The youth group at Franklin Road Church of Christ is made up of young people of all ages. The group is divided into three subgroups: Tots for Christ (TFC), Kids for Christ (KFC), and Senior Youth Group (SYG). In particular, for this essay I will explain how the Senior Youth Group is a discursive community. The SYG on Franklin Road is made up of children aged 11 to 18. Within the group we do various things such as going to youth retreats, youth conferences and much more; just to name a few. The group has existed for many years, since my parents were children. I have been a member of SYG since I was a child; so I have quite a bit of knowledge about how this group is actually a discursive community according to John Swales' six criteria. Before we begin, let me tell you a little about who Swales is. He was a professor of linguistics at the University of Michigan, who received his doctorate in psychology from the University of Cambridge in 1957. During his years as a professor he wrote a book called Genre Analysis, within a chapter of this book Swales discusses what a speech community is what it is and how it is different from a speaking community. Swales states that “speech communities are centripetal (they tend to absorb people into that general fabric), while discourse communities are centrifugal (they tend to separate people into professional or specialized interest groups)” (471). To make his argument stronger, he develops six criteria that a group should have to be considered a discursive community. The first criterion is that any discursive community should have “a widely shared set of common public goals” (Swales, 471). What Swales is saying is that the group must have a goal that all members know and agree on. The goal can... half of the paper....... Therefore, I asked Stewart whether the calendar was useful or not. He responded that “the calendar is very useful because when I am planning to do something; I will also check our calendar to make sure our group is doing something on that particular day” (Stewart). It's good that the calendar is useful because when SYG members don't overbook, our events will be a success and this helps the group achieve its goal. Which is about preparing young people to become future leaders in the church and in the world, showing them how to be faithful Christians, and being a support system for members. In order for the Franklin Road Senior Youth Group's goal to be achieved, many different aspects are needed, some forming part of John Swale's six criteria, thus making the Senior Youth Group a discourse community..