Five Marks of Mission

The Five Marks of Mission clip below is from our brothers and sisters of the Anglican Church in Canada, specifically Ottawa.  Our own General Convention adopted the Five Marks of Mission in 2009. The Marks are not a new way to live out our faith, but they provide a common language and a simpified tool for articulating and living out our Baptismal promises across the Anglican Communion and throughout the world. This clip will be used later this week when welcoming participants to some of the workshops at "Everyone Everywhere 2011," a global and domestic mission conference of the Episcopal Church being held at YMCA of the Rockies. Use the link to the conference to view webcasts for worship, plenary sessions, and workshops. Enjoy the clip!



What are the Marks of Mission? Why are they important? How would we know if we were living them out? Inspired by the resources at www.anglican.ca/marks/about, this video was originally created for "Great Chapters" (regional meetings) in the Anglican Diocese of Ottawa. It was first used in the fall of 2011. "When We Go," the track playing in the background is from Jon Brooks' 2009 Album "Moth Nor Rust." You can get the album or more info on Jon and his music at http://www.jonbrooks.ca/.

Desktops and Updates

I've been spending some time organizing since my return from several weeks on the road meeting with amazing EpiscoPeeps and learning of vital ministries. You know the disoriented feeling when you get back from a conference with all kinds of ideas and new things you want to do. And then you look at the backlog of emails and voice mails, and the neglected To Do list. And then there's the dilemma of  responding to your new friends and colleagues with initiatives and connections that you made while you were away. . . .

I spent last week playing catch-up; recovering from the crud I caught in the Carolinas, and putting my workspace back together so that I can find everything. This week is mostly a "work on EYE week," but I am also trying to follow through on some commitments made when meeting with folks at the ECCC Annual Meeting, and the NAECED Tapestries conference (links to both at right). I came away from both events inspired and encouraged. We have so many talented, educated, energetic, faithful people working for Christ in this church.

My commitment to you is that I will endeavor to keep you connected so that you don't feel isolated, unsupported, or unappreciated. Youth and Young Adult ministry, which includes the need for many faithful and well-formed adults, is truly the best possible tool for evangelism. As I learn of new techniques, best practices, amazing ministries, outstanding curricula, I will do my best to push that information out to you. And please, share what you know with me, too, so that I can send it around this network that I fondly refer to as the EpiscoYouth network.

In light of this pledge, I have just added twothree new links to this blog that will soon be available on our ever-so-slowly-but-truly-changing-for-the-better website. I believe the new site will truly be helpful in many ways. The new branding makes sense, too. You can read about it in the latest Church Center Newsletter that also features an interview with me about EYE. Check out this new stuff. Use it. Share it. 

Blessings on your ministry!

Bronwyn

Act Out: Empowering Youth to Heal a Hurting World

Designed by Episcopal Relief and Development in collaboration with educators and youth ministers, these modules offer an intensive educational program for middle- and high-school students that brings the needs and hopes of the world together with the lives of youth, in a context framed by liturgy and filled with prophetic stories of Scripture. Adaptable to many settings.

Building Faith

An on-line Christian Ed Community brought to you by Sharon Ely Pearson, Christian Formation Specialist at Church Publishing Group. This is the place to share great ideas, learn of new curricula, and ask questions of all of your colleagues in ministry.

Newsletter of The Episcopal Church Center

A quarterly publication from Church Center staff - currently bookmarked to an interview with the Officer for Youth Ministry.

Suicide Prevention Resources and More

In the wake of the bullying incidents and resulting suicides of GLBTQ teens and young adults that have drawn national attention in recent weeks, we are naturally receiving a number of inquiries seeking resources for holding compassionate conversations about a variety of topics including:

• gender identity and sexual orientation
• bullying and cyber-bullying
• depression and isolation
• suicide prevention

Please note the previous post on this blog about the "It Gets Better" project on You Tube. Please also follow this link to Sharon Ely Pearson's Blog post on the topic. Sharon is the Christian Formation Specialist at Church Publishing. She makes it her business to learn of and share resources. Thank you, Sharon!

Please post the resources you have found/created/used on these topics by using the comment feature on this blog, or by posting to the FaceBook wall at www.facebook.com/episcoyouth . Quick links could be shared at the EpiscoYouth Twitter feed as well.

The advantage we have as a denomination is the blessing of abundance in resources, as long as we share them! Please weigh in. This is Kingdom work as we live more fully into our Baptismal promises individually and as a Christian Church organized as a denomination. These are dignity and justice issues.

