Thinking About Mindfulness: Supporting Resiliency in an Anxious World

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A growing body of research supports what any of us working with young people already know--that our young people are experiencing increasing amounts of stress.   More importantly, a growing body of evidence supports that increased time on smartphones is part of the problem. Well, smartphones are not going away, but as you consider how to shape your program and relationships with your young people this year, here are a couple of articles that offer some simple but powerful steps we can take to help counteract the stress our kids are suffering under.

A recent Washington Post article, "Teens are more stressed and anxious, but they don't know why...," stresses the importance of what many youth workers already value, the power of personal connections. The essay, written by a psychologist on a suicide hot line, also includes several excellent links to other resources on talking with young people about serious mental health concerns.

More attention is also being given to the value of mindfulness and meditation. Pediatrician Dr. Dzung X. Vo maintains Mindfulness for Teens, a website of resources for young people interested in increasing their mindfulness skills. While Dr. Vo's approach is secular, these tools can easily be adapted in developing a spiritual practice to help young people build up their resiliency by strengthening their connection to God through Christ.

Thinking About Mission: Trip-Planning Manual

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Launched in 2014, this terrific on-line resource is a joint project of the Episcopal Church Office of Youth Ministry and the Inspiring Mission.  The guide contains all the background information you need to get started planning your next mission experience. The guide is framed within an Episcopal/Anglican context and are grounded in valuing "doing with" and "being with" mission, not the traditional "doing to" or "building for" types of experiences.  The guide also include a good balance of theological and practical guidance, including setting up a timeline and budget, communications planning, and bible study suggestions.

The entire publication is available for free on-line and can be downloaded in sections.

Faithfully Facebook: A Lesson Plan and Social Strategy for Youth Ministries

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Facebook is and will be for a while, the dominant social network in Youth Ministry. It can be a great tool to communicate with teenagers and to collaborate on teams.  However, with anything there can also be pitfalls.  We have seen rampant hacking of Facebook accounts, cyberbullying through Facebook, and many people who posted something that they intended to be seen by only a few people.  

This lesson was developed by Randall Curtis, Ministry Developer for Young Adults and Youth for the Diocese of Arkansas, and a national leader in using social media as a tool for ministry. The lesson serves as a tool to help you talk with your young people about issues around Facebook and faith, and it offers a set of suggested practices for youth ministers who use Facebook.

Video Discussion Starter: Youth Voice and Engagement in the Church

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Two interviews from a recent General Convention are great tools to start a dialogue within your church--among your young people and between youth and adults--about the extent to which young people and their full involvement may be encouraged and discouraged in your parish.

Megan Lightcap (St. Paul's, Natick) and Michelle St. Francis (Trinity Church, Concord) attended General Convention as observers thanks to support from the Mass. chapter of Episcopal Church Women (ECW).  While there, they maintained a video blog, and two of their entries included interviews with the two youngest deputies from the Massachuetts delegation:  Sarah Neumann (20, from Church of the Redeemer, Lexington) and Sam Gould (26, from St. Paul's, Brookline).

In the interviews, Sarah and Sam talk from their experience as young leaders seeking and finding their voice in the church today.

The interviews are included in a video available free online>> 

After viewing the two videos with your youth group, have a discussion:

  • To what extent are Sarah's and Sam's experiences in wanting to be involved in the church governing bodies similar and dissimilar from your own?

  • To what extent are their experiences with being taken seriously by others in the church similar and dissimilar from your own?

  • What lessons have Sarah and Sam learned about what it takes to be heard as a young person in the church?

  • In what ways does our parish encourage young people to "step up" and share the work and responsibility of our life together?

  • In what ways does our parish discourage young people's voice?

  • What advice might Sarah and Sam have for our young people? For our vestry?

  • What suggestions do you have for how we can do better as a youth group and as a parish to encourage more youth voice and engagement in the church?

This could be a great discussion at your youth group meeting.  Could also be a great start to having a broader conversation between young people and your vestry, or perhaps as a format for a Sunday forum open to the entire congregation.

Thinking About Sanctuary: What Youth Leaders and Young People Can do for Immigrant Families

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People around the diocese are thinking about how to make their parishes into safe sanctuaries, especially for those families and individuals who are being targeted by homeland security. This list of resources for youth leaders and youth groups can help you think about what your parish can do to help this effort:

1.) A “Know Your Rights” handout for young people and families, in English and Spanish.

This is for undocumented people and their allies who are worried about an Immigration Control and Enforcement (ICE) raid on a home or workplace. This guide assists the creation of an immigration raid family plan for your family or for another family in your congregation or community.

2.) A guide for educators and school support staff published by the American Federation of Teachers

This is a longer document that includes tools and resources to help protect and prepare youth and families. It tells you how to defend the rights of undocumented students. Church members may know about the 2011 policy memo that says ICE agents should refrain from conducting enforcement activities in churches. This is the basis of the so called, "sanctuary movement." You should know that schools, hospitals, and public demonstrations are also protected spaces according to this memo.

3.) A sample school board resolution defending access to education for every child.

This is for parishes who are considering lobbying their local school boards and committees to establish their schools as safe zones.

4. Ten myths about immigration.  

Misperceptions about immigration and immigrants are common. Here are a few of the most frequently spread misconceptions, along with information to help your students separate fact from fiction.

5.) Supporting young people from immigrant families.

In addition to a catalog of resources and information, the Teaching Tolerance website includes a host of lesson plans for a range of ages on immigration, changing demographics, and social justice. Easily adapted for a Sunday School or youth group event or series.

Thinking About Race: 10 Ways Well-Meaning White Teachers Bring Racism Into Our Schools [and Churches!]

