CYAM
The Committee on Young Adult Ministry is an unofficial advisory committee commissioned by our office to serve as a sounding board and working group for young adult ministries across the church. The group is composed of eight members, 4 women and 4 men, only one clergy person and two professional lay persons. Members serve for three year terms and are nominated by diocesan and provincial leadership for the skills and perspective they offer to the group. We try to meet in person twice a year with the committee, however this year we have had to cancel our in-person meetings due to financial concerns. We nonetheless attempt to meet regularly by phone and remain in email communication.
Yesterday we had our first meeting in over two months. Busy schedules and a lack of common vision have put some of our common projects on hold, while others, like the September gathering of Diocesan Young Adult Ministry Coordinators, push smoothly ahead. The group is deeply committed to our office and to Douglas and myself. They are bright, thoughtful, and hard working like so many volunteers who make the work of the church possible.
This meeting, I hope, marked a turning point in our work. I expressed to the committee my own struggle to keep my head above water in a system I am slowly coming to understand and asked for their assistance in moving forward on a number of projects. Together we are beginning to look at new ways to establish a baseline for young adult ministry in terms of community buy in and network access. To start we are looking at two fairly simple initiatives:
Lay Leadership Story Project
Each member of CYAM is taking responsibility for interviewing a young adult involved in the church with whom they are close. They are charged with telling their story of ministry and of their relationship with the Episcopal Church. Then we are going to revisit the videos and see what common themes emerge and how we might better tell the stories with specific interview questions. These will then be posted online and added to over time. They will serve as a means of raising up young leaders, recognizing them for their efforts, and connecting them with one another. We hear all to often that young adults are not present in our church and it can often feel that way, even for those of us who are here. This is the start of bringing the network of very active young lay leaders to the forefront. My hope is that those interviewed will then interview others and further help us understand the dynamics of young adult involvement.
Spectrum of Young Adult Ministry
We often have a very narrow view of young adult ministry. This project is meant to widen our ideas of what young adult ministry can and does look like in our church today. CYAM helped to identify ten broad categories of young adult ministry and are currently helping flesh out what each area includes as well as specific examples. These will then be made into a multimedia web resource which will help ministers and parishes imagine the possibilities for reaching out to and involving young adults in their mission in the world. It will also include opportunities for uploading examples of young adult ministry that broaden our definition even further and a template for telling those stories.
Both of these resources will eventually be folded into a Young Adult Ministry readiness assessment tool to be used by parishes in the initial stages of working to develop young adult ministries. This will include web resources, study guides, as well as ready-made presentations with adaptable information to be used for adult education hours by diocesan representatives. These resources will be developed in conjunction with CYAM in stages and tested out in their local communities. Stay posted to hear more. We move forward on both projects with great hope but also with the spunk of adventure. We'll see where it goes.
Today I also met with the young adult delegates who attended the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women earlier this Spring. We have decided to continue working together to help formulate a young adult response to the absence of a Women's Ministry desk and to make sure the opportunity they were given is enjoyed by others in the future. At the moment that is far from a given. Our MO at the moment is one foot and then another. So our next meeting will be around women as impacted by environmental degradation. We will be looking at water rights between the US and Mexico, at women in gulf states impacted by storms and by the oil spill, and women in agriculture, a largely male driven industry. I'm excited to see what the three folks leading the discussion come up with. I'll be sure to pass it along. For today, pray for the Executive Council Commission on the Status of Women for the Episcopal Church. They'll be meeting next Wednesday through Friday to help formulate a way forward.
Yesterday we had our first meeting in over two months. Busy schedules and a lack of common vision have put some of our common projects on hold, while others, like the September gathering of Diocesan Young Adult Ministry Coordinators, push smoothly ahead. The group is deeply committed to our office and to Douglas and myself. They are bright, thoughtful, and hard working like so many volunteers who make the work of the church possible.
This meeting, I hope, marked a turning point in our work. I expressed to the committee my own struggle to keep my head above water in a system I am slowly coming to understand and asked for their assistance in moving forward on a number of projects. Together we are beginning to look at new ways to establish a baseline for young adult ministry in terms of community buy in and network access. To start we are looking at two fairly simple initiatives:
Lay Leadership Story Project
Each member of CYAM is taking responsibility for interviewing a young adult involved in the church with whom they are close. They are charged with telling their story of ministry and of their relationship with the Episcopal Church. Then we are going to revisit the videos and see what common themes emerge and how we might better tell the stories with specific interview questions. These will then be posted online and added to over time. They will serve as a means of raising up young leaders, recognizing them for their efforts, and connecting them with one another. We hear all to often that young adults are not present in our church and it can often feel that way, even for those of us who are here. This is the start of bringing the network of very active young lay leaders to the forefront. My hope is that those interviewed will then interview others and further help us understand the dynamics of young adult involvement.
Spectrum of Young Adult Ministry
We often have a very narrow view of young adult ministry. This project is meant to widen our ideas of what young adult ministry can and does look like in our church today. CYAM helped to identify ten broad categories of young adult ministry and are currently helping flesh out what each area includes as well as specific examples. These will then be made into a multimedia web resource which will help ministers and parishes imagine the possibilities for reaching out to and involving young adults in their mission in the world. It will also include opportunities for uploading examples of young adult ministry that broaden our definition even further and a template for telling those stories.
Both of these resources will eventually be folded into a Young Adult Ministry readiness assessment tool to be used by parishes in the initial stages of working to develop young adult ministries. This will include web resources, study guides, as well as ready-made presentations with adaptable information to be used for adult education hours by diocesan representatives. These resources will be developed in conjunction with CYAM in stages and tested out in their local communities. Stay posted to hear more. We move forward on both projects with great hope but also with the spunk of adventure. We'll see where it goes.
Today I also met with the young adult delegates who attended the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women earlier this Spring. We have decided to continue working together to help formulate a young adult response to the absence of a Women's Ministry desk and to make sure the opportunity they were given is enjoyed by others in the future. At the moment that is far from a given. Our MO at the moment is one foot and then another. So our next meeting will be around women as impacted by environmental degradation. We will be looking at water rights between the US and Mexico, at women in gulf states impacted by storms and by the oil spill, and women in agriculture, a largely male driven industry. I'm excited to see what the three folks leading the discussion come up with. I'll be sure to pass it along. For today, pray for the Executive Council Commission on the Status of Women for the Episcopal Church. They'll be meeting next Wednesday through Friday to help formulate a way forward.
posted by Jason Sierra at 1:58 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home