Please reach out to the teens in need in your community. Please respond to the cries for help with compassion and appropriate resources, even if that resource is a suicide prevention hot line number. Youth ministry can certainly be about life and death. Please don't hesitate to embrace the opportunity to make a difference in the life of a child of God!

Grant, O God, that your Holy and life-giving Spirit may so move every human heart, and especially the hearts of those who choose to bully and harass and abuse, that barriers which divide us crumble, suspicions disappear, and hatreds cease; that our divisions being healed, we may live in justice and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

- Prayer For Social Justice, The Book of Common Prayer, p.823

Curriculum Survey

Our friend, colleague, and partner in Ministry at Church Publishing, Sharon Ely Pearson, needs our help. Please read the following and then go to the survey monkey to make sure your voice is counted! Thank you!

From time to time, I like to do a curriculum survey to get a pulse of what churches are using with children, youth and adults. It is helpful to see if there are any trends and learn what kinds of resources churches are looking for. The last time I conducted such a survey was in the Spring of 2009, so thought this might be a good time to do another one. This survey will close on November 1st and I will share the results with all of you. I will also do a comparison from then and now and determine any trends if I see any. I'd appreciate it if any of you in diocesan positions could forward this to your congregations. We can have a better sense of the whole church if we spread the word.

www.surveymonkey.com/s/Z98SKKR

Thanks for taking the time to fill this out.
Peace, Sharon

Sharon Ely Pearson, Christian Formation Specialist Church Publishing Incorporated/Morehouse Education Resources Mailing address:
17 Pumpkin Lane - Norwalk, CT 06851
866-280-5299 (toll-free office)
203-846-4144 (fax)


Read my blog: http://www.rowsofsharon.com/
Subscribe to "Living IN-Formation" monthly newsletter at http://www.morehouseeducation.org/
Visit your own "Resource Room" at http://www.morehouseeducation.org/Resource-Room
The Prayer Book Guide to Christian Education http://www.prayerbookguide.com/
The Charter for Lifelong Christian Formation http://www.formationcharter.com/

New Resource

The following news release crossed my email desktop today. As a Minnesota Episcopalian I have been blessed with Minnesota Public Radio and have listened to Krista Tippett's Speaking of Faith® program from its infancy. This new resource may or may not be what is best for your congregation, but it looks like an opportunity to engage across some generational lines within the congregation with fresh perspectives and new material. If you choose to try it we would love to know what you think! Use the comments feature on the blog or send me an email bskov@episcoaplchurch.org.

From Church Publishing, Inc. New York, New York -

As part of a unique new partnership between a publisher and weekly radio broadcast, Church Publishing Incorporated (CPI) has developed and released a series of new, online church-group resources in conjunction with the popular radio program, Speaking of Faith® with Krista Tippett, produced by American Public Media.


Titled Speaking of Faith® for Small Groups™, the new program resources are designed for high school, young adult, and adult study groups and revolve around topical, interfaith conversations and interviews conducted by Krista Tippett on previously broadcast programs. Four modules of Speaking of Faith® for Small Groups™ are now available, including:


Sustainable Faith: God, the Environment and Human Responsibility
Einstein's God: Science, Faith and the Life of Wonder
Spiritual Heroes: Women and Men on the Frontiers of Faith
Living Islam: Beauty, Truth, Compassion

The modules can be previewed and purchased exclusively at www.churchpublishing.org/speakingoffaith

Camping Season

Several years ago an acquaintance asked me if I ever took my kids on a "real" vacation, or if we only took them camping. I screwed up my face and asked what she meant.

"You know, like going to Wisconsin Dells and staying in a hotel instead of living in a tent in State Parks and things," she sneered.

I was blown away. I spent my childhood exploring the west in a car with my father, mother, and sister, living in a tent and visiting places like the Badlands and Black Hills of South Dakota, Yellowstone National Park, and the Grand Canyon, not to mention the dozens of places in northern New Mexico and Arizona that commanded our attention and wonder. I felt richly blessed, so much so that my husband and children have spent all of their childhood engaged in the summer vacation ritual of camping. It's my favorite mode of family vacation!

I realize it's not for everyone. But our family does the other kind of camping, too. My sons spent years attending Cass Lake Episcopal Camp in Northern Minnesota where I also volunteered as camp staff during my parish youth ministry days. They are applying to be counselors for our Episcopal Youth Music Camp this summer. Episcopalians have a long and proud tradition of summer camping for young people.

