The Tragedy in Boston April 17, 2013

We here in the Office of Christian Formation are horrified and deeply saddened by the events that happened Monday at the finish line of the Boston Marathon.  Our hearts and prayers are with the victims, those present, the first responders, and all the people of Boston.

 While we may not at this time be able to make sense of another seemingly senseless tragedy, there are some prayers and resources we would like to share with you – our community – that may strengthen and support you in the days to come. Please add your own resources to the comments section for others to use.

 

-The Presiding Bishop, Katharine Jefferts Schori has offered the following prayer:

Gracious God, you walk with us through the valley of the shadow of death.  We pray that the suffering and terrorized be surrounded by the incarnate presence of the crucified and risen one.  May every human being be reminded of the precious gift of life you entered to share with us.  May our hearts be pierced with compassion for those who suffer, and for those who have inflicted this violence, for your love is the only healing balm we know. May the dead be received into your enfolding arms, and may your friends show the grieving they are not alone as they walk this vale of tears.  All this we pray in the name of the one who walked the road to Calvary.

 

-Episcopal Relief and Development has developed a variety of resources, including curriculum around how to speak and minister to children after a disaster. To find their three-part curriculum (one for children, youth, and adults), and to read a web statement posted after the explosions, please click here.  Also note that there is a reminder for everyone to review and update their disaster preparedness plan. (For tips on how to create a disaster preparedness plan, click here.) In addition, Working with Children After a Disaster: Tips for Parents and Teachers is a helpful one-page tip sheet filled with facts, links for further information, a prayer, and tangible suggestions to help children process and discuss after a disaster. It could be a bulletin insert or take-home for churches this week.

 

-As we strive individually and together to understand and react to events such as this, please remember that the most important step is to pray and then to listen. The community who has been directly impacted by this (and any) disaster will know best what they need in terms of response, donations, and acts of service.  Right now the church leaders in Massachusetts are asking for our prayers..

YLC meeting in Alexandria tomorrow night (NOT canceled as of 10am Wednesday) March 6, 2013

Greetings Youth Leaders!

I hope all of you are in a safe place for the snow storm. As many of you know last night we had our first YLC meeting here in Richmond and it was a huge success. We’re scheduled to have another meeting at Grace Episcopal in Alexandria tomorrow night and as of now that meeting has NOT been canceled or postponed. We are still planning on having the meeting as scheduled.

We will post here if that status changes as soon as we know so feel free to check back periodically. Stay warm everyone, and if you have to drive somewhere today be very careful!

Upcoming Events February 27, 2013

 

Greetings Youth Leaders! Two things to highlight today……..

 

PYM Sr. High Weekend Registration is now officially open! We are accepting registration forms for you and your high school aged youth from now until April 3^rd, which is the Wednesday before the weekend begins. Here is a link to the forms: http://www.thediocese.net/Events/EventView.asp?EventID=1790.

Once you have registered Meg Schwarz (mschwarz@thediocese.net) will send you a confirmation letter that has helpful information to review with your youth about the weekend itself. Our keynote speaker this year will be our very own Bishop Suffragan Susan Goff, which we are very excited out! I will be sending more details out about the weekend as it draws closer but please feel free to talk it up with your youth and get registered as soon as you can.

 

Youth Leader Connection Meetings are happening next week! Just a reminder, these meetings are for anybody working with youth fulltime, part-time, or volunteer. You don’t need to bring any materials, we’ll supply everything. Please pick whichever date is closer to you to attend; we hope to see you all there!

 

March 5^th, 6:30 – 8:00 PM @ St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Richmond, VA.

March 7^th, 6:30 – 8:00 PM @ Grace Episcopal Church in Alexandria, VA.

Youth Leader Connections February 15, 2013

Greetings Youth Leaders!

I hope you are all well and that Lent is off to a good start for each of you. I am writing to formally announce a new program our office has created called “Youth Leader Connections” or YLC. YLC gatherings that will take place twice a semester dedicated directly to those who work with youth in our parishes.

The meetings themselves will provide opportunities to explore and discuss the unique challenges youth workers in our diocese face while strengthening networks and building collaborations. They are intended for ANYONE who works with youth: part-time, full-time, or volunteer. In fact, we encourage entire youth ministry leadership teams to attend these events together.  We hope to offer a chance for youth workers to visit and get to know one another while exchanging best practice resources, and other aspects of their work. YLC gatherings will create communities of youth workers who can support each other, pray with and for each other, and learn from one another.

