For a span of seven years, the St. Nareg Armenian Church in Montebello, California has been ministering to local Armenian street kids on a regular basis. This ministry takes place on Wednesday nights, Sunday mornings, and weekdays. It is carried out in various forms, including sports, counseling, lectures, camps, visitations, Bible studies, lunch and coffee ap-pointments.

Initially, this ministry served only the children of church mem-bers. However, with the influx of Armenian immigrant youth from the neighborhood, church kids stopped participating, because they found the new kids too wild. Instead, the church ended up ministering to the street kids, many who are on drugs, and a few who are gang members.

The primary attraction for the youth is the gym where they come on Wednesday nights to play sports or just hang around. This gives opportunity for one-to-one counseling, talking to youth about their personal problems of any kind. The church has also invited special speakers to talk to them about topics related to their needs, such as:

- Montebello police officers, to talk about the law.

- Bedros Hadjian, prison chaplain working with the Arme-nian Evangelical Social Service Center in Hollywood, to talk about life in the jail system.

- Rev. Larry Murphy, a former inmate himself, to give a first hand account of life behind bars.

Use of the facility is divided into two age groups: about 20 younger kids (ages 12-15) from 5 to 7 p.m., and about 30 older youth (ages 16-25) from 7 to 10 p.m. The staff working with these youth includes Paul Bozoian, Mourad Iskadjian, Tony Euredjian, and Rev. Greg Haleblian, pastor of the St. Nareg Church. More could he done with trained leaders, but the re-sources are very limited. Over the last few years, financial assistance has been coming from the Armenian Evangelical Social Service Center and Pilgrim Armenian Congregational Church, for which the staff is grateful.

Aside from the Wednesday night ministry, leaders meet with the youth during the week, often going out for coffee to discuss their particular problems and counsel them. They are also en-couraged to attend Sunday morning Bible study at church, but thus far very few have made a habit of it. Some of them have gone to church camps and many of these have accepted the Lord, but only a few have made a total break from the world of their past and current lives. Still, many parents are grateful for the positive influence of St. Nareg on their children¹s lives and characters.

Note: Rev. Greg Haleblian is the pastor of the Saint Nareg Armenian Church, 1220 W. Whittier Blvd., Montebello, CA 90640, (323) 721-0059.