Your vocational discernment program alumni are some of your best assets. How are you utilizing them?

 

Whether your program is thriving or needs improvement, partnering with alumni can be a terrific resource for expansion.

 

They've been there.
They've done that.
And they had a great time!

 

Why not use their excitement and expertise to help inspire others?

 

Here are six ways to involve alumni in your vocational discernment program:

 

1. Ask Them to Give a Testimonial

You can talk about how wonderful your program is, or you can have others do the talking for you. Testimonials, whether written or video, can be an amazing way for potential attendees to gain insight into another person's experience. This will make your program come alive to them in a whole new way.

 

And if you're interested in creating testimonaisl for your program, we even have a free resource available with lots of tips and advice.

 

2. Have Them Speak to Interested Parties

Even better than a written or video testimony? The real thing.

 

If alumni are up for speaking with others either in person or remotely, this opens up all kinds of ideas. For example, you could host a recruiting event and have them speak or they could speak to a student on-on-one who is on the fence or they could even speak to donors who can keep your program going. Allowing people to engage with them and ask questions is a powerful way to promote the benefits of your program.

 

3. Recruit Them as Volunteers

There are a number of programs that have alumni come back to volunteer year after year. Some work directly with attendees as mentors, some may only play a small role in one or two of the activities, and some may choose to stay behind-the-scenes. Regardless, every opportunity you give alumni to play a hands-on role in your program is a win for you and them. 

 

You're changing the lives of the high school students that participate in your program each year and they may want to actively participate in doing that for someone else in the future.

 

4. Have Them Refer New Program Attendees

If recruiting is a struggle for you, why not ask past program attendees to refer others in their network? It's quite possible that your alumni know others who could use the type of safe and supportive learning environment that you provided to them. They may just need a nudge from you to take the step.

 

This idea may also have the added benefit of more people hearing their own experience, which both reminds them of the wonderful time they had and allows them to tell others about it.

 

5. Ask Them for Feedback

Do you send a survey or gather feedback after your program ends? If the answer is no, you should definitely add this to your post-event list.

 

Alumni can be an incredible source of insight and inspiration for your program. They can offer advice, provide new ideas on where and how to recruit, and much more. They will also feel valued for being asked for their opinions.

 

6. Get Them to Share

Sharing is second nature for your alumni, so let them know you need (and want) their help. From sharing on social media to sharing with their youth pastor, give them the tools they need to let others know what your program has to offer.

 

At the same time, make it easy for them. Create images or flyers and give them information they can copy and paste. Like the rest of us, they will be more likely to take action if it's a simple process.

Peace. Love. Joy. Hope.

 

The core purpose of Advent is to prepare for the coming of Christ. It manifests both inwardly, in our hearts, and outwardly, in our traditions and celebrations.

 

As you prepare your hearts for this season of anticipation, here are a few resources for your reflection and meditation.

 

Podcast

• "Good News of Great Joy" with John Piper of Desiring God 

 

Devotional

• "Come, Let Us Adore Him: A Daily Advent Devotional" by Paul David Tripp

 

Scriptures

• PEACE: "Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests." - Luke 2:14

• LOVE: "For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life." - John 3:16

• JOY: "But the angel said to them, 'Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.'" - Luke 2:10-12

• HOPE: "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." - Isaiah 9:6

 

Article

• "Beth Felker Jones: On a collision course at Advent"

 

Music

• Our Spotify playlist

 

3 Questions to Ask Yourself

1. What traditions do you value most this time of year?

2. What things can you let go of because of a busyness or life situation?

3. What does it mean to be prepared?

Our 2022 theme was "Awaken What's Possible," which has been built on hope for a better future.

 

By investing in students who truly desire to impact the world around them and live out their purpose, passion and calling, we believe that possible will become inevitable. 

 

We even asked our program leaders what "Awaken What's Possible" means to them, and this is what a few of them had to say:

 

"I have seen in our students the capacity for understanding, reconciliation and faith lived out even in difficult circumstances."

 

"I’ve seen students in our program not only dream about making a difference but actually do it. So, I’m hopeful that we can continue to not only educate young people but also inspire them to more!"

 

"I have a revitalized hope for community as I have see students from different backgrounds sharing with one another their story and creating meaningful bonds with one another."

 

"I have seen students be resilient within all the challenges they have encountered this year. I have seen students listen to the voice of love and come alive to the gifts inside of them."

 

"By having time and space with peers to worship, explore questions of faith and discover intersections between science and religion, high school students and their college mentors feel more confident and empowered to speak about their convictions and to stand up against injustices. They come away with friendships and a stronger sense of their own strengths and sense of calling. Program leaders are consistently moved and inspired by the creativity, leadership capacities, and passion of these young people."

 

"In the midst of uncertainty, frustrations and isolation, students are hungry for authentic connections and willing to get creative. I find great hope in their resilience."

