“We know that young people are looking for a place to gather. The students want to be together, and want to hear about Jesus,” said Andrea Plueddeman, children’s and youth coordinator at Hettinger UMC.

In July, Pastor Paul and Andrea Plueddeman started serving the United Methodist Church in Hettinger, North Dakota. Conversations percolated about the needs of the children and youth in the community.

Students gathered at Hettinger UMC. Photos from Andrea Plueddeman.

“We are loving life in Hettinger. When we arrived, people started talking and people told us, ‘We need things for our kids.’  This is a small community, and the kids need to connect, be heard, and be seen,” said Andrea.

Pastor Paul and Andrea began thinking about how the church could walk alongside the families in the community. A launching point was Kids Worship on Wednesdays —KWOW, an afterschool faith-based program for elementary students, that was started by Rev. Duane Coates when he was serving Hettinger UMC.

“KWOW is going strong with 35 kids participating. We are seeing attendance of kids in grades 4-6 dropping off. There are fewer programs and services for kids in grades 6-12. So, we started conversation with the Discipleship Committee at church to see what we could do,” explained Andrea.

After visiting with leadership at Hettinger UMC, Club 456 was launched. There will be different activities on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday, at the church building, for student in grades 4, 5 and 6. Wednesday, students are invited to participate or assist with KWOW.

Esports started in October. On Mondays, students gather around screens with controllers, to play Mario Kart. Each week they will focus on one lap of Mario Kart.

“We started with four kids, and it is growing. Thanks to a grant from the Dakotas Methodist Foundation, we can accommodate 16 kids at one time. Our hope is to practice with Mario Kart and then host a tournament in January with area towns,” described Andrea. “Esports on Mondays is our first activity for Club 456. We plan to add a different activity for each of the other days.”

The plan for Club 456 is to have Esports on Mondays, a craft club on Tuesday and a book club Thursday.

Once a month the school has Flex Friday. On that day, school is dismissed at 12:30 p.m. Hettinger UMC is offering activities for grades 1-12 on Flex Fridays.

“In September we had 25 students. We had Minecraft Mania. We showed the movie, did Minecraft crafts, and had Minecraft snacks. In October, Flex Friday is on Halloween. We are going to do pumpkin painting, make caramel apples, and watch The Great Pumpkin. We get kids in grades 1-12 that come. They are looking for a place to connect,” said Andrea. “We work with the school, and they announce when we have things happening at the church.”

Students roasting smores at 5th Quarter.

The community recently experienced a suicide of a young person in the community. It was the third suicide in five years.

“We know there is the need. We open the church for s'mores after football games. We call it fifth quarter.  We are constantly looking for ways to connect,” shared Andrea. “Kids want to be together.”

The congregation is inspired, excited, and surprised by the numbers of children and youth that are showing up at the church building. The community is grateful to Hettinger UMC for providing programming for children and youth.

“We are grateful for the support of the congregation, the community, and the Dakotas Conference. All the activities are open to the community. We are seeing more than just the people that are part of Hettinger UMC show up,” Andrea said.