Some would argue that if well planned and directed, a week at summer church camp can be more enlightening and transformational in the life of a young person than an entire school year of Sunday School participation. Unfortunately many of our camps have gone so deeply into the red financially that we have literally lost them, or have caved in to economic pressures and lost our mission in Christian Camping.

The good news is that many of our camps are alive and well! Episcopal Camps and camping programs are engaged in significant inreach as well as outreach; creating safe space for children and youth to experience God's amazing creation, abundance, and unconditional love through singing, hiking, working, swimming, praying and more.

One group on the east coast is engaged in some pretty demanding programming for children whose lives are not so blessed with abundance. You can click the link here to learn more about a program for children with incarcerated parents. I pray for this group with gratitude and hope.

The Episcopal Camps and Conference Centers is a great resource for those engaged in camping ministry. ECCC is an Association of 106 Camps, Retreats and Conference Centers in 86 Episcopal Dioceses in 47 States, Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic. They have a FaceBook Fan Page where you can follow Bill Slocumb, ECCC Associate Director, on his summer journey to visit numerous Episcopal camps. He and Executive Director Peter Bergstrom are excellent resources for and supporters of our efforts in camping ministry.

So what's your favorite moment at church camp? Offer your comments here so we can share the transformations we've witnessed along the Lifelong Journey in Faith Formation.

TEENS and TEXTING

I subscribe to a weekly update from the Pew Research Center that frequently reports on a diverse number of elements that make up the life of a teenager. This week's publication includes a summary of details from an indepth study about teens and cell phone use; primarily texting.

For those of us in youth ministry, this study reveals no great surprises. For those parents footing the bill for family plans, we are not alone. However, we have created the "monster," so to speak.

I find it interesting that teens are often villified for using/abusing the equipment, technology, and toys that ADULTS have designed, developed, manufactured, and marketed.

The statistics toward the end of the linked report are the most alarming to me. We all need to be talking with the teens in our lives about responsible cell phone use - especially when coupled with driving.

Enjoy the article and consider subscribing to this reputable research foundation's weekly findings. It's FREE!

Compensation

Salary.
Benefits?
What is "full time?"
What are others paid for church work; lay or ordained?

These are key questions that bubble up perennially, and especially when budgets are being structured and mutual ministry reviews and performance evaluations are being set up. I've also seen some inquiries along these lines in the NAECED listserve recently. I offer a couple of resources and a few of my own thoughts.

First and foremost I offer Acts of General Convention by way of resolutions regarding The Episcopal Church and her institutions as a workplace. Here are links to the Digital Archives on Principles and Guidelines on Employment Practices  and the Task Force on Employment Policies and Practices. These are resolutions that represent and characterize ongoing efforts in the area of Episcopal employment policy and practice.

Next Matthew Price of Church Pension Group pointed me toward a 2006 Church Compensation Report that has hard data for Lay and Clergy Compensation broken down in many different ways. I encourage you to check out the full report. It can be found on the linked page.

I also encourage you to ineract with our own Episcopal Office for Transition Ministry (formerly Church Deployment Office/CDO). My colleague who serves as the Officer for this area, Tori Duncan, has assured me that lay professionals are under-represented. We all need to sign-in and create/update profiles. We also need to encourage our congregations and dioceses to use this office to post openings and search for potential ministry matches. A lot is happing in the way of updates and upgrades in this office. Please check out the site and contact Tori if you have questions or need help.

Finally I offer a few thoughts of my own from the perspective of 18 years in the youth ministry trenches as a part-timer in a small congregation, to working in more than one parish at a time, to serving as a diocesan staff member. These are my own observations and opinions and do not represent any official pronouncement of any kind. I offer them faithfully, thoughtfully, compassionately, and with hope.

Lay Ministry as a church professional is every bit as much a call to ministry as that of an ordained person. Often the two are in concert. Often they are not. The contexts that are missed in the statistical report referred to above include comparable secular compensation in geographic regions and level of education. One could argue that a seminary education can be assumed for clergy employees, however more and more priests are being formed in contexts other than traditional seminary settings; some are non-stipendiary and unable to be deployed, some have been called to other congregations and receive compensation. These are reasonable factors to consider when discerning salaries and compensation packages.