 

"Students have shown resiliency and hope for the future of the church and students involvement within it. Students greatly desired to be 'together,' which, thank God, we were able to do in the summer of 2021. Our students have been able to bounce back from the pandemic much more quickly than some adults. They have been helpful to their parents when things were looking more difficult during the year. They also are simply tired of talking and hearing about the pandemic and wish to move on with life and their future!"

 

"I have seen the hope of true loving connection through our students in the difficult year of 2021."

 

"The pandemic has been quite overwhelming for students. They have felt overwhelmed by fear and anxiety. Yet, they have persevered! COVID has forced them to think outside of the box and to pivot on a dime."

 

"The hope that I have seen is that we can create community through creative means that are both vital and lively!"

 

"I've seen them adapt to an ever-changing program and circumstances. I've seen them grow resilient and understanding. I've seen them delve further into caring for the earth from a standpoint of caring for creation."

 

"There were quicker connections and deeper relationships formed through our students in 2021. The Spirit awakened the possibility of new hope to changes in our program."

 

"I've seen the desire in them to continue the growth energy in serving as leaders and in forming the next generation, creating an inclusive community of peers."

 

"We now have about 40 alumni. Our campus is small so I see many of them very frequently. Even in the midst of the pandemic, I see much hope in these students as they contribute to our campus community and think deeply about their post-college plans."

 

"I see a hunger in our students for cultivating their passions and gifts they have discovered. I see them growing in their faith through serving, leading and participating in local congregations."

 

"I've seen resilience and desire to be community from students who have experience the isolation of COVID."

 

"In reading through the applications for our program this year, one of my colleagues noted that the students applying gave her hope for the future, given their desires to serve and learn."

 

"Going online felt like 'giving up our ideal format' to us as leaders last summer, but the students who participated were so engaged that it helped us realize there is always possibility. We just have to be open to it in order to experience it! Longing for the old way or the expected way keeps us from experiencing the possibility that someone with fresh perspective can know."

 

"Every high school student I know is being creative in their own ways. It has been a joy to affirm the creativity of those high school students who attend our program to utilize those gifts and creativity for the Kingdom of God."

 

"In the midst of COVID, with hopes and disappointments, our community has continued to learn how to be community in new ways. 'A future with hope' from the prophet Jeremiah is something we are holding onto!"

 

"We are starting to see more students focusing on what could be rather than what has been."

 

"Students would be inspired to begin living and speaking as boldly for Christ as they do for other causes which matter, but are less significant in the larger view of eternal life."

 

"A desire to engage more deeply in theological reflection."

 

"Resiliency, and a desire to connect."

 

"Our program focuses on the environment and justice related issues. We have been inspired by our student's passion for environmental justice. They have demonstrated a commitment at the intersection of science and their faith."

 

"Students have found creative and compassionate ways to gather and awaken their gifts as speakers, listeners and thinkers. The New Year brings with it opportunities to continue to do so as we build up our community and welcome new members."

 

"2021 has enabled us to visualize and dream about moving our program forward, developing partners who share our vision that success is not defined by size, but rather by what God can do through hearts wholly committed to him."

 

"I've seen students who are hopeful that scripture and theology matter to their calling and believe that Christian community in their local churches can be vibrant places for growth, support and vocational calling."

 

"I have seen resilience in finding ways to connect with one another, especially after being separated from one another at the beginning of the pandemic. The sheer joy of being together, doing simple things outside, playing games and making crafts while connecting through conversation has reminded me that we don't need fancy; we mainly need connections with one another."

 

"The resilience of our students is amazing. My new hopes for this program is the net gains from our virtual experiences. We are using technology ways that i never could have imagined. The students have manage to navigate this everchanging space and they have given new pathways for ministry."

 

"I'm hopeful because of the continuous open posture of young people toward the gifts of God in their lives. They remain open even in the face of hardship and pain."

 

"Our students are hungry for community and examples of peers and mentors that live out their faith authentically. The desire to be a missionary disciple that radiated the love of Christ is awaked in our students."

 

"The hopes we have seen is a way to evangelize in an intercultural way. The message of the Gospel invites us to expand our circle rather than constrict the boundaries of belonging. We are awakened to the possibility of how to continue inviting, expanding and transforming our lives because of and in light of the Gospel."

 

"I love this theme. As we emerge from the pandemic, I feel like I am awakening to a new way of ministering. In regards to students, they have not expressed hope, but rather sadness. So I see our role as to awaken hope in our students."

 

"That their individual stories are important! They are each called."

 

"We are keenly aware of how much is being asked of our high school students right now. Keeping up with demanding schoolwork, navigating this time of pandemic, and focusing on their social development are all incredibly challenging. Despite these challenges, our students remain committed to learning about the intersection of faith and environmental sustainability. We are so inspired by their hopeful vision of a sustainable future, in the tradition of Pope Francis' encyclical Laudato Si'."

