February 2009
I have heard from a few people across PSD that they are wondering what has become of youth ministry at the district level. The PSD Youth – Adult Committee (YAC) is in a transition period and refers to itself as the YAC Transition Group. As a very small group of youth and adults who are extremely busy, their challenge is immense, their constituency incredibly diverse, and their resources limited. While they continue to wonder what UUA will present for youth ministry, and they attempt to carve out time in their hectic schedules to address the needs of youth in PSD, take some time to open up the conversation with your local congregation with these questions:
- Does your congregation have designated people to work with youth?
- Do they have training on how to work with youth?
Answering “no” to either of these could indicate a problem. PSD would gladly train your youth advisors.
- Do you provide events for adults that are not just social in nature, such as events promoting spiritual growth, community activism, exploration of one’s values, etc?
- Do you provide opportunities for youth that are not just social in nature?
If the answers to these two questions do not match each other (or are both “no”, you might want to think about why they do not. Would you be fulfilled by an organization that addressed only one of your needs?
- Do you spend time with your youths without an agenda, just hanging out to get to know each other?
- Have you thought about creating a mentorship program, matching youth and adults to share and learn from each other?
- Have you explored the possibilities with other religious organizations in your community?
Our Whole Lives is not the only way to collaborate in your community. Be open to the possibilities! So much can be learned and shared with other religious groups and communities, liberal or otherwise!
- Have you checked out resources such as Single Digit Youth Groups series by Marcey Balcomb?
We have a lot to learn from our neighbors of different faiths if we will open our minds to the resources they share.
New Information on Web Site
Many changes have recently been added to the PSD website http://www.psduua.org/Youth/YouthPrograms, including
- some information about the Facebook page that district youth started a couple of years ago,
- the proposal that I wrote of one way PSD could encourage congregationally-based (or in clusters) youth programming, and
- clarity around what PSD staff and volunteers can realistically accomplish.
The meeting minutes from the Fall YAC meeting are posted, and while the formatting is a bit difficult to follow, the message is pretty clear – the YAC realizes that they cannot attend to every need that people (be they youth or adults) have identified, and a small group of dedicated youth and adults is not enough to serve so many.
Stay tuned
Stay tuned for more info coming in subsequent newsletters.
