VISION

The aim of the Family Ministry at Swan Lake Evangelical Free Church flows from the church’s mission of making disciples by sharing life transformed by Christ’s love. There are three main texts that undergird all that we do: the Great Exchange (2 Corinthians 5:21), the Great Commandment (Matthew 22:37-40), and the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20). 

We believe family ministry exists to engage, equip, and encourage parents in the daily task of discipling their children toward a lifetime of following Jesus. We never want to replace parents.

Parents: follow along with what we teach

At Swan Lake Student Ministry we understand that we are not a substitute, rather only a supplement for the discipleship that takes place with your students at home, the most important teacher that a student has in how to follow the Lord is primarily you, their parents! But we do have a deep love for the Word of God, and want it to be at the center of everything that we do. Because of these two convictions (the essentiality of parental discipleship, and our conviction that the Word be at the center of all that we do), we want you to be involved deeply in the things we are teaching your students. Because of this, we stream our services as often as we are able. We encourage you to regularly tune into our streams (at the bottom of this page), ask your students good questions about what they’re learning, and ask us good questions about why we’re teaching your students what we are teaching them. We welcome your accountability and participation to ensure that we are accurately and faithfully equipping your students with the Word of God. We encourage you to tune in, and if you have any questions, feel free to email our Associate Pastor: Colton@swanlakechurch.org, all streams are made available at the bottom of this page, or on our YouTube @Swanlakechurch.

Link: Swan Lake Evangelical Free Church - YouTube : Check out our Student Ministry Playlist!

What to expect:

We have a deep love for the Word of God, and a conviction that students are able to grasp, understand, and wrestle with the Word in deep ways. As such it is our conviction that the Word should be taught in its entirety. This conviction forms the flow of our Wednesday nights— We love to have fun with students, but the majority of our night is spent better equipping students to know and love the Word of God, here is an example flow of a typical Wednesday with us (with some additionally commentary).

7:30-8:00 - Hangout time

This often includes games, snacks, and an emphasis on leaders connecting with students, we want your students to be surrounded by and connected with Godly adults who know and love the Word of God, and who will help them to do the same.

8:00-8:10 - Move to the sanctuary, Announcements, and 2-3 worship songs

We curate our worship song selection to be theologically rich and edifying for students, they are selected primarily based on the depth of theology found within their Words, and how we believe they will best form the hearts and minds of students in accordance with God’s Word.

8:10-8:50 - Message Time

We typically move through books of the Bible and spend 30-40 minutes teaching the Word in a sermon style setting. Students are encouraged to bring their Bibles, open them up, and see that what we are teaching is directly from the Word and through the Word.

8:50-9:30 - Small Groups

We spend this time in guys and girls small groups digging deep into the text of scripture that we walked through during the message, and encourage students to ask and wrestle with deep and difficult questions about the Word of God.

If you are a parent and would like to know more, you are welcome to attend as an observer with us, or follow along through our streams to see what we are teaching students.

Tune in for Regular updates

• All updates to our Student Ministry Life, whether they be events, meeting times, or simply weekly Biblical encouragement will come primarily from our Instagram Page - (Link Here) https://www.instagram.com/swanlakestudentministry/ or tagged @swanlakestudentministry on the Instagram app.

• Weekly Reminders: We used to use Remind for sending out messages, but that app has since shut down for non-school groups. We’ve moved to a chat on GroupMe for youth announcements. Scan the QR Code below to pop into our GroupMe!

• Please be sure to follow us on Instagram and sign up for GroupMe to be alerted anytime there are changes to our regular scheduled events, reminders of activities and events, and to be kept in the loop on what is happening in our Student Ministry! This will be our main point of contact with you!

Current Series — Fall & Winter 2025

General Information

• It is September and the yearly youth schedule is coming to a close! The Summer Schedule begins with our SLSM Summer Kickoff on Wednesday, June 4th, all announcements and upcoming events will be listed here as well as on our Instagram page, so be sure to check back regularly!

• Youth Group will be scheduled for every Wednesday from 7:30-9:30 PM this school year unless otherwise announced from our Instagram page or on our events page here, you can find that link here—https://www.instagram.com/swanlakestudentministry/ or under the tag @swanlakestudentministry on the Instagram app!

• All significant events (Planned or added throughout the year) will be listed in the section below, updates will come out more regularly from our Instagram page.

Upcoming Events - (Fall/Winter)

watch live

Can’t make it to youth group? Want to stay tuned in on what your students are learning? Join us every Wednesday during the school year (Unless otherwise noted) at 8:10/15pm CST for a live stream from our Swan Lake Student Ministry Service! Hope to see you there!