 

"I have seen students, contrary to cultural movements, choose joy and their ministry vocation. They have resisted a call to self and turned their lives toward trajectories of selfless giving and cultural impact. They have given me hope that the church will thrive and have healthy leadership in the years to come."

 

"The hope for resiliency, normalcy and connection."

 

"Hope is real, and the flames of it can be fed by Spirit filled intention."

 

"Building community and practicing presence in person and online has afforded meaningful opportunities for listening and responding over time."

 

"We’re not stuck in our past or present. Our students are visioning for the future."

 

"Our students articulate willingness to expand their worlds and be pushed out of their comfort zones. The implications for naming privilege and for power sharing and de-centering our single stories is exciting, whether they know what they're letting themselves in for or not!"

 

"I see them asking questions, pushing boundaries and thinking about the future in compelling ways."

 

"2022 shows promise for new ways of doing things. Our students sense this. With challenge comes opportunity."

 

"The new hope I have seen in our students is their courage to enter new places where they were previously unwelcomed."

 

"Their resiliency has been a source of great encouragement!"

 

"That they see themselves as the hands and feet of Jesus; created to actualize a love ethos for everything that has breath (humanity, animals, the earth, etc)."

 

"The pandemic has really opened our eyes to what is possible in terms of offering our program online. This could never replace the in-person experience, but it is powerful in its own right. We have been able to be a powerful support to youth through our online program."

 

"A new sense of hope for ministry in a post-COVID world, free from limitations."

 

"They are excited about doing good work for each other and others through sustainability projects."

 

"Persistence is the word that comes to mind when thinking of our student ambassadors and participants. That gives me great hope for the future."

As someone who works day in and day out to connect high school students or young adults to their purpose, passion and calling, you know how much your work matters.

 

But knowing isn’t enough. 

 

You need funding for the health and longevity of your program, and that requires bringing more people into your mission as well as continuing to engage current supporters along the way. It’s part art, part science and part timing.

 

You’ll also be more successful when you have a guide.

 

Listen in on this workshop replay from Youth Theology Network and Lake Institute on Faith & Giving, which was designed to help you secure more funding. Led by Lake’s Associate Director for Educational Programming Meredith McNabb, participants of this one-hour workshop learned how to connect current and potential donors more deeply with their ministry setting’s mission to build relationships and develop support. 

 

Workshop highlights include:

• Storytelling for fundraising

• Utilizing a basic fundraising toolkit

• Managing development work year-round

 

If fundraising for the long-term sustainability of your youth or young adult ministry is one of your top priorities, set aside an hour for this informative and enlightening workshop.

 

WATCH THE WORKSHOP ON ZOOM HERE.

Password: 4td5M=GF

 

About our presenter:

Meredith McNabb serves as the Associate Director for Educational Programming at Lake Institute on Faith & Giving at Indiana University’s Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. In addition to leading other courses, she is the lead faculty member for the Executive Certificate in Religious Fundraising (ECRF), an eight-week course equipping leaders in religious organizations with the best practices of development work with theological integrity. Learn more about Meredith, Lake, and the ECRF at www.lakeinstitute.org.

Are you looking for practical steps on how you can start or continue mentoring students and equip them to become the leaders you know they can be?

 

If you are a church or faith leader who mentors high school students and young adults, watch this replay of an engaging conversation and live Q&A on youth leadership with Dr. Patrick B. Reyes, senior director of learning design at the Forum for Theological Exploration.

Patrick shared stories, insights and practical advice to help you identify ways to nurture and support your youth to become leaders for the church. He also addressed how you can empower both students of color and students in general, leaning into his own experiences and lessons learned from the Forum for Theological Exploration and Youth Theology Network.

 

 

Want more advice from Patrick?

In his new book The Purpose Gap: Empowering Communities of Color to Find Meaning and Thrive, Patrick reflects on a family member’s death after a long struggle with incarceration and homelessness. As he asks himself why his cousin's life had turned out so differently from his own, he realizes that it was a matter of conditions.

While they both grew up in the same marginalized Chicano community in central California, Patrick found himself surrounded by a host of family, friends, and supporters. They created a different narrative for him than the one the rest of the world had succeeded in imposing on his cousin. In short, they created the conditions in which Patrick could not only survive but thrive.

Do you believe young people are a force for leading movements to change policy and culture, yet also believe churches are notably absent in supporting and mentoring them?

 

If so, you will enjoy the replay of this timely and thought-provoking discussion with Dr. Beth Corrie. 

 

Like you, she has seen the students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Climate Strikers and the originators of the Standing Rock protests and Black Lives Matter movement leading our communities and world into deeper discussions of social justice. But, like you, she has also seen the church not at the forefront, but often in the background. 

