Zephyrus: So, your first meeting was this morning. How did that go?

Emma Meyerhofer: It was really good. We weren’t expecting the first meeting to be big because it was a random Friday morning.

Sofia Doval: It turned out to be a good group. I think there were 10-ish people.

EM: We could tell that a lot of people got more comfortable throughout the meeting.

Hailey Hardt: It started off and they were kind of closed off, and then we did some icebreakers and they started to open up.

Z: Was there a specific focus for the meeting?

SD: Fridays, we’re focusing on fellowship, so we’re going to do games, and I think we’re going to try to do some service projects as well. This morning, we just got to know everybody.

HH: And then Tuesdays, we’re going to be doing Bible study. We’re starting with the Book of James.

Z: You three are the club’s co-founders. When did this idea start?

SD: I started organizing it with two other sophomores last year, and then they ended up transferring, so then we all got together and created it this year.

Z: How did you guys meet?

EM: Me and Hailey actually met at a Jesus summer camp.

HH: Church retreat.

EM: And then we became friends from there. Sofia and I met through this.

HH: I knew that they both loved Jesus, so I was like, “Perfect, put them together.”

Z: The name ‘Faith Club’ sounds non-denominational. Does the club have a specific affiliation?

EM: We’re focusing on all of it so we can hear the different perspectives from the different branches of Christianity.

HH: I’m Catholic.

EM: I’m Catholic, too.

SD: And I’m Lutheran. We’ve been discussing how we’re gonna handle the different sects of Christianity because we’re all going to have different Bibles. If people of other religions want to drop in and just talk with us, it’s not really a debate. I think everyone is interested in other people’s religions. I think it’s important to understand each other.

Z: There used to be a Faith Club at the high school, but it has not been active for a few years now. What’s the importance of having a club devoted to religion at the high school?

HH: Most high schoolers don’t really care about faith. So we’re basically trying to guide them towards Jesus.

SD: It’s nice to have a community that supports you with similar beliefs and interests. The reason why some friends and I came up with [the club] last year was because a lot of people were telling us how they would get more into Christianity if there was an outlet at school. That’s why we decided to create a community for people to support each other.

EM: During the summer, there are a lot of Christian camps and opportunities. I know a lot of people get closer to God in the summer but lose that bond [during the school year] and have to focus on schools and sports. [Faith Club] meets before school—it doesn’t take a lot of time. It’s going to be fun, but it’s like the same experience as over the summer.

Z: Does the club have any connections, or plans to connect with faith-based organizations and churches outside of the high school?

SD: No, [the club] is just us.

EM: Maybe in the future we will, because that does seem like a good idea.

HH: Yeah, it would just be hard to pick one specific church.

Z: Did the pandemic affect how students connect with their faith?

SD: I think people are a lot less open about [their faith] now. My church was shut down for like a year, and I think that was really difficult on people.

HH: COVID shut everybody down and told them to keep their opinions to themselves. You [couldn’t] connect with anyone, so it’s harder to have people open up. It’s more intimidating.

Z: Any final thoughts you’d like to add?

HH: I’ve seen people rip down our flyers, and we’ll get DMs on Instagram that are like, “you should follow Satan.”

EM: We don’t respond back to them. We kind of are like, “you believe whatever you want to believe and we’ll support you.” We’re not gonna force this on anyone.

SD: A lot of people who don’t believe in faith or Christianity came today and they really enjoyed it and are planning on coming in the future. I know a lot of people are angry with us…I think [they] think we’re trying to push our beliefs on them, when in reality we just want to create a place for people to meet.

EM: Some people aren’t allowed to believe specific things with their families, and we want to allow them to come to school and feel safe in this group.

SD: We’re really thankful that they feel comfortable coming to us.

EM: Even if people do join as a joke, we’re gonna still try to keep them, try to teach them about God and make them realize that God might have put them in this club “as a joke” for a reason.

Faith Club meets on Tuesdays and Fridays before school in W321. You can follow them on Instagram at @Edina_Faith.Club