Each meeting will last 90 minutes and will take place on either a Tuesday or Thursday evening. The format will include time to socialize, a large group forum, and potentially some small group workshops or discussions.  It is our hope that each of you will be able to attend one per semester, whichever one is closer to you. It’s also our hope that the meetings will be fun and a great use of everyone’s time. We are very interested in hearing from you as we develop the program so if you have ideas or suggestions of activities or other content, we’d love to hear them. Our meetings for 2013 are as follows:

March 5^th, 6:30 – 8:00 PM @ St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Richmond, VA.

March 7^th, 6:30 – 8:00 PM @ Grace Episcopal Church in Alexandria, VA.

September 17^th, 6:30 – 8:00 PM @ Location: TBD* (Fredericksburg, VA)

September 19^th, 6:30 – 8:00 PM @ Location: TBD* (Charlottesville, VA)

*If your church would be willing/interested in hosting one of these meetings, please be sure to let me know. We bring all the programming and supplies, all you provide is the space!

Please pass this along to other youth workers in your parish and let me know if you have any questions!

New Job Listings! February 13, 2013

Attention job-seekers:

We just added information about three open positions in the Diocese of Virginia – click on the JOB LISTINGS tab at the top of this page for more information, and as always – please let us know if you hear of openings in our Diocese or beyond in Youth Ministry or Christian Formation.

Have a great day!

Resources for Grieving December 17, 2012

In the wake of the tragic and horrific events in Newtown, CT at Sandy Hook Elementary this past Friday we wanted to post some resources from our friends at FORMA. FORMA is an association of Christian Educators and Formation leaders from across the Episcopal Church, and their website always has timely and relevant information for educators – both paid and volunteer.

They have compiled some of the best tips, curriculum, prayers, and resources for those of us who may be struggling with how to best address this with the children or youth we work with, or with their parents. Click here to check it out. If you have any comments or contributions please post them below.

Advent Resources, Pt 1 December 3, 2012

Greetings Youth Leaders and Happy Monday!

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and are ready for Advent! Today we are kicking off the first week of Advent by highlighting the first post in our brand new Advent Series. Every Monday this month we will be including some resources, links, spiritual meditations, humorous materials, and anything else we find that think you might find useful this season. Let us know what you think by posting in the comments below!

-A video message from The Most Rev. Dr. Katharine Jefferts Schori talking about what is important this Advent season and trying to help us all prayerfully consider what we are waiting and preparing for. Click here:

-The “Natwivity” via Twitter! Follow Mary and Joseph throughout their journey via Twitter to help us all keep in mind what we’re preparing for this holiday season. Click here:

-A top 10 list of Advent resources for 2012 that gives a brief explanation of the literature and links you to where you can get it. Click here:

-A YouTube video titled “The Christmas Story” posted by St. Paul’s Church in Auckland, New Zealand telling the story of the birth of Christ. Very moving and worth a quick peek for sure!

 

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Upcoming Youth Leader Workshop August 12, 2011

Thanks to our friends in the Diocese of Washington for sending this our way.  There’s a quick turnaround (registration closes September 5) – but hopefully some of you faithful readers will check this out and let us know how it went!

Making Space for Joy in Youth Ministry: Sept 10, 9 am – 3pm.

Registration closes Sept 5.

A workshop with Donald Taylor during which we will acquire tools for guiding discussions and leading community building games so that our youth may grown in their connection with God and each other; but also so that we may approach our ministry with young people with joy instead of fears of inadequacy, panic or dread.  This is also a good time to connect with other adult youth leaders from throughout the diocese and beyond, to see what is working in various settings and to talk with people who understand. The conversations had over lunch and coffee are incredibly valuable! Cost: $20.

Held at the Bishop Walker School: http://www.bishopwalkerschool.org/article.php?id=15

Registration is found on the Diocese of Washington’s youth web site: www.edow.org/youth

What is the future of Youth Ministry? Is Your Ministry Distracted? January 19, 2011

I read this article this morning, and it was just too good to pass up.  In only a few hundred words, Brian Kirk begins to dive right into something that has been haunting me recently.  I could attempt to rewrite it, but I think he says it best.

There’s plenty of conversation going around in regards to an “Internet Culture” that is changing the way that we communicate/think/interact with each other.  Our attention span has shortened as we’ve all adapted to a world filled with multi-tasking, pop up ads, and tweets.  (I’m no different: right now I’ve got – literally – 13 tabs running on my internet browser, each representing a project or task I’m “currently working on!”)