 

Beth takes seriously the capacity of young people and their unwillingness to accept injustice. And she discussed how to integrate new tools and insights into the typical facets of congregational youth ministry so that high school students are empowered to actively establish God's shalom, peace, justice and well-being.

 

 

 

During our time with Beth, we:

• Explored cultural images of youth matter for our ministry. There is a historical and sociological context for how adults have come to see young people, and the way we see them shapes our work with them. Typically, we see youth as either “Incomplete Adults” or “Precocious Delinquents” and both images tend to push us to want to control young people and keep them from engaging in social justice. If we care about teaching peace with youth, we must first critically examine our assumptions about young people.

• Learned how congregations can teach peace through implicit as well as explicit practices. There are opportunities to take the typical activities of youth ministry—fellowship, Bible study, Confirmation, mission trips/service projects, worship—and engage students in creative ways that help teach skills like democratic decision making, disagreeing with respect and empathy, sitting with complexity, considering race/class/gender in interpersonal and structural ways, and developing a spirituality that nurtures working for justice and peace for the long haul.

• Re-envisioned what discipleship means and what the role of the church is in the midst of this. If we look at what Jesus DOES, in addition to what he SAYS, we see a teacher who engaged in creative ways of teaching and modeling strategies for building God’s shalom in the world. If we want to be disciples of this Jesus, we need to emulate what he does as well as what he says. The church can be a place for teaching disciples the skills and dispositions for going out into the world to build God’s shalom. The church is not just about coming together for shelter from the world, although that is often needed, but about equipping disciples to go back out into the world.

 

Why Beth Corrie?

Dr. Beth Corrie is the Associate Professor in the Practice of Youth Education and Peacebuilding and Director of the Religious Education Program at Emory University’s Candler School of Theology. Her teaching draws on commitments to both peace with justice and the education of young people, particularly the development of teaching and ministry that empower people for global citizenship. 

 

Grab your copy of Beth's latest book, Youth Ministry as Peace Education: Overcoming Silence, Transforming Violence.

Here are five books written by YTN partners sharing their years of experience working with discerning high school students.

 

Liberating Youth from Adolescence by Jeremy Myers, Augsburg College

Jeremy Paul Myers, a seasoned expert in youth and family ministry, calls the church to challenge the dominant societal view of adolescents as “underdeveloped consumers” who can only contribute creatively when they mature into adulthood. Myers argues that young people are innately creative creatures called by God to love and serve right now. We need to see young people as the called cocreators (with God) that they are.

 

Find Your Place in God’s Mission by Jeremiah Gibbs, University of Indianapolis

Find clarity about how God has uniquely gifted you to participate in God’s ongoing mission for the sake of the world. This book provides a structure and step-by-step guide for discerning God’s calling and corrects misconceptions. Gibbs provides guidance and helps organize discernment into three intersecting categories: needs of the world, passions, and tools.

 

Youth Ministry as Peace Education by Beth Corrie, Candler School of Theology

Young people can be peacebuilders—citizens who address the root causes of hatred and abuse of power to build more just and peaceful communities. Indeed, young people are already leading movements to change policy and culture—most prominently, the students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, the Climate Strikers, and the originators of the Standing Rock protests and Black Lives Matter movement. Yet churches are notably absent among those who support and mentor such leaders.

Drawing on the deep wisdom of Christian tradition and practice and the latest insights in educating for peace and civic engagement, Youth Ministry as Peace Education offers clergy, students, and practitioners a new approach to youth ministry—a way to equip young people to transform violence and oppression as part of their Christian vocation.

 

Raising Hope: Four Paths to Courageous Living for Black Youth by Anne E. Streaty Wimberly, Interdenominational Theological Center, and Sarah Farmer, Indiana Wesleyan University

Move from courage to hope to courageous hope in action. This book gives tried-and-true methods to effectively reach out to Black youth and motivate them to make healthier choices that promise positive outcomes. Written especially for pastors, teachers, leaders, and counselors, Wimberly and Farmer give new and powerful ways to become agents of hope who truly hear Black youth.

 

Book, Bath, Table, and Time: Christian Worship as Source and Resource for Youth Ministry by Fred Edie, Duke University Divinity School

This book gives youth, youth ministers, congregational leaders, and seminary students ideas for and suggestions on how to practice the liturgical holy things of the ordo - the ancient church’s life “ordered” around its liturgical “holy things” - bath (Baptism); book (Scriptures); table (Eucharist); calendar (the prayerful patterning of time) - in order to provide the church with a faithful ecology of life that is capable of forming Christian youth who experience God’s presence, identify God rightly, and take up their baptismal vocations before God and for the world.

