I want to be honest here without being negative. I have had a fairly lengthy list of goals--a vision of what the Youth & Family Ministry could be--since September, and though we've been at work on them ever since, I was hesitant to share them in the scroll or other written sources, as it was LONG.
The thing is, that I don't believe in Youth & family Ministry as a one-way process. These are not simply things for us to instill without feedback from the congregation, the parents, the youth themselves. To me, Ministry is about AGENCY--equipping and building everyone in knowledge and confidence, as well as helping each identify talents and passions that are uniquely you that you are so excited about that you want to go and do; our goal is to provide enough opportunities for those who want to get out, serve, and build faith foundations in ways that enrich but at the same time to not overwhelm event volunteers, or force people to serve out of obligation rather than in the abundance of passion, time and talents we have. I know many are very, very, tired right now. Let me put here in writing what the goals were, how they've changed, and give you an opportunity to hold me accountable and give feedback. What of these should we maybe "let go"? What are other things that you see are realistic to include as part of our Youth & family ministry?
Youth & Family Ministry Development Initial Goals:
Draft 1 September 12, 2013.
1.
Articulate
our theology and program goals : One of the biggest pieces that needs
development initially is to give a “why” to our events—while community building
among our participants is a wonderful thing, we hope to nurture faith at a
deeper level, and a number of our events should seek to answer “why does this
program exist?” and “What do we hope to accomplish in the lives of families and
youth in particular?” With this firmly in place, we hope that families and
youth will see greater value in participation and recognize the program as a
place of belonging, and the leaders as those dedicated to helping them develop
their faith more deeply.
**This is one in particular I still really want to explore and build.
2.
Form
a functioning “Youth Board”: With a Christian Board of Education now
established, at least at the basic level (with emailed occasional reports and
concerns coming from several involved with Preschool, KFW, Sunday School), the goal was to establish a youth board with adults who gave feedback and ideas.
***5/2014: What evolved is something I hadn't anticipated, but that I love--a youth board made of youth :D Justin S, Byron S, Erika K, Lydia F, Denny M, and several others have been great about coming in and saying "Can we try this?" And Craig and I have done our best to encorporate these new ideas and work with kids and parents to try to find dates for activities that best work for families. Sometimes we're able to meet during the sunday school hour the first week of the month, but usually it's more informal conversations with how busy everyone has been. This has meant not planning as far out in advance as the yearly calendar planning would like, but with evolving family needs and busy-ness factors, it's seemed to work fairly well for the current climate.
4.
Communication:
As technology and life has evolved around technology especially in the last 10
years, it has become increasingly clear that we can and need to use more forms
of communication to reach youth and family participants, providing the same
information in multiple locations. To
this end, we aim to collect email addresses and facebook members and ‘followers’
to our groups and twitter accounts.
While we have developed basic web pages, we will continue to expand and
build content for electronic calendars, group pages, and e-newsletters. Our goal is to continue using paper info as
effectively as possible, as well as making more frequent contact with families
electronically and posting this information on web pages and online calendars
where they can be easily referenced.
***5/2014: the e-newsletter goes out every 2 weeks to a number of families, but I'm still not sure it's the most effective form of communicating and meeting the "to know" needs. I'm open to any and all suggestions, but especially on this front!
5.
Continue
to develop Cross-generational events: As more churches see smaller
numbers in any one particular age group, and
‘nuclear’ families have changed and evolved into multi-generational
households, we want to involve everyone in ways that are enjoyable for everyone
and encourage participation from people of all ages. We aim to provide cross-generational events
once a month that will be added to the calendar and advertised in the bulletin,
SCROLL, on facebook, midweekly reminder, and on the website.
*** 5/2014: During the winter months, we were doing indoor activities twice a month, and as spring has sprung it's gone back to once a month or so. Again, we're trying new things and not all of them work but hopefully they've provided free or very inexpensive activities for families in a semi-structured environment, but with the freedom to come and go as time and interest allow.
6.
Enrich
10:35 “playtime” activities: As we look to help children better
understand the difference between worship and play, we also look to develop the
playtime as something with enjoyable activities, but also a solid structure,
rules, and an environment where children of all ages can feel safe and excited
to join others in friendship and fellowship.
Ideally, with more adult participation on a rotating basis (in holding
babies, keeping an eye on toddlers and reminding preschoolers of the rules), We
will begin training older children in leadership roles with puppetering and
‘drum corps.’
** * 5/2014: Again, with the 2-5 kids we have each Sunday on average, and of varying age, it's been a bit harder to develop a program than anticipated, but it's one where we're working on creating stations, games and activities that meet the needs of the group we have and the group we'd like to build.
7.
Deepen
connections to Confirmation: Currently,
confirmants meet with the pastor, the youth director occasionally, and attend
ConfirmCamp for 2 weeks over 2 summers.