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Originally written for classroom teachers, this important article addresses an issue that is just as important for youth workers, youth ministers, Christian educators, and others working with young people in church.

The author, Jamie Utt, says in his introduction, "most White teachers mean well and have no intention of being racist. Yet as people who are inscribed with Whiteness, it is possible for us to act in racist ways no matter our intentions. Uprooting racism from our daily actions takes a lifetime of work." The article goes on to identify common ways White adults working with young people of color can shut down communications with them and, as importantly, things that can be done to more fully embody the wide and inclusive love of Christ in our work with all young people.

This thought provoking article is a fertile source for personal reflection and prayer. It could also be used as the centerpiece of an important meeting topic among a team of youth workers, or between youth workers and young people or parish leadership and parents.

It's an important resource for all who interact with youth in places of learning. Read the whole article here.

Thinking About Youth on Vestry

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Being a vestry member means leading in a community of faith. It means committing yourself to stewardship. It means speaking and acting from your own experience for the benefit of others.

The Office of Youth Ministry recently surveyed diocesan youthworkers about the experience of young people serving on local parish vestry boards. We heard stories about churches who make a concerted effort to identify, train, and mentor young leaders to be full vestry members—their actions are creating broad-reaching and powerful outcomes.

Giving young people an equal voice in church management is an empowering life-moment for a young person, and can be a transformative event for the congregation. The Vestry Resource Guide points out that “each generation sees the world differently because it was formed by different major world events and cultural changes.” Having that variety of perspectives at the table can help a church respond to changes in your wider community and around the world.

But what we learned from diocesan youthworkers that youth-on-vestry success begins with identifying strong candidates and giving them the ongoing support and mentorship. All of these ingredients are necessary in order for a young person (with no board experience) to contribute in this new environment.

Certainly, this process looks different in each church community. In any event, it might be in your vestry’s interest to start thinking about which high school students are attending worship regularly, who among them is involved in community events, and who has the availability to attend regular vestry meetings. Also think about who are the adults in the community who have a gift for coaching and mentorship.

The perspective of young people is important to the faith-life of any community. All people benefit when young people have a role in shaping our guiding principles.

What are your suggestions for how to involve young people with church vestries? Best practices for making youth participation a positive experience for the entire vestry membership?

Thinking About Programs

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Are you thinking about adding new structure to your church youth program this fall? Whether you are creating something new, or fine-tuning well-established programming, here are some thoughts to help steer your planning, adapted from resources offered by Elizabeth Barker Ring, a consultant for formation and leadership in the Episcopal Diocese of Maine:

1.) Keep flexibility in mind. Your curriculum should serve as a helping-hand in the process of forming and asking open-ended, invitational questions. The process of making and asking of questions together helps young people build a community of trust with each other.

2.) Be mindful to places where you can center your programs in prayer. Think of prayer as an invitation to youth to lay what is on their hearts and minds on the table without needing to discuss it. The prayer can stem from a piece of scripture from the lectionary, or an invitation to some shared action in the community.

3.) Start with whatever is on the hearts and minds of the youth; this way they can respond to you confidently from the fullness of their faith.

Our Favorite Sites for Youth Workers, Youth Leaders, and Families

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cultureandyouth.org
This website, the result of an ongoing partnership between Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and Boston's Emmanuel Gospel Center, seeks to serve youth ministers, mentors, and other youth workers at the grass-roots level and hopes to encourage discussion of rather than division over complex and sometimes controversial issues.

Among the resources on the site is a vast "Infopedia" of articles on everything from depression and immigration to sexting and white privilege.  The articles include information on a given topic plus discussion questions and implications for action.  The site also includes links to other regional, national, and international organizations and informational clearinghouses.

Working with Youth on the Autism Spectrum 
The Rev. Rebecca Black has developed some training materials through her work with Rhythms of Grace.  Her hope is to help prepare churches to work with youth on the Autism spectrum.  For a sample of the materials available check out at the "Tips for Youth Group Leaders" and "What Churches Can Do".

BuildFaith

Buildfaith.org, a product of Lifelong Learning at Virginia Theological Seminary, contains a wealth of articles and resources on Christian education and formation for children, young people, and adults. Articles are written by ministers, lay and ordained, in a variety of settings, and are thoughtful, helpful, and well-organized.

Youth Specialties
A website designed for predominantly evangelical/ large church Youth Ministers, it hosts a huge amount of information-- some of which will be applicable to Episcopal Churches, and some of which will not be. However, there is some good information out there, especially if you have a large church youth group.

Episcopal Church Resources

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New Model Policy for Safeguarding our Children & Young People
In April 2018, a task force of the Episcopal Church released an updated "Model Policy for the Protection of Children and Youth" . The group also wrote a " Model Policy for the Protection of Vulnerable Adults ." This work was launched in 2015 by a resolution of General Convention, and over the next 2 and a half years, experts and practitioners from around the country worked on the update.

Digital Communication and Social Media Guidelines
Published by the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts and updated in 2017, this document provides guidance to clergy and congregational leadership in their use of digital/electronic technology and social media.

TED Talk Lenten Study
This curriculum was developed by the Diocese of Massachusetts Office of Youth Ministry and isn't just for Lent, but instead can be used during any 5-session program in which you want to use engaging TED Talks and Scripture to invite youth (and adults) to wonder about what God is asking from them.  Download HERE.

Episcopal Church Youth Ministry
Information, resources and news about youth from the denomination (formerly known as the 'National Church').

d365.org
Daily devotions set to music, with reflections and questions suitable for youth and adults!

My Faith, My Life
A guide to the Episcopal Church for teens and their families and mentors. Great resources, reflections and information about upcoming workshops-- the basis for the website is the book, My Faith, My Life, which has been used for Confirmation curricula.

Talking Shop Archive

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