From personal grants that help you grow as a leader to grants that advance the field of youth ministry to grants that expand your own vocational discernment program, the grants below are terrific opportunities to secure additional support for your mission and work. And while we're calling out a few options below, you can find more on our Resources page. Simply scroll down and select "grants" in the left-hand column.

 

Please note: Grant opportunities and deadlines may change at any time. 

 

 

Youth Theology Network Capacity-Building Grant

High school youth need opportunities to explore their faith, Christian traditions and calling in the world. These young people hold the promise of a more hope-filled future as they courageously lead and serve the church and the world.

The Youth Theology Network (YTN) Capacity-Building Grant gives institutes support to expand program leaders’ knowledge, skills and expertise to accompany youth in their exploration of their purpose, passion and call.

FTE awards YTN Capacity Building Grants to youth theology programs who received funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. in 2015 or 2016. If you are unsure whether your program is eligible, contact Allison Arsenault.

Recipients receive $5,000 to implement efforts over a 12-month period. Supported activities may include regional gatherings of peers, research on vocation and youth ministry, or the development of related resources.

Learn more.

 

Louisville Institute

Grants: They offer four grant programs which support religious and theological scholarship among three strategic constituencies: pastors, academics, and researchers for the broader church. Grants range from $15,000 to $40,000.

Fellowships: Three fellowship programs support the formation of ecclesiastically engaged academics for teaching and scholarship that serves the church and its ministries. Each fellowship awards stipends and links early career scholars into dynamics peer cohorts. Fellowships range from $6,000 to $30,000.

Learn more.

 

Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion

The Wabash Center provides funds for projects that enhance teaching and learning in the fields of religion and theological studies as taught in colleges, universities, and theological schools. Routinely, they fund projects that focus on: improving teaching and learning practices in and beyond the classroom; nurturing supportive environments for teachers; nurturing supportive teaching environments for learners; strengthening student learning; connecting the classroom to the wider society. Grants range from $5,000 to $30,000.

Learn more.

 

Calvin Institute of Christian Worship

The Vital Worship Grants Program at the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship is designed to foster, strengthen and sustain well-grounded worship in congregations throughout USA and Canada. Two streams of grants are offered--to teacher-scholars and to worshiping communities. Grants are divided into to categories: teachers-scholars and worshipping communities. Grants to teacher-scholars support integrated research that connects worship with other disciplines of study and practice. Grants to worshiping communities stimulate thoughtful and energetic work that will result in worship services that exhibit renewed creativity, theological integrity, and relevance.

Learn more.

 

Religious Education Association

Since 2017, the REA’s Herman A. Wornom Award has been directed toward supporting innovation in religious education. The Wornom Innovation Grant is a $3,500 award for innovative religious education projects and initiatives that further knowledge and deepen the practice of religious education, or that expand the field of religious education to a new area that is not traditionally associated with religious education.  

Learn more.

Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth. D.J., raised Catholic, plays his sax for evening worship, and says he thinks about David, playing the lyre. Molly, from a small Presbyterian church, praises God, as Miriam did, for bringing her through troubled waters. Callie, who didn’t grow up in church, passes the bread and cup, and feels like she tastes the One who has always been by her side. 

Each summer, the MAST (Maryville Adventures in Studying Theology) Program at Maryville College in East Tennessee welcomes high school students like D.J., Molly and Callie to our Expanding Horizons Institute. Scholars spend a week on campus, diving into Christian theology while exploring the Smoky Mountains and listening for God’s voice through stories of faith reflected in the arts, science, and nature.

Students come from different denominational backgrounds or with very little religious formation at all. They bring curiosity and a desire to connect big questions of faith to concerns about the world. They bring energy, intelligence, imagination and so much love. As they talk together, they make a joyful noise to the Lord.

 

From “Going” to Worship to Experiencing Worship

After days spent in class and outdoors, we gather each evening for worship. Worship helps seal the connections within the group and offers a space to weave strands of learning, insight and experience into a new design. 

Students quickly move from simply “going” to worship to creating and leading services for their peers. This is usually a new experience for them, because while they may have played music or spoken in worship before, few have built a service from scratch. 

Yet every service is a joyful noise to the Lord. Students from free church traditions discover that when they write prayers for worship, they connect with God both in the creative process and during the service itself. Others, from more structured settings, find a new voice as they lead the group in prayers. They also share how familiar, poetic words and actions, repeated weekly, get into your soul. 

Almost every year, by the end of the week, the student who on the first day hung back, resenting the parent or pastor who “forced” them to come, is the one their peers ask to preach at closing worship. In the mix of scripture and community, pain and healing, a sermon is born. We make a joyful noise to the Lord.

 

From High School Student to Church Leader

At Christ’s table, we are grateful for the presence of the people right next to us along with the company of saints around the world and across time. In the same way, our work in Maryville’s MAST program connects us to other people and institutions doing similar work through the Youth Theology Network (YTN). 

