“We’re serving one community together, and we’re able to serve more youth because of that,” explained Rev. Cadance Tyler, youth director of the Farmville Youth Collective.

In the last two years after the Covid-19 pandemic, many congregations have struggled to rebuild the momentum they lost in some ministries. Age-level programming, such as student ministry, has proven to be particularly challenging for some, as regular attendance has waned and financial challenges have beset churches.

In the historic, central Virginia town of Farmville, however, three neighboring churches embraced the challenges they faced in their student ministries and seized the opportunity to collaborate—pooling their resources to bring the community together.

Seeing a challenge as an opportunity

“Covid left many churches either without financial resources to afford a youth minister, or adults to lead Christian formation, or both,” recalled The Very Rev. Dr. Nancy Meck, rector of Johns Memorial Episcopal Church.  “When the local clergy realized that Cadance Tyler, a youth minister in our community, could lead a group of young people from the three churches and community, we were all in. As individual churches we could possibly cobble together some type of formation, but together we could offer our young people and families an ecumenical experience, where the teens could gather from different churches to learn more about God and to grow in their faith.”

Rev. Susie Thomas, Pastor of Farmville United Methodist Church, had been the first to propose the idea of shared youth ministry two years ago, as her congregation was struggling with both budget and attendance. She approached some other downtown churches’ pastors, and from those early conversations, the Farmville Youth Collective (FYC) was born.  

Rev. Dr. Adam Tyler was the new pastor at Farmville Baptist at the time, and his wife, Cadance, is also an ordained minister who specializes in student ministry. They and Susie, along with Nancy from Johns Memorial, realized that while none of them had all the building blocks for a student ministry as individual churches, their combined resources would meet their needs.

How and why shared student ministry works

“I think that Generation Z—the generation we’re serving in youth ministry today—are more collaboratively minded. They don’t think about denominations as much as I did as a youth growing up in the 90s,” observed Cadance. “So for them it makes perfect sense that they’d be with their friends and their community and not necessarily divided by church lines.”

I really like coming here. I learn a lot about the Bible, and it’s a fun way to learn more with friends. At my church there aren’t a lot of youth, and I’ve met a lot of people here.”  - Julia, 10^th grade

Logistics for the FYC are a big consideration for planning and consistency. “We are currently in year two and continually trying to figure out how this works,” said Cadance, with a laugh. She explained that they work on a rotational basis, with each church providing chaperones, snacks, and the place to meet. Every two months they rotate churches, operating for ten months each year, meeting from 6:00 until 7:30 on Sunday nights. Each Sunday evening, they gather for snacks or a meal and have time to hang out and play games. Cadance leads the group each week in Bible study activities and prayer.

Participation from all three churches is essential. “Our congregation is jazzed about this, because historically the churches had strong youth programs,” Susie shared. “We’re not bursting at the seams like we were during those golden years, but the needs of our youth haven’t changed. Kids still need the Lord, they need one another in fellowship, and they need people in their lives besides their parents and teachers—and that’s where we come in.” Volunteers serve as chaperones, provide meals, and enjoy getting to know the students.

Many pros, no real cons

FYC’s sixth- through-twelfth-grade students attend several different area public and private schools, and some are homeschooled, so they spend a lot of their time building community and getting to know each other. This interaction and relationship building is particularly significant in Farmville, where there was a widely known historic struggle with integration during the civil rights movement.  

And while several of the students came to the collective from their respective churches, some in the group are from the community at large—they weren’t part of any church or faith community.

“We have students from different places and different backgrounds—students who otherwise wouldn’t have known each other,” Cadance explained. “It’s also been great for the three churches to work together; I’ve met so many great people from every church, and since we’re so close geographically, it’s been wonderful that we can work together toward a common goal.”

My friend asked me if I wanted to come to FYC. At the time I was not religious, but I started coming. Then I started reading the Bible and praying, and at one point I realized, “I’m a Christian now.”  - Rachel, 8^th grade

One of the challenges has been that the three different churches operate in very different ways, but that’s also provided some great learning experiences for the students. Students spend time in different worship spaces and student ministry areas, and they learn from the similarities and differences they observe.  

“During Advent, we had a progressive dinner at all three churches, so we did sanctuary tours of each one,” Cadance remembered. It gave us an opportunity to talk about how we worship, and it spurred some conversation about things like why the Episcopal church didn’t have decorations up yet—and also about things like Communion and baptism in the different churches.”

Building community for the future, inside and outside the Church  

“We don’t currently have a lot of teenagers in our church, but we have a number of elementary-aged kids who will soon be in the student ministry,” said Adam, referring to Farmville Baptist. “This has been a great way for us to collaborate in ministry and build something to help us prepare for when these kids enter into that middle-school age group.”

He also commented that other forms of community cooperation outside the churches have grown out of connections and relationships that originated in FYC, including work among the local food bank and community garden.

Inspiration for other communities

The pastors, students, and volunteers at FYC encourage churches in other areas to consider this shared, ecumenical approach to student ministry because of the variety of strengths and benefits it yields. When asked how to begin such an approach, Cadance smiled and said, “Start having conversations with other ministers in your area and share your dreams, but realize it’s going to be messy and imperfect.”  

They all agree that the result is worth the effort. “Everyone brings something to the table,” Adam surmised. “We’re creating something that none of us could do on our own.”