Bridge Community Church (BCC) in Lansdale, Pennsylvania, reaches Gen Z students through grades 7-12 with its LEAP Program, which stands for Learn, Experience, Apprentice and Prepare.

The program demonstrates the love of Jesus, teaching practical skills via creative workshops aimed at the greater community’s 13,000 students from 14 schools (elementary, middle, and high school).

Lansdale is a middle-class suburb of Philadelphia, with about 19,000 residents.

The LEAP idea originated in 2012-2013 as a concept called the Summer Skills Clinic, recalls Paul Kemper, BCC’s lead pastor. But the church waited 10 years before launching the program, spending the intervening years building relationships in the community through a Christmas food distribution program, called Boxes of Love (BOL).

Today, BCC joins with six other local churches through its BOL program and gives away hundreds of boxes of food, each box containing enough ingredients for a complete Christmas dinner. The combined team gave away 375 boxes in December 2024.

“BOL provided us the opportunity to partner with the North Penn Valley Boys & Girls Club, a community non-profit organization,” Kemper says. “This collaboration gave us the credibility needed to develop what has ultimately become the LEAP program.”

The club provides locations for distributing the boxes in its facilities and in eight schools, also helping promote LEAP.

When LEAP was officially launched in 2021, Kemper tapped Jennifer Martinelli, a licensed professional counselor (LPC) and BCC member, as a ministry assistant & LEAP director.

Initially hesitant about her new responsibility, she still jumped into the program. “While I lacked confidence at first, I was encouraged by pastor Paul,” Martinelli, 46, says. “It was a step of faith walking in obedience to God. Christ’s love compelled me to go on and not give up.”

Her first year was a steep learning curve, she admits. “I really didn’t know what I was doing, but our volunteers were a great help,” she says.

Her LPC professional experience was especially useful to understand the tough societal pressures teenagers face – social media, depression, identity issues, drugs and alcohol abuse, academics, loneliness, body image, and excessive daily smartphone screen time.

By offering a safe space, LEAP steps into the fray with concrete solutions.

The program begins with a one-day introductory workshop in the spring followed by the five-day summer workshop, including breakfast and lunch. Attendance ranges from 50 to 75 students, most of whom come from the community and not BCC.

The 2025 one-day program on March 15 covered subjects such as creative writing, cookie baking and decorating, hand sewing and embroidery, upholstery, and the science of music. Additional subjects for the summer programs include auto mechanics, construction, culinary, computer science, improv and sewing.

Paul Kemper even gets involved teaching auto maintenance. Students enjoy watching him crawling under a vehicle with his face and clothing smeared with grease.

Skills are taught mornings before relational issues in the afternoon. Spiritual subjects often arise during the Q&A sessions and one-to-one talks with volunteers.

The church relies on a cadre of 40-50 volunteers whose expertise in varied subjects open doors for sharing their faith journey and personal testimony.

Andy Liples, a software engineer and BCC elder, teaches the STEM workshop (science, technology, engineering, math) with other professionals who cover different subjects every year.

In his science of music class, Liples stresses the awesomeness of God’s creation and the exact precision of sound waves in melodies, all related to Intelligent Design.

“We develop rapport with the students along the way,” Liples, 46, says. “You never know what they will ask, but I always trust in the Holy Spirit to give me the right words for what the kids need.”

Erin Lilly, a former teacher who has volunteered in the culinary workshop, is surprised how students open up about their faith and struggles. For instance, she supported a younger teenager with special needs and bonded with her by reading the Bible together and chatting during the relational time period.

“Serving in LEAP gives me the opportunity to use my time and abilities to pour into the children of our community by showing them the love of Jesus,” Lilly, 45, says.

BCC’s SALT (Senior Adult Living the Truth) group provides volunteers as well. Darlene Bostwick, 74, has assisted the food team with her husband, and more recently in a culinary workshop. Her connecting with teenagers models how God reinvents new ministry paths for seniors, no matter their age.

Since day one, more than 400 students have been exposed to the hope the gospel offers.

A teenage boy attending LEAP for three years reignited his Christian faith while searching the Bible. He invited three friends to join the program who were baptized at BCC in November 2024.

Bridge Community Church’s vision for LEAP is to continue its outreaches to the Lansdale community using the zeal and freshness of the next generation as the Holy Spirit empowers.

“We are excited for each student and volunteer who signs up for the July LEAP week,” Martinelli says. “We want our church attendees as well as the greater church community to know that God can use all who are available to him.”

Este artículo apareció originalmente en Noticias AG and has been republished with permission.

Peter K. Johnson is a freelance writer whose articles have appeared in several faith-based media outlets, newspapers, and scientific journals. He lives in Saranac Lake, New York.