Next Gen
Birth to thirty
Next Gen
Three environments, three nights, one goal: that the next generation meets Jesus for themselves instead of inheriting somebody else’s faith.
Know · GrowA two-year-old learns Life is safe before she can spell any of this. A middle schooler learns peace is possible. A twenty-four-year-old learns purpose is real. Same three words, three different rooms.
Why we build it this way
Nobody inherits
a faith
A kid can grow up in a church and never once decide anything for themselves. We are trying very hard to make that impossible here.
So each environment is built for the actual developmental stage in front of it — not a shrunk-down version of the adult service. A four-year-old needs movement and story. A fifteen-year-old needs somebody who will not flinch at the question. A twenty-four-year-old needs a table, a meal, and people who are also figuring out what they actually believe now that nobody is making them go.
Every leader across all three is screened, background-checked, and trained. That is the floor, not the ceiling.
And we build the handoffs on purpose. Second semester of senior year, we start walking students from YTH into SOJO YA — Friday nights, with Wednesdays still open to them. The overlap is deliberate. Graduation is where churches lose people, and we would rather a senior have two rooms for a semester than none the following fall.
Birth – 5th grade
SOJO Kids
Sundays9 & 11am
Safe, joyful, age-specific rooms during both services — so you can actually be present in yours.
Every Sunday your child goes to a room built for exactly where they are. Nursery babies get calm and consistency. Preschoolers get movement, story, and play. Elementary kids get high-energy worship, real Bible teaching, and a small group where somebody knows their name.
The safety piece is not marketing. Every volunteer is screened, trained, and background-checked, and secure electronic check-in means your tag has to match theirs. No tag, no child — including for grandparents, and we have had that conversation before.
The details
- Nursery — Birth – 24 months. Located just off the café area, left as you come through the main doors.
- Preschool — 2 – 4 years. Hands-on activities, interactive Bible stories, worship and play.
- Lower Elementary — 5 years – 1st grade. High-energy worship and small group time.
- Upper Elementary — 2nd – 5th grade. Deeper Scripture and discussion-based small groups.
- First-time check-in — At the guest station outside the SOJO Kids entrance. Returning families use the self-service station by the nursery.
- Director — Jillian Goodhew — ask her anything about allergies, special needs, or check-in.
6th – 12th grade
SOJO YTH
Wednesdays6 – 8pm
Middle and high school, Wednesday nights, two hours that students actually want to be at.
Doors open at six. Worship students connect with, teaching aimed at the pressure and identity questions they are carrying right now, and small groups led by adults who show up every single week — which is most of what a fifteen-year-old is actually testing for.
It is loud in the right places. There are games. There is food more often than not. And there is space for the questions students will not ask at home yet.
The details
- When — Wednesdays, 6:00 – 8:00pm
- Who — 6th through 12th grade — middle and high school together, splitting for small groups
- Worship — Music built for students, in a room where it is safe to mean it
- Teaching — Straight out of Scripture, aimed at the life they are actually living
- Small groups — Led by screened, background-checked, trained adults
- Leader — Audrie Cash — tell her if your student is nervous walking in and she will make sure they are not alone.
- Seniors — In the second semester of senior year we start walking seniors over to SOJO YA on Friday nights. They keep Wednesdays as long as they want them.
Ages 18 – 30 · and seniors from 2nd semester
SOJO YA
Fridays6 – 8pm, dinner at 8
Young adults, Friday nights, and nobody eats alone afterward.
This is the season most people quietly leave church — not because they decided against Jesus, but because nobody made a place for the version of them that just moved out, started a job, ended a relationship, or stopped being made to go.
So we made one. Friday nights, six to eight: worship, real teaching, and honest conversation about the things this decade actually hands you — work, money, dating, loneliness, and what you believe now that it is entirely your call.
Then dinner at eight. Every week. That part is not an add-on; it is half the point. Whatever else is true about your Friday, you are not eating it alone.
The details
- When — Fridays, 6:00 – 8:00pm — dinner together at 8:00pm
- Who — Ages 18 – 30. College, working, single, married, still figuring it out.
- High school seniors — Second semester of senior year, you are welcome here. Come to Friday and keep going to YTH on Wednesday — the overlap is on purpose.
- What happens — Worship, teaching, and conversation that does not stay surface
- Dinner — Every week at 8. Come for the whole thing or just the table.
- Bring somebody — Seriously. This is the easiest thing at SOJO to invite a friend to.
- Cost — Free. The meal is on us.
For parents
What we promise
you
The same four things across all three environments, every single week.
Every leader is background-checked
Screened, trained, and never alone with a minor. No exceptions, no shortcuts, no “we have known them forever” workarounds.
You will know what they were taught
Ask any leader what the lesson was and you will get a real answer. We are not running a mystery box.
They will want to come back
A kid or student who likes church makes the whole week easier on a family. We take that seriously as a design goal.
Nobody gets lost in the shuffle
Birth to thirty is a long runway, and the handoffs are where churches lose people — especially graduation. That is why seniors start moving into SOJO YA in their second semester instead of falling off a cliff in May.
One night, one Sunday
Just bring
them once
Sundays at 9 and 11 for kids. Wednesdays at 6 for students. Fridays at 6 for young adults, with dinner at 8.