Welcome to The Landing!
The Landing is a wellness ministry designed to help students in middle and high school who would like some extra support in navigating their teenage years. The teenage years are full of exciting opportunities, challenging situations, fluctuating emotions, and stressful circumstances. Sometimes it can seem like there is a lot of expectation, and maybe a lot of disappointment. Being a student today is tough. Students struggle with all sorts of difficult life issues, such as anger, fear, stress, anxiety, depression, alcohol & drugs, sex, pornography, body image, self-worth, bullying, divorce and more. The list can be endless! The Landing creates an environment where students can talk openly about what is going on in their lives, ask questions, and learn through the use of creative, interactive lessons that provide insight on how to follow God’s path in life even when things can suck.
We’re confident that students who come to The Landing and actively participate will start on a journey towards healing and hope, develop healthy relationships, break cycles of dysfunction, and build a new set of coping skills that will help to face life’s hurts, habits and hang-ups, and develop a solid foundation in Jesus Christ.
The Landing meets on Tuesdays at New Hope Church from 7 – 9 pm (Doors open at 6:45 pm). A FREE dinner is available to the students during The Landing on the last Tuesday of the month as well. We hope to see you soon!
Sincerely,
The Landing Team
Frequently Asked Questions
The Landing is a Christ-centered wellness group for students in middle and high school. It is a safe place for students to talk about difficult life issues, the things that are stressing them out (big or small), and for when they feel as though no one else could possibly understand what they are feeling or going through. The Landing is here to give students a safe place to be heard, learn new coping skills, find hope and healing, and even make some new friends along the way.
Students in middle and high school who may want some additional support when dealing with difficult life issues such as (but not limited to); Anger, Fear, Depression, Self-Harm, Bullying, Abuse, Alcohol & Drugs, Food Issues, Pornography, Divorce, Grief & Loss, Self-worth Issues, or any other issues that are interfering with your daily life.
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The Landing meets on Tuesdays from 7-9pm (doors open 6:45pm) at New Hope Church.
While no two Tuesdays will be exactly the same, each week has three main components: Meet & Greet, Large Group, and Small Groups.
- Meet and Greet: Doors open at 6:45pm. The Landing meets at New Hope Church on the second floor. Please enter through Door 8 of the building, which is to the left of the main entrance. Students are to head directly to the second floor to check in. We invite students to come a little early (doors open at 6:45pm) to hang out with each other and The Landing leaders. This time includes games and snacks. A FREE dinner is available to the students during The Landing on the last Tuesday of the month as well.
- Large Group:The Large Group lesson will start at 7pm. This includes a time for worship followed by a creative, interactive teaching on a wellness topic, providing students with practical tools and coping strategies they can begin to utilize in their regular day-to-day lives and/or when facing challenges. This can be quite a vibrant time. No two Tuesdays will look exactly the same!
- Small Group: Following the Large Group Time, students will be split into small groups based on gender and age. Small Groups are a safe place where students are encouraged to share openly and honestly about their struggles and celebrate the victories with each other. All students are to be picked up by 9pm.
Our first priority is physical and emotional safety. What’s shared in the group stays in the group. Parents will not be notified of what a student shares unless a student reports he or she has been or will be harmed, will potentially be harmed, or has harmed another.
All volunteers within The Landing are background checked and interviewed prior to being allowed to serve with The Landing. Additionally, all volunteers with The Landing receive relevant training. Students will have a leader of the same gender. While some leaders are do make themselves available outside of The Landing if they can, we do not require this. Please feel free to contact thelanding@newhope.org if a parent or student needs to speak with a leader outside of The Landing.
Adults, including parents, who are not part of The Landing staff and volunteer team will not be allowed to attend The Landing meetings. This helps to create a safe place for students to share openly and honestly about their struggles. With that said, we do recognize that parents also may benefit from talking with others. So, with this in mind, we invite parents to attend Celebrate Recovery, which also meets on Tuesdays from 7-9pm at New Hope Church. Check out www.newhope.org/cr to learn more about Celebrate Recovery at New Hope Church.
We recognize that there may be times when a student may have circumstances that go beyond than the help that The Landing can provide. The Landing is not designed to replace professional counseling. It is a ministry led by laypersons who care about students. They are not professionals. If you would like information about professional counselors, please contact us at thelanding@newhope.org. Or perhaps your student may benefit from more than The Landing but is not necessarily in need of a professional counselor. New Hope Church also offers Lay Counseling. Lay counselors are not professionals but have received training through the Lay Counseling Institute (lciministry.org) and are available to help in a non-clinical setting. For more information about Lay Counseling, please visit https://newhope.org/care-prayer/
If you have any additional questions or concerns, we would love to talk with you.
How Can I Help?
Prayer
Prayer is probably one of the most important things you can do to support all students today. Prayer can move mountains. Don’t know what to pray for specifically?
Father God, I come to You today with an earnest heart to pray for the students of The Landing and all other students who are hurting, discouraged, worried, or afraid. I pray, Father, that in their times of uncertainty, they can see that they are not alone. There is always another with them in this fire, in this storm, and that is You! Show them today that You are more than enough. Everything we need is in You. In You, we lack nothing. So let these students fix their eyes on You today and take Your hand so that You may lead them out of this trial and onto a path of peace. Hear this prayer of healing, Lord. In Jesus’ name, we pray, Amen.
Encouragement
Taking time to reach out to someone for no reason other than to say you were thinking of them and that you care about them can go a long way towards easing their fears of the unknown and help them feel encouraged.A simple text message letting them know how proud you are of them can be enough to lift their spirits when the going gets tough.
Share
Sharing about The Landing with your family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers can go a long way. Often times a person may struggle in silence because they are worried about what others might think. Or maybe they just don’t know where to go for help. When people are personally encouraged to seek help by someone they trust, the more likely they are to get help.
HAPPENING NOW
Running November 5th through December 10th, Thanks! A Strengths-Based Curriculum is a collection of lessons that help students understand gratitude and practice it in their daily lives. It focuses on identifying a student’s strengths and building on them, helping students feel more connected and self-confident, increased motivation, and improved mental health by using gratitude-based techniques for managing anxiety.
Contact Us
Address:
8905 Ox Road
Lorton, Virginia 22079
Tuesday Nights:
7:00 pm
Phone:
703.971.4673
ext. 120
Email:
thelanding@newhope.org