For youth ministry specifically we are often inadvertantly and ignorantly undercompensated for a number of reasons.

• Much of our ministry is unseen like communication w/ parents, youth and volunteers
• The visible ministry looks more like fun than work from the outside - Happening, Mission Trips, Movie Nights, Fund-raising (whee!) :)
• People question the seriousness of our work and often treat it as proving grounds for ordained ministry rather than a call to lifelong lay ministry

I'm sure you could name more. All of these dynamics set youth ministers up to be paid for far fewer hours than they actually work, and for not being honored with Sabbath Time for rest and renewal or Continuing Education time for professional development and connecting with colleagues.

When negotiating my own contracts I have insisted on a few simple guidelines for myself and my employer:

• I should be paid more than the average middle or high school teacher in my community - their salary is based on nine months of work, mine is based on 12. Please take into account education and years of experience. I am entitled to pension and health benefits.
• Overnights do count as hours worked within a week - it is not only time that I am away from my family, it is also time when I am responsible for other peoples' children, their health and well-being, TWENTY-FOUR hours a day from our event beginning to end. I usually take those extra hours as Sabbath time rather than overtime pay, especially if I'm not eligible for additional compensation due to exempt employee status
• I request two weeks of paid time off for continuing education; those opportunities should be paid by my employer to attend conferences, meetings, or participate in on-line or in-person institutional learning.
• Negotiate a sabbatical - look to the clergy guidelines in your diocese and request paid time away for sabbatical after a certain number of years served  full-time on a staff. More on this topic later :)

I hope this is helpful information. Most of all, THANK YOU for engaging in this vital ministry. The church is blessed by your gifts and renewed with your passion for evangelizing our young people.

Blessings,
Bronwyn

Discipline of Holy Week

I am thankful for Randall and Sandra Curtis and their devotions for Journey to the Cross this week and last. They agreed to be Episcopal writers for d365 in Lent this year. Along with The Rt. Rev. Brian Prior they represent our denomination in this season for our ecumenical resource for young people. Ken Medema also offers us appropriately meditative and provocative music. I am proud of this resource and hope that others of you with a gift for devotional writing will let me know that you feel called to share through this resource, too.


Randall is on the Bishop's staff in Arkansas working with Youth and Young Adults. He is also the current Province VII Youth Ministry Coordinator. The following biography appears on the site introducing us to this week's writer Sandra, Randall's wife:
Sandra Curtis loves to read. She likes to curl up in bed reading stories with her daughter, Olivia. She loves recommending good books to the students at Episcopal Collegiate School, where she works as the librarian. She thinks sometimes books are like vegetables and occasionally will force her husband Randall to read things that are good for him, like parenting books and poetry. Her pugs, Coco and Cheerio, have the pleasure of listening in on book discussions at the dinner table. She believes to love a good book is to share it.
 
On another note, I am attempting to share one of my Episcopal Lenten disciplines this week on the blog and will post one of the Collects for Holy Week from A New Zealand Prayer Book each day. I love praying through the week with these strategic and thoughtful offerings. You can find them in the upper right corner of the blog.
 
Blessings in Holy Week,
Bronwyn

To Blog or Facebook . . .

That seems to be a hot question in youth ministry these days. The NAECED (see link at right for more) listserve has been chatting about the pros and cons of various Facebook techniques this past week. The Province V Youth Ministry Network, which I will be visiting this week, is focusing on sharing technology and communication strategies. My own office is beginning a new networking strategy. Ewart Jones, the Diocesan Missioner for Youth and Young Adult Ministry in the Episcopal Diocese of Texas uses both, Facebook and Blogger! I asked Ewart to share an introductory paragraph with us before you click over to their site.The link is at the bottom of this post. Here's what Ewart had to say about the their Blog.
THANKS FOR SHARING EWART!

Diocesan youth ministry in the Diocese of Texas has adopted a contemplative approach adopted from Mark Yaconelli’s work with the Youth Ministry and Spirituality Project. There are seven steps in this approach: contemplation, community, companioning, clarity, action, reflection and a return to contemplation. The hope is to be more intentional and accountable in the ministry in which we are engaged. This approach guides our programs, retreats and conferences. We have steering committees that are composed of youth and adults that “govern” the decisions of our programs and we try to use every mode of communication (snail mail, email, diocesan paper and website, blog, social media) to spread the word about our particular “theology” of youth ministry.