This broad community, initiated by Lilly Endowment Inc. and supported by many generous donors, represents over one hundred nationwide programs of theological and vocational exploration as well as leadership development for high school students. 

Comprising different strands of Christian tradition and different styles of worship, these programs guide students to dive deeply into questions of faith and calling, and then to respond deeply with their minds, hearts and voices—to make a joyful noise to the Lord. Thanks to this unique network, students like D.J., Molly, Callie and so many others find a welcome, hear a voice, read old words in new ways and take their place as leaders in the church and in the world. 

 

___________________________________________

Written by Anne McKee:
Anne McKee is the Campus Minister at Maryville College and the director of Maryville Adventures in Studying Theology (MAST). The Youth Theology Network (YTN) is proud to include MAST as one of its national partners who offer vocational discernment programs for students who want to explore their purpose, passion and calling.

This article first appeared in https://pres-outlook.org/.

Following the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, Gina Ciliberto and Stephanie Russell-Kraft reported for sojo.net that Christian symbolism was ubiquitous on the Hill. “Jesus Saves,” read signs. “Jesus is my Savior,” shouted protesters. Two males wore sweatshirts proclaiming, “You Need Jesus.”

I have known Jesus saves for as long as I can remember, born into the Southern Baptist tradition in rural Missouri. I have identified with evangelical Christianity for just as long. But as I watched the events unfold that day, I did not recognize the voices claiming the faith I know and love. I was embarrassed. I was angry. I was afraid. Here was the culmination of a movement that loves not God and neighbor but nation and self. Its voice is so loud, it reverberates as seemingly the only “Christian” voice in the public square.

And socially-conscious high schoolers do not find it compelling. No wonder the “nones” is a fast-rising category of religious affiliation in the United States. This version of Christianity in America has failed.

 

The Christian Voices We Need

I like to fancy myself multilingual. I can speak conservative evangelical, because it was my first faith language. I can speak progressive evangelical, because it is closest to my current language. I remember my professor who asked whether “evangelical” was a helpful label for any version of Christian faith, since it had come to mean so many – including some versions that sound less like Good News and more like Bad News. I speak the “evangelical” embodied more often by women and people of color. It prioritizes Jesus’ love for the poor and oppressed.

At times, I also may sound ecumenical, Catholic, or mainline Protestant, because I have been immersed in each of these communities too. I engage with these languages in ways that help me improve my own.

But despite using words I recognized, those shouting “Jesus Saves” on January 6 were, at best, confused about Christian faith; and at worst, intentionally abusive of it. Whether consciously or unconsciously, they represented a Christian past rooted in white supremacy. It may be easy to condemn the violence of January 6 as “un-Christian,” but it can be harder to see and rout out these dark roots of violence.

With our various ecclesial voices, Christians must reclaim Christianity in the public square – urgently. And we must recruit our youth to help us, before they give up on Christianity entirely. Can we engage with Christianity’s unfaithful past in America and those who still embrace it? Can we prepare youth to embody Christianity in ways that lead to social change?

 

Equipping Our Youth

In July 1993, the first high school youth theology program funded by Lilly Endowment Inc. opened on the campus of Candler School of Theology at Emory University. To date, the Endowment has funded over 100 youth theology programs with core beliefs similar to those of the Candler Youth Theological Initiative (YTI):

• Youth are capable of doing important theological work, and the church and society need them to do this work.
• Adolescence is a life stage primed for seeing the gap between what the world is and what it could be.
• Theological training can empower youth to effect social change.
• The greatest degree of transformation happens when people who come from different backgrounds and hold dramatically different beliefs live in an inclusive community where lifelong friendships are formed.

These high school youth theology programs are located at theological schools, colleges, and universities across the country. Comprising the Youth Theology Network (YTN), they serve a variety of ecclesial traditions. They welcome youth to dive into a particular tradition deeply, utilize it to respond to contemporary moral and ethical concerns, and consider how to live into that tradition as they choose their life’s work. Many youth later pursue additional theological training and ordained or lay positions in ministry.

The programs partner with churches and denominations to serve as resources for vocational discernment and leadership development with youth. They depart from fellowship models of youth ministry, believing young people have the interest and capacity for robust theological reflection that leads to change in the world.

They are mini-labs for theological education, not only preparing Christian leaders but also fostering experimentation toward innovative educational practices for the church.

 

Reclaiming and Proclaiming the Good News

At a recent gathering for YTN program leaders, the Reverend Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove and Dr. Chanequa Walker-Barnes spoke on “Helping Youth Unlearn the Habits of Whiteness.” Youth increasingly find Christianity uninteresting, they observed. Why? Because Christianity in America has privileged whiteness through morally repugnant practices – race-based chattel slavery, Native American genocide, Jim Crow laws, and mass incarceration.

