Young Adults and Teens

Teenagers

Too old for Sunday School? Want to contribute? Why not become a server?

A server - male or female - helps the priest and congregation offer the best worship we can to God.

If you'd like to try it out first contact Edmund Linton, Head Server, you can talk to him on Sunday or email him here.  He'll show you what to do and  make sure you're confident and are paired with someone more experienced. You'll then be put on the rota - we can work out what sort of commitment works for you (once a month?)

Worship is about offering our very best to God and that means the best music, singing, flowers, preaching and welcome that we can. Discovering how we can be the best version of ourselves is what makes life fun - serving is part of that fun. Give it a go!

The Young Adults Group 

As part of the overall vision for the Chaplaincy, we've established a group providing pastoral and spiritual support for young adults (between 18 years of age and having children!) and English- or French-speaking. Here, Edmund Linton, one of the leaders, outlines the way forward.

Moving to a new city is exciting. Studies, social life and exploring a new language and culture are all great fun - but finding balance and support can be challenging. 

The YAG aims to provide support, friendship and resources in the faith. We meet twice a month in order to offer everyone a chance to participate.

There are two sorts of meetings : a monthly "Friday-after-work" session of beer and food, offering a relaxed atmosphere to talk and socialise after a long week. Secondly, joining the Chaplaincy Lunch after the 10.30am Sunday Mass on the second Sunday of the month, where, after feeding our souls, we will do the same with our stomachs!

France is a beautiful country with a long Christian history. There are amazing places to discover where the saints have lived heroic lives. We've been to Lisieux and Taizé and are planning on Lourdes in October 2022 and Israel in 2023.

For any additional information, feel free to contact either
Edmund (edmund.linton@gmail.com)

or

Lingjhe (Gabriel) (gabrielluz1564@gmail.com)

Here, Alvaro Sanchez,  describes his personal experience of the first Young Adults’ Group meeting.

At the initiative of our Chaplain, a group of young adults was formed. It included university students, professionals, and those starting a family. The objective was for us to find support in the common experience of faith throughout our personal spiritual life.

In this context, a picnic was organized after mass on the 9th of May, on the banks of the Seine, at which we met together for the first time.

That meeting was a significant moment of connexion after a long period of separation due to the health restrictions, and it marked a kind of bridging of a gap of fear and isolation:,there were eight of us, sitting, eating, chatting and laughing together! It was not only an experience of joy in being together but, above all, it was exciting because of the feeling that was generated – that we could once again make plans for the future. It was as if that dimension of life, which had been hidden by the pandemic, had finally been
recovered. A real and concrete event of ‘resurrection’ that perfectly matched the Easter period when it happened!

My overall impression about this picnic was wholly positive, especially because I felt a new era had opened for all of us; that’s why I’m very thankful to have participated and I hope God will give us the opportunity to take part in more activities like this and keep the group alive and fruitful for a long time.

As a last word, I would like to invite other young adults to find out more about this group and join us in order to grow in friendship and fellowship and to discover the meaning of being a Christian in today’s world.

Below are some of the things some students in the recent past had to say about our community : 

Ryan: When I first arrived at St George's as an English student in Paris, I found a community which, rather than fulfilling the expat stereotype of being "cliquey", was open and welcoming and included both Anglophones and Francophones of diverse ages and backgrounds. This caring atmosphere is most definitely one of the church's strengths and I have made many new friends.

I primarily came to St George's in order to develop my Christian life, which for me included being baptised and confirmed in December 2014. I received considerable support preparing for these sacraments and found it enriched and broadened my spirituality. 

The most important aspect would be the worship, and in a busy, scattered and often noisy life in Paris, I have found the traditional and contemplative liturgy to be a precious moment of peace each week. For so many reasons St George's is a good place to be.

Garance: If I had to describe St George's in a few words I would say it is an island, a British enclave in the heart of Paris, a place of pondering in a busy city. When I first contacted the church, looking for an Anglican church in Paris that would be open to someone born and raised into an atheist family and wishing to get baptised, the very least I can say is I was not expecting to get into such a welcoming and culturally diverse community. As a lot of people who attend St George's are British, or least originally from abroad, I suppose it is for them, to a certain degree, like home away from home; but this perspective would be reductive. St George's is an active, hybrid mix of several cultures and a gathering of people from fairly different backgrounds who all demonstrate an open-mindedness that is sometimes hard to find in our days.

As for the liturgy and worship, it crystallizes a balance of tradition and modernity, of bonding and solemnity, that contributes to and enhances the experience of a moment out of time, devoted to something bigger and greater than our hectic daily lives.

I would therefore say that St George's is a very unique place that it's a pleasure and an honour to attend.

Lydia: As both of my parents were active members of St George's choir (my father directed the choir in the 1990s), most of my childhood memories centre around the church; be it by attending Sunday school, playing around the church or sleeping silently behind the organ at Midnight Mass. Moving back to Paris and thus back into the St George's community after nearly ten years of being away following my family's move back to the UK, I was overwhelmed at the welcome I received from the congregation. I have found my niche in the community by singing in the choir which has become a sort of family for me, not only because I have known some of the members for most of my life but also because of the general relaxed and friendly atmosphere. Coming back to Paris has been one of the best decisions of my life as it has provided me with a ready-made support network to fall back on as I begin supporting myself completely independently. I would thoroughly recommend St G's for any young person who wants a bit of Britishness or who is simply searching for a bit of friendly support.