Diocese of Texas Youth Ministry Blog Link Here

Do you blog? Post a comment with a link so we can all share!

Blessings,
Bronwyn

Liturgical Year Resource

In her Convocation address at Virginia Theological Seminary in fall 2009, Lisa Kimball asserts that today's global and consumer age "are presenting us, the Church, with a profound invitation: focus on the basics. Read the Bible, Challenge the skeptics. Learn our history. Claim our unique identity in Christ."

The liturgical year is a basic part of our common life in the Church. It takes us through Jesus' journey beginning with Advent and acknowledges our need for growing and telling the stories in the long season of Pentecost. The liturgical year is a part of every Godly Play classroom. But it is often forgotten in classrooms for middle and high schoolers, and this is just the time when youth, who are growingi in self-awareness, need the liturgical calendar even more. It marks not just Christian time, but it gives our souls the opportunity to practice the rhythms of life. Advent helps us practice waiting, Ephiphany--a time of noticing Christ among us, Lent--a time for self-examination and repentance, Easter---a time of celebration, and Pentecost--the long time of growing.

When a youth faces waiting (such as waiting for a college decision or a job decision) or faces times of needing repentance (when they have broken relationships), their souls know just what to do because they have practiced. They know the prayers, they know it might take a long time to go through that period.  Keep the liturgical calendar in the youth room, give it out for bedroom bulletin boards, and dress your worship table with cloths that signify the color of the season. Through this practice, youth will also be more articulate about their faith in our pluralistic society.
THANKS TO JENIFER GAMBER FOR SHARING THIS TOOL FOR MINISTRY!

A lifelong Episcopalian, Jenifer Gamber has served as a teacher and youth mentor for over 20 years and currently leads confirmation classes and baptism preparation at the Cathedral Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, PA. She was recently elected Vice-President of NAECED (the National Association for Episcopal Christian Education Directors). Jenifer keynotes at conferences, leads workshops and retreats nationally, and maintains the website http://www.myfaithmylife.org/, a non-profit site offering free resources for adults who work with youth. She is a regular columnist for the Episcopal Teacher and author of several books for teens and adults about the Episcopal Church. Adults who work with youth might consider attending this popular retreat in September at Holy Cross Monastery: www.myfaithmylife.org./ohcretreat.html

Resource to Address Haiti

Leader Resources, publisher of the well known Journey to Adulthood program, has made available a new resource addressing the catastrophe in Haiti and our Christian response. Searching for God in the Rubble of Haiti materials are designed for use across all age groups with specific resources designated by age groupings. It has been designed for use in Lent. All packages address the following questions:

• Why do bad things happen to good people?
• Why doesn’t God prevent disasters?
• Why Haiti? (an overview of Haitian life and history)
• Where is God in Haiti (or any disaster)?
• Where was God in Christ’s crucifixion?
• What is on the other side of crucifixion….or disasters?

Click here to see the description of the Youth materials.

A link for Leader Resources can be found here and using the links in the right column on this blog. There is a free download on the home page that addresses Talking with Children/Teens about Tragedy.

Please also continue to check in with Episcopal Relief and Development for updates on our Episcopal response.

If you have other resources to share that would be helpful in addressing this crisis, please comment on this post or send an email my way.

NAECED Tapestry

I have spent the past two days with Christian Formation Professionals, Christian Education Experts, Youth Ministers, Sunday School Teachers, Adult Educators, Resource Specialists and numerous other colleagues in ministry. We have been weaving our stories together over the two full days of the Tapestry Conference in a beautiful retreat setting in Menlo Park, California. The Board of Directors and local members have done an outstanding job in planning and welcoming us to the bay area where we have been re-membering  who we are, whose we are, and why we do what we do.

NAECED is really the only association within our Episcopal umbrella that intentionally seeks to meet the many needs of those engaged in Lifelong Christian Formation and Education ministry. Attention is given to welcome and include volunteers and those blessed with paychecks, lay persons and those in the clergy orders. The title of the group may be misleading for some; National Association for Episcopal Christian Education Directors. I invite you to give more consideration to our descriptors; Your Network for Christian Education and A dynamic community celebrating and upholding the diverse ministries of Christian Formation.

This truly is a dedicated network of faithful saints working to support one another in creative and compassionate ways, building relationships while building the body of Christ within our denomination and beyond. Membership gets you access to a wonderful forum for conversation and consultation, the list serve, as well as discounts on resources and more. Membership is a great value!