Our ministries with and for youth are no different, and there is growing pressure to create an environment for teens that is exciting, constantly changing,  and never boring.  We search out the best games, music, videos in an attempt to keep our teens’ attention for as long as possible, and to show them that our programs are fun enough to make them want to return.  However, Brian asks:

“In our pop-culture inspired efforts to keep teens engaged, are we in essence rewiring their spiritual brains to expect that the Christian faith can be summed up in sound-bites and simple theologies?”

What is the impact of this – not only on our ministries but also on the faith that we are teaching young people?

I have many thoughts on this but I’m afraid they haven’t been effectively processed enough for a thoughtful blog response.  However, this question seems to be at the base of a conversation I’ve been having AGAIN AND AGAIN with youth leaders, both in the Diocese of Virginia and beyond.  In the next few weeks, I will be pulling together a group of interested people in order to have this conversation in a larger setting and hopefully come to some conclusions/decisions/actions in response.  If you are interested in being part of this group, please let me know.

In the meanwhile, I encourage you to check out Brian’s article, and also to read the blog he co-authors – Rethinking Youth Ministry.  I believe I’ve linked to it before, and I generally enjoy reading it.  A book that speaks to this reality pretty clearly is Kenda Creasy Dean’s Almost Christian, and it’s a great place to start if you haven’t read too much about the National Study of Youth and Religion.  In terms of what to do next — well I’m still working on it, but I think there are some answers to be found in the Exemplary Youth Ministry Study.

One thing is for certain: all is NOT lost, and there are still many wonderful things going on in the world of Christian Formation and Youth Ministry.  However, we may need to think WAY outside the box – heck, we may even need to build an entirely new box! – in order to find what is next.

I encourage your thoughts – both as comments to this post and to me individually.  And if you are interested in being a part of an upcoming group (committee, maybe?) whose first task will be taking on some of these questions, let me know.  I’m looking for interested parties now!

Resources from this Article:

Brian Kirk’s Article on Distractional Youth Ministry

Rethinking Youth Ministry Blog

Kenda Dean’s Website – with study guides for Almost Christian!

More information about the National Study for Youth and Religion

The Exemplary Youth Ministry Study Website

Advent Resources December 3, 2010

Greetings all -

I hope that everyone is settling into a new and more intentional pace as we hit our “Advent-stride” (whatever that is) this year. As I wrote about last week, I started a Facebook group called Waiting and Watching: An Online Advent Community – and it seems to be taking off – albeit slowly. Every morning I post a different Advent resource (meditation, online Advent Calendar, video etc.), and the rest is up to the participants.

This is an experiment in online “community.” Can we be a community who cares and prays for each other – even virtually? It’s my hope that people will begin to offer their OWN responses, meditations, etc…. So, if you have been checking out the group this week, PLEASE post your thoughts/suggestions/prayers/poems! This is not just for me to post, but for me to post on in the hopes of igniting others’ thoughts.

ANYWAY – as I’ve been working on this group, one could say that I’ve become a little – ahem – consumed with finding interesting and thought-provoking Advent resources online. I’ve found SO MANY…. and am still searching the interwebs high and low to find those little interesting websites to share with the group each morning (have you checked out “the natwivity” yet??). I’ve certainly found more than I can actually use this year, so I thought I would share some “youth ministry” specific things I’ve stumbled across with you. Enjoy – and let me know if you use any of these ideas!

Youth Ministry Advent Resources and Ideas:

1. Prayer Stations: Rethinking Youth Ministry is a blog that strives to, “rethink the most basic assumptions of youth ministry from a mainline/progressive perspective by offering both theory and practical ideas.” It’s one of the blogs that I read on a semi-regular basis, and often has interesting suggestions.  I like their ideas here – and could be used as a group or separately.

2. Games, Quizzes, and more Fun!: Just like the heading suggests, here are some collected ways to have fun – but also “rethink Christmas” with the youth in your church.  TCheck it out here.

3. Music as Ministry: Also from Rethinking Youth Ministry – here’s a chance to consider a different view of Jesus than you usually get at Christmas… the “Rebel Jesus.”  This might make for an interesting conversation starter with your teens, and the music is easy to find.

4. Advent Conspiracy: This has already been posted – fairly widely – but I think it bears repeating.  Check out the website, and it might make a great starting point for your next Christmas-themed youth gathering.  Also, check out YouTube – there are probably four other really good Advent Conspiracy videos out there.