Six local churches in Crookston will be holding an event for seventh through twelfth-grade students at the Crookston High School known as “Common Ground!” to give students a fun night of games and connections on Wednesday, April 6, from 6:30 to 8:45 p.m. The participating churches are Harvest Church, the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Trinity Lutheran Church, First Presbyterian, Our Saviors Lutheran Church, and St. Paul’s Lutheran Church.
The event was planned by Harvest Church Youth Director Reilly Stroot, who was inspired by a book he read over the summer called “Until Unity” by Francis Chan. “What Francis Chan is writing about is God’s heart for unity of his one church, and the fact of how each church makes themselves almost their own body and separate when we’re meant to be one church.” Stroot explained, “Even though we have our differences, we can focus on our Common Ground, that we are worshipping the same God, and that was how the name of this event came about.” With the idea of a combined church event in mind, Stroot began reaching out to the other five church’s Youth Directors on an event involving all the students and was surprised to hear that many of them had similar thoughts for an event. The Directors began meeting in early December to plan this event as well as other activities together. They’ve since met every month to plan out the events, with them solidifying the plans for this event in early February and over texts and e-mails.
The night will be full of group games, a short church worship and message, and lots of time to hang out and talk with people. The event will also be partnered with Alluma’s Homeless Service Resource Coordinator, Sheril Schluchter, for their Care Kit project to help raise awareness and funds and collect items for people experiencing homelessness. Students are requested to bring anything from a list of items to donate to the project and local homeless shelters. The items include backpacks, socks, gloves, toothbrushes and toothpaste, nail clippers, wet wipes/large bandages, comb/brushes, and single-serve snacks like Trail Mix, jerky, crackers, and dried fruit.
Stroot and the rest of the Youth Directors are very excited for the event and plan to make it an annual event around the year. “As of now, the conversations are going where we’re hoping to have one event in the spring semester, one in the summer, and one in the fall.” Stroot explained, “So as we’ve been planning this event, we’ve also been looking forward to possibilities of summer events and another one happening in the fall, and we’d like to make it three to four times a year event.” And with the chance to hold more of these events, Stroot and the other Youth Directors are hopeful that other churches in the area will join them for future “Common Grounds,” “For future events, if there are other churches that would like to be a part of events going forward, we would love to include whoever is interested,”
The Common Ground event will be held on Wednesday, April 6, from 6:30 to 8:45 p.m. at the Crookston High School. Students in grades 7 through 12 are invited to come to a night of fun, games, and connections, with any donated items going to Alluma’s Care Kit Project. If you have any questions about the event, you can contact Harvest Church Youth Director Reilly Stroot at 218-242-2067 or reillystroot@gmail.com.