Mark your calendar for the 2011 Tapestry Conference, February 3-5. We'll be in Charlotte, North Carolina, "Equipping the Saints for the Work of Ministry."

I hope you'll join us!

http://www.naeced.org/

First Week of Advent

What Advent traditions does your family keep?

During the years of raising our sons we have had a great debate each year to determine if our table would be decorated with blue or purple candles in Advent. Sometimes we have a pink candle for the third Sunday, sometimes not. In years that we ended up with blue we sometimes compromised with a light purple for the third Sunday. More importantly, our family was engaged in discussion about the liturgical color of the season, reminding us that preparation for Christmas is not simply about shopping or gift-making.

We have also had a number of different Advent Wreaths over the years. It all  began with those that were made at Advent Festivals at church; often the sort that required some help at home to keep them from falling apart with regular wear and tear of family dinners when children were home every night for supper. As the boys grew older and were home less, we didn't sit at the table for family dinners every night, and they became aware of the fragility of some of the old cardboard wreaths. Someone brought home a sturdy wooden cross candle holder from youth group one year, and we decorated it with real greens trimmed from our own trees in the yard. Once both boys were in middle school my sons purchased a traditional Danish iron candle holder with decorative greens and gave it to me for Christmas. This marked the beginning of using candles at dinner whenever our family gathers for a meal. My sons have added to the Danish ironwork candle holders over the years so that now our big country kitchen is lit by the original piece on the table and is boosted by a chandelier and wall sconces. It's a lovely and peaceful way to eat dinner that each of us treasures.

It all started by keeping Advent at home and not simply on Sundays at church.

My prayer for you is that your family can find a way to keep Advent holy and full of anticipation and preparation to receive the Christ into the world in this miraculous season.

For your personal use I commend the Following the Star online devotions series we co-author and sponsor as an ecumenical effort (http://www.d365.org/) in youth ministry. Passport Inc. administers and edits this holy offering. This year Following the Star draws its theme from Psalm 46: “Be Still and Know That I Am God.” As Advent begins, the writer, Tracy Hartman, helps us to quiet our souls as we turn toward God.

To journey with us, click here (or paste this link into your web browser): http://www.followingthestar.org/.

Bulletin inserts and images are available for you to promote Following the Star with your congregation or on your websites, blogs and social networks. Thank you for sharing this wonderful, free resource with others: www.d365.org/share.

Blessings in Advent!

The Youth & Family Institute = Vibrant Faith Ministries

The Youth & Family Institute has recently completed a re-visioning proccess and has implemented some shifts in focus and approach, including a name change to Vibrant Faith Ministries. Many of you know them as the organization that brought us Peer Ministry with the compassionate expertise of Lyle Griner, who has partnered with us in the training and implementation of Peer Ministry for the Episcopal Youth Event (EYE), in many of our congrergations, and in some of our Campus Ministry programs.

Lyle is peeling off to continue with the Peer Ministry Program, and the Vibrant Faith Ministries site continues to maintain a link for this valuable ministry resource. Lyle is also offering consultations for visioning processes, ministry coaching expertise, and more.

Vibrant Faith Ministries is promoting some new and tried and true resources, too, including a new curriculum resource for ministries with families and their certification school. Check them out to see if either is a fit for your program or congregation!

Bible Study Resource

I am working in the New York office this week, specifically collaboarating with the Communications staff regarding webpages, blogs, and electronic newsletters. You will see a shift in all of these areas over the next three months. One of my tasks is to review resources we supply on links to make sure the link is still good and the resource is what we thought it was.

The task feels a bit like cleaning my room as a teenager.

I remember unearthing things from my childhood as I slogged through the disarray of clothing strewn about the furniture and floor; artwork, notes passed to friends in class, old friendship bracelets, paper fortune-tellers. Finding clothing, long buried, that still fit was like finding a treasure, almost as good as finding a crisp, clean twenty dollar bill in my clean jeans. Inevitably I would run across something to read that would totally distract me from my intended task.

That's what happened today as I was checking links. It was actually the picture above that caught my eye. Following is a link to Faith Lens, a weekly, on-line Bible Study published by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) with whom we are in full communion. I find Faith Lens a very thoughtful and highly adaptable resource for youth ministry in a congregation. Click here to check it out!

Thank you ELCA!

