday season, we serve our brothers and sisters in need with the Salvation Army, The Manger and Better Way Ministries. We encourage our teens to participate in the annual Christmas Program as they have in the past. There are many opportunities for involvement with this major church wide outreach. We have had teens participate in missions trips on their own and we look forward to planning future missions trips and/or work camps as a group in the future.

Want to learn more about our meetings, including time, place and topics?
- Students: Text Jen at 614.634.2284 with your cell number and we’ll text you the info each week
- Parents and leaders: E-mail Donita (donitaparizek@columbus.rr.com)  your e-mail address to receive our bi-weekly update.