Soon after Joe Carlisle got connected with the Salvation Army youth groups six years ago, he suddenly felt a connection to God — one he had never really experienced before.
Gradually, he also felt a connection to staff and volunteers at the local church and social service agency.
“It just started feeling like a second home there,” Carlisle, 15, said of the facility at 2525 Illinois Ave.
That has been so much the case that Carlisle felt an emptiness this past spring. He acknowledged that such a reaction is interesting from one who had only little exposure to Scripture and Christianity beforehand.
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“Since quarantine, I was wondering most every day when we would start going back,” Carlisle said.
The church’s youth groups, small but active, plan to begin meeting weekly again at 5 p.m. Aug. 17. The groups, for first-graders through 10th-graders, include Explorers (for boys in grades one through five), Rangers (for boys in grades six through 10), Sunbeams (for girls in grades one through five), and Girl Guards (grades six to 10).
Capt. Amy Tompkins, the Columbus Salvation Army’s local leader, mentioned that building awareness is just as important as finding ways to build students’ faith for the ministry.
“Many people still don’t realize that we have these programs, even though we have tried to tell everybody,” Tompkins said.
The programs feature badges that students work toward earning, much like scouting, and experiences that include summer camp. The Salvation Army moved the meeting times from midweek some time ago to avoid competing with other churches’ midweek services and activities.
Students can join the programs at any time, according to Tompkins.
Cathy Tompkins, the local leader’s mother and a leading volunteer in the program, said that she sees the youth group badge work as one way to teach a range of practical skills from woodworking to cooking.
“And I understand that parents just don’t have as much time for (teaching) that as they might have had 30 years ago,” Cathy Tompkins said. “To this day, my daughters-in-law tell me about my sons, ‘You don’t know how much I appreciate that they can sew on their own (clothes) buttons.’”
Cathy Tompkins herself grew up in those ministries years ago in Wisconsin. Ideally, she would love to see more volunteers for the local program. And she emphasized that the time commitment can be adjusted to segments, perhaps as short as four group meetings, to avoid adults feeling pressure to fit such volunteerism into their lives.
“I think these programs are among the best-kept secrets in the world,” Cathy Tompkins said.
Carlisle understands that. He has recently tried to interest a friend or two at Columbus North High School, where he will be a sophomore, in his Rangers group.
“I have told them that it’s really a completely new experience,” Carlisle said.
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For: Students in grades one through 10.
When: Beginning weekly, two-hour sessions again at 5 p.m. Aug. 17.
Where: Columbus Salvation Army, 2525 Illinois Ave.
Information: 812-372-7118 or the Facebook page for Columbus Salvation Army.
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