Faithfully,
Bronwyn

"Reaching Youth and Young Adults - Top Priority"

Friends, it is a good day to be a youth minister in The Episcopal Church. If you haven't seen it already, please hit this phrase to link to Episcopal Life Online to read about the survey results of the Strategic Planning Committee. I don't know about you, but I am doing my happy dance, praising God that the church at least "gets it" that young people are the biggest asset we have in developing strategies for enabling spiritual transformation, evangelism, and church growth.

The phrase in the E-Life report by Mary Frances Schjonberg that warms my heart is, "The five areas called "very important" by a clear majority of respondents were, in descending order: reaching youth and young adults; evangelism/proclaiming the good news of Christ; worship, music and liturgy; leadership; and strengthening congregations." I say AMEN and ALLELUIA!

So what does this mean? I do not intend to sit around to wait and see. We need to get organized and prepare to mobilize and I am going to need to ramp up our ability to communicate with one another more efficiently. I am consulting with our communications department to take care of the technological possibilities on the office end. Currently we have the DYMC (Diocesan Youth Ministry Coordinator) listserve that will eventually go away when the listserve subscription expires.  Soon each member of the DYMC and all of our diocesan offices will receive communication from me that will include the following request.

As Program Officer for Youth I am attempting to establish a network that consists of ONE  person for each diocese who can do three things:

1. receive email as the Diocesan Youth Ministry Contact for distribution to the rest of the congregations of the diocese and
2. receive conventional mail at the diocesan mailing address for informational and distribution purposes and
3. serve as the Youth Ministry participant at the Provincial Network level, on behalf of the diocese, through participation in that network's communications, gatherings, and initiatives.

Will you please help catch this momentum by initiating the conversation in your diocese? I pledge to keep you posted and to seek your council as strategic planning progresses. Your Provincial Youth Ministry Coordinators are eager to take up this work. We look forward to hearing from you. In the mean time, keep track of your "Best Practices" and your stories of transformational success in your congregations. I'm gonna need a witness! or two, or ten, or 100.Can you say Lifelong Christian Formation? Hit those three words to go to the Charter that General Convention adopted last summer. It also wouldn't hurt to read some of the PEALL (Proclaiming Education for All) surveys and reports. Here's a link to the Report on Episcopal Youth and Young Adults in Congregations and on Campuses.

Most of all, know that you are not alone in this mission field. I thank you on behalf of the Church for sharing your gifts and answering your call to this vital ministry.

Blessings in Faith,

Bronwyn

Bronwyn Clark Skov

Program Officer for Lifelong Christian Formation and Youth

The Episcopal Church

bskov@episcopalchurch.org

212-716-6074 Office

646-242-1421 NEW Cell #

800-334-7626 Toll Free

Timely Prayers

I share the following two prayers that feel appropriate for this time of year. These are from Changes: Prayers and Services Honoring Rites of Passage, Church Publishing, Inc. It's a wonderful resource and I encourage you to check it out.

Beginning the School Year

Dear God, today is N.’s first day of school [First Grade], a happy, exciting, scary day. We pray that N.’s teachers will be generous, wise, and gracious. We pray for N.’s classmates, so that true friendships may be found for all. Especially we pray for N. Keep her safe and well. Open her heart and mind to a world of learning, and may this be the first of thousands of days in which she knows the depth of your love and the constancy of your care. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Prayers for the Transitions of Childhood

prayer 3, page 15

Going to College

Gracious God, your Holy Spirit instructs our hearts in the ways of life. In going to college, your child N., has set aside a time of learning and preparation for his life’s work. Through all the years ahead, make him hungry for wisdom tempered with love. Help him discern the truth in all that he learns, in the people he meets, and in the choices he must face each day. Keep his mind alert for the rigors of study and exams. Keep his body safe and well. Give him a heart bold to question, yet alive to your wonders. And assure him always of your love and ours; through Christ, your Wisdom made flesh. Amen.

Prayers and Rites for the Transitions of Youth and Young Adulthood

prayer 5, page 22

Recently my husband and I took our youngest to his first year of college. As we sat listening to the convocation address by the college president he shared something that I needed to hear. I paraphrase his remarks here. He asked us to consider that although he cannot, nor did he want to prevent us from texting, emailing, and Facebooking our children, we might consider giving them some space to build new relationships. He explained that antiquated as it sounds, envelopes and packages in the student post office boxes are still very much anticipated and welcome. And he reminded us that prayers are faster than all of the above. Amen!

Blessings,

Bronwyn