Nurturing and deepening the faith of young Christians is something that
we not only have the opportunity to do—it is something that all members have
the capacity to aid in on some level.
Whether it is serving as a mentor to them in the faith, encouraging them
to participate in planned service activities (or helping them plan a service
activity to meet a school requirement), instructing them in stewardship, taking
them to camp, developing and recognizing their leadership abilities or even
simply living a life of Christian witness and praying for them, we can deepen
their faith, encourage and connect with them as they seek to become members in
the church.
8.
Look
into more service events: In the month of September, our church will be
serving in the Jesus Love Feast, but this opportunity does not allow young
children to help. In October, we will
participate in the Feed my Starving Children packaging event at Manchester,
but, again, this is only for 3rd grade and up. We hope to find more service opportunities
for everyone to be involved in serving—some for the whole family, and some that
even the smallest children can help with (like planting flowers at the church
or giving water to the animals at the pet blessing).
*** 5/2014: Besides Be Like Jesus, we're now focusing on service within our church--painting rooms, hopefully helping sort clothes for the Jesus Love Feast, coloring and writing cards for shut-ins or those who are ill--and this is, hopefully, guided by the sorts of service that our youth board and other youth in the church are passionate about.
9.
Expand
the communal leadership within KFW: Over the past 2 years, we have seen
individuals develop leaders skills as worship assistants (both adult and our
older kids!), percussionists, new Sunday school teachers and as story
readers/drama participants. We hope to
expand family and kids’ involvement in leadership, story writing and
puppeteering. We also plan to expand our understanding our worship through
specific teaching on what IS worship, and what is playtime? (What denotes one
or the other?)
***5/2014: This is being accomplished to a degree by the youth board participation aspect (at least in terms of enabling and encouraging the sharing of ideas and their voices) and through recruiting some of the older (and even some of our preschool) kids to act as story readers/characters.
10.
Expand
the number of youth and families participating at LCGS: While our first
objective is to maintain the current families involved, we also hope to engage
new families in our ministries. We’re
not exactly comfortable in witnessing to others, generally speaking, but
inviting friends to come to cross-generational events and youth events is
something we can do—which is why we’re launching a “…and bring a friend!” focus
for our events. We will work more
closely with the preschool, and ask youth to bring a friend whenever possible,
where they can then come and meet our friend, Jesus!
***5/2014: For Easter and for the Children's Fair, invitations were sent home to each of the preschool families. With Tristan in school full day next year (and not only in the afternoons), I plan to visit the preschool more often. Right now, I've just been working on visiting with Beth & Shelly (I usually catch them before they leave for the day and after I've dropped Tristan at school) and talking with the families that come to events or KFW.
11.
Build
a post-high school singles group: Many people, after graduating from
college, find that they are in-between.
Not many churches provide activities for those who are out of youth
group (beyond high school) and do not have children (‘young families’). In fact, this is one of the most important
areas to build as ‘Emerging Adults’ (roughly ages 18-25) are the most likely age group to
leave the church (Smith, 2009, “Souls in Transition”). A need has been voiced by several in our
church, along with members of other area churches. Our goal is to begin with is 1 event a month
open to all area post-high school individuals.
***5/2014: Another activity that is not quite getting off the ground at the moment.
12.
Re-establish
a Christmas Program tradition: In year’s past, the children’s Christmas
program was written by congregants and many participated. This year, we plan to write a script that is
developed from each of the children in Sunday school responding to “tell me the
Christmas story” and “tell me about Jesus.”
We hope this will help to create a program that all the children feel
they had a part in writing and telling, and will want to continue this for many
years to come.
**5/2014: with schedules, snow, and everything else this year, it was still mostly adult-led this past year. Hopefully, as the kids gain more confidence in telling the stories of faith, this will be a possibility this coming year.
13.
Telling
and Remembering our Faith Narrative: As part of our long-term vision,
we believe that one of the most powerful traditions in this church has been to
tell and remember the story of the establishment of Good Shepherd. This is a rich piece of our faith
narrative. However, it’s only a piece of
it—and new narratives have been woven in over time and these narratives have
been told less, while children seem less connected to “our Good Shepherd
story.” In the coming years, whether its
in confirmation or through other service projects, we would like children in
the church to interview on video other members of good shepherd and their
stories: how they came to join the church, their favorite memories of their
experiences there, and how other congregation members helped shape their
faith. In doing so, we hope to connect
generations at a deeper level and to help both adults and children see how they
are part of the ever-growing faith narrative and life of our church, and that
each play an important role within the church.
***5/2014: In a bit of a change of scope, we've lately been encouraging the kids to write about their own experiences and service actitivies so that we can share them on the website. We also hope to set up "church grandparents," to connect seniors with families and develop one-on-one friendships between the generations as possible. This connection is one we hope to plan and put in place (organization-wise) by the fall.
