Growing Young

Growing our intergenerational connections

Grant Awarded to St. Mark's

As one of the 20 INUMC churches selected for a Growing Young Bridge-Building grant for 2025, our St. Mark’s Growing Young team has been actively engaged in training and coaching to cultivate stronger multigenerational connections in our congregation. We know many of you share our desire for St. Mark’s to be a vibrant, relevant, and thriving spiritual home for generations to come—and our deep belief in the strength and richness that comes from intergenerational relationships. 

Growing Young Survey

Thanks to more than 120 people who completed the first churchwide Growing Young assessment in August-September 2025. The assessment was based on the Fuller Youth Institute’s research presented in Growing Young: 6 essential strategies to help young people discover and love your church, this assessment will help our team evaluate our church’s culture and intergenerational & community outreach efforts. Stay tuned for more results about our specific assessment results about these 6 core commitments:   
Growing Young Core Commitments
  • Unlock keychain leadership: Instead of centralizing authority, empower others—especially young people.  
  • Empathize with today’s young people: Instead of judging or criticizing, step into the shoes of this generation.  
  • Take Jesus’ message seriously: Instead of asserting formulaic gospel claims, welcome young people into a Jesus-centered way of life.  
  • Fuel a warm community: Instead of focusing on cool worship or programs, aim for warm peer and intergenerational friendships.  
  • Prioritize young people (and families) everywhere: Instead of giving lip service to how much young people matter, look for creative ways to tangibly support, resource, and involve them in all facets of your congregation.  
  • Be the best neighbors: Instead of condemning the world outside your walls, enable young people to neighbor well locally and globally. 
These key concepts were highlighted with Pastor Karla and Pastor Nathan’s sermons August 10-31. These are the six essential strategies of Growing Young churches that the Fuller Youth Institute uncovered in their research (text courtesy of https://fulleryouthinstitute.org/growingyoung).    

Growing Young Team

Growing Young Team Update  


We are celebrating that 2025 was a year of building intergenerational connections within our St. Mark’s community. Whether you took part in a Sunday evening dinner with our youth, met new young families in the Living Room or at the Dinner and a Movie Night, served with one of our young adults at VBS or MIA Day, or simply said hello to someone new on a Sunday morning, we hope you are starting to feel the sense of vitality and connection that comes from embracing the six research-based principles of Growing Young.

If you have any questions about the survey or our Growing Young training, feel free to ask our team members email Jennifer C-B at grow@stmarkscarmel.org.  Pictured (L-R from the top): Linda Schenk, Jennifer Cloud-Buckner, Robin Spyker, Pastor Karla Elliott, Scott Melvin, Terry Lewis, Lori Roberts, Caitlin Ptak. Not pictured: Pastor Nathan Whybrew, Annessa Miller, Jackie Rowell, and Jake Lawrence.
November 10 Fact Finding Information

Intergenerational Events

Calendars
Upcoming Events
Children's Ministry Events
Preschool Events
Youth Events
Worship Events
Missions Events
All Ages Welcome
St. Mark's Presents
Sunday Morning Kidz Church
Summer Camps

Updating Young Adult Contact Information

So that we can improve our support for the young adults in our congregation, office staff and volunteers will be reaching out to parents and young adults to make sure we have updated contact information. 
We recognize that emerging adulthood, especially the time after high school, through our 20s and 30s, is a time of many transitions. Whether your young adult is in a gap year; moving back in with parents to work multiple jobs; going to college, technical training, or the military; or moving away as a young professional in an unfamiliar city—we’ve had several caring congregation members come forward to ask about sending care to college students, birthday greetings, supporting reunion gatherings for young adults returning home (e.g., our upcoming Christmas Eve lounge in The Living Room), or otherwise showing care and connection.
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