In addition, they observed, our high schoolers are experiencing the increasing diversity of America acutely. Young people have close relationships with those who have had to navigate gross injustices for generations. They don’t see “Good News” in a gospel bound to whiteness.

How is it, Wilson-Hartgrove and Walker-Barnes asked, that so many white Christians managed to participate in a system that violated every tenet of Christianity? How do we still? And how can YTN program leaders help youth lead differently?

It starts, Walker-Barnes suggested, with knowing our traditions more fully – with “living into our discipleship more robustly. Those daily practices of prayer and meditation,” she said, “actually help you talk about racism.” And it continues, they added, with observing how our traditions invite conformity to whiteness rather than to Jesus. We must listen to our neighbors, who help us see. And we must rid our traditions of those distortions.

 

Pursuing Justice Where We Are

YTN programs like Candler’s YTI can and do provide space for high schoolers to imagine how to dismantle white supremacy. The Lipscomb University ENGAGE YTN program offers a stellar example of practicing racial justice and healing amidst conflicted history that includes a recent internal personnel dispute. The eight-day program seeks to bridge historical racial divides in the university and its local community as well as in its Churches of Christ tradition. Through on-campus courses and field trips in Nashville along the Civil Rights Trail, students from diverse backgrounds “consider their own responses to racial injustice as they stand in the physical spaces of past events and allow the voices and faces of history to inform and frame their actions for the future.”

All YTN programs stand as resources for youth and churches who are accompanying them on journeys of faith, discernment, and development.

 

Educating Differently, Leading Differently

Churches in America have much work ahead to undo the default and damage of white supremacy. And yet, we can have hope: our youth can lead the way. YTN programs offer a step out of the communities we know into the possibilities of communities that can be. They are places for high schoolers to explore a particular ecclesial voice while asking hard questions of each other and of society. They offer a taste of leadership in the public square, with mentorship support.

These programs are what Paulo Friere would call opportunities for conscientizacao (consciousness raising). Etienne Wenger and Jean Lave would describe them as communities of practice, as apprenticeships in ways of knowing and being. And perhaps theologian Willie James Jennings, in light of his recent book After Whiteness: An Education in Belonging, would consider these programs steps toward recapturing the central work of theological education. That work, he says, is “to form us in the art of cultivating belonging.”

 

The Christian Voices We Can Be

Eons ago, I had a professor who said, “If you don’t remember anything else about this class, remember this one thing: Plato wrote, ‘The unexamined life is not worth living.’” I will be the first to admit I could be living a more “examined” life. But I also celebrate that to a significant extent, I have dedicated myself to the kinds of engagement and reflection that lead to more faithful living.

Had I not pursued studies in religion, had I not lived in multicultural communities, had I not been invited into the work I now do at the Forum for Theological Exploration (FTE) to elevate diverse young voices for the church and academy … Well, I hate to think about it. Perhaps I would have been rooting for the mob on January 6. Not for the violence, of course. But for their “causes.” Surely not? But maybe.

It has taken many touchpoints throughout my faith journey – including my own leadership of a YTN program—to arrive at this place where I stand. The public square needs those “Christian” voices that prioritize not nation, or self, or whiteness, but God and neighbor. It needs not voices of oppression, but of faithful love.

We must speak up for those whom Jesus championed (Luke 4:16-30). Root out white supremacy from our various ecclesial traditions. And leverage YTN programs as resources for empowering our youth to show the way.

 

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This article was written by Jodi Porter and first appeared on www.SoJo.net.

“Do you think the Bible is true?” My college professor looked me straight in the eye and coyly requested a response. We had just read the two passages in Genesis that depict the story of Noah’s ark. In chapter 6, God asked Noah to bring two of all living creatures, male and female. In chapter 7, God told Noah to bring seven pairs of all clean animals and one pair of all unclean. My professor wanted to know: If the Bible contradicts itself, can it be true? I was 18 years old.

That moment began my reckoning with the Scriptures and faith that had been given to me at birth. My church taught me to love the stories of the Bible and the God they depict, and now my college was asking me to explore that faith more deeply. Along my journey through college and beyond, I felt a persistent tension – perhaps I would need to choose between the unwavering faith of my parents and the critical scholarship of my professors.

 

Train Up a Child

Do youth think the Bible is true? I regularly wonder how we as church leaders might invite youth to believe. There is a children’s curriculum called Godly Play that I think of as a helpful model. Built on the work of the Rev. Dr. Jerome Berryman, Godly Play invites young children into the stories of Scripture. It nourishes that innate capacity of children to wonder – “Why, Mom? Why, Dad? How, Teacher?”

Godly Play transforms the classroom into a sacred space with bookshelves holding the stories of Scripture. Props for each story enable the teacher to share not simply by reading the story but by bringing it to life. It truly is an exercise in storytelling. Lessons conclude with wondering questions such as: 

• I wonder what you liked about this story? 
• I wonder what you didn’t like? 
• I wonder where you see yourself in this story?

It’s a curriculum, I’d suggest, that prepares children to ask and respond to “grown-up” questions about the Bible and faith.

 

Training Youth for Lifelong Faith and Ministry

When I served at Leadership Education at Duke Divinity, I discovered what I think of as a youth version of Godly Play: an engaging group of high school youth theology programs located on college, university, seminary or theological school campuses. 

For example, Duke annually hosts the Duke Youth Academy for Christian Formation (DYA). It is a space for youth to dive more deeply into their faith. Dr. Fred Edie and his colleagues built a program that asked each participant questions like, “What does it mean to be baptized?” and “How do you live as a faithful Christian?” They brought the Scriptures to life for youth, helping them practice spiritual disciplines and imagine how faith matters for their lives.

When I served at Leadership Education at Duke Divinity, I discovered what I think of as a youth version of Godly Play: an engaging group of high school youth theology programs located on college, university, seminary or theological school campuses. 

There are 100+ of these youth theology programs at colleges and universities across the country, and they comprise the Youth Theology Network (YTN). Supported by Lilly Endowment Inc. and resourced by the Forum for Theological Exploration (FTE), where I serve as a consultant, these programs welcome rising 9th-12th graders for unique on-campus experiences. They focus on bridging the gap in faith formation from high school to college and beyond.

These programs are collaborating with churches to cultivate the next generation of Christian leaders. They listen to youth ministers and learn how to support them well. They offer summer weeklong experiences for high schoolers, sometimes coupled with yearlong mentoring and service opportunities back at home. They also support alumni as they enter college, offering on-campus resources and leadership roles. 

The Youth Theology Network programs are helping youth explore the Scriptures, engage with contemporary moral and ethical challenges, and consider whether and how they might serve in ministry someday.

 

Youth Theology Network in Action

In this time of pandemic, many YTN programs are innovating virtual approaches to high school youth ministry. 

• Examen at Indiana Wesleyan University blended an online learning experience with a “Live Stream” interactive social element, utilizing their campus’s TV station and resources from their youth ministry events department. 
• Convergence at Randolph-Macon College in Virginia offered free, four-week online Zoom meetings to explore the intersections of faith and science. 
• Awakening at Hope College in Michigan, which emphasizes worship leadership, offered online video tutorials on worship, musical and visual arts performance, dance, and technology. 
• The Hendrix Youth Institute at Hendrix College in Arkansas held a three-day online event with a session on spiritual gifts, a panel of clergy and leaders sharing call stories, and time to worship together while reflecting on social justice issues.

Some of these programs have also adapted this year to respond specifically to issues emerging during the pandemic, such as racial justice. 

• Leaders of Bridge Builders at Tuskegee University in Alabama, a program housed in their National Center for Bioethics in Research and Health Care, are equally articulate in matters of medicine and theology and welcome their participants to be the same. They invite students to identify with the late Rev. C. T. Vivian and the late Congressman John Lewis, two Black religious leaders who lived their faith in the public square. 
• Living the Questions at Bethel University in Minnesota, located not far from summer protests in the Twin Cities, provided a space for their participants to process the theme of justice and discuss current events. 
• The Simpson Youth Academy at Simpson College in Iowa focused their virtual “tracks” on faith and leadership in crisis times. 
• YTI IMPACT at Emory University in Georgia established a blog, a book club about whiteness, and a pastoral care space online for Black program alums.

And some YTN programs during this pandemic are finding new ways to resource their denominational partners. 

• Kaleo Academy at Barclay College in Kansas held panel discussions with denominational leaders both young and old, streaming live on Facebook. They also offered free classes online to anyone interested. 
• Collide at the Center for Youth Ministry Training in Tennessee, one of the few YTN programs not located directly at an institution of higher education, worked with youth ministers to craft a mission week that any youth ministry could adapt and administer in their setting during this time, whether online, in-person, or hybrid.

 

Help High School Students Take Their Next Faithful Step

“Do you believe the Bible is true?” my professor asked me. YES, I do. I see its Truth in history. I see its truth in contemporary lives and issues. I invite its stories to shape how I write my story. 

Most significantly, DYA and fellow YTN programs have modeled for me a way forward that lives into that tension between my child-like faith and academic scholarship.

Do youth think the Bible is true? In partnership with churches, colleges, and universities, Youth Theology Network programs equip high schoolers to respond with a RESOUNDING YES. They help youth continue to embrace the stories of Scripture as they enter their adult lives. They are “grown-up” versions of Godly Play, inviting wondering and faithful commitments. And they are helping youth to imagine and practice serving as church leaders themselves someday.

Do your youth believe the Bible is true? From one fellow church leader to another, I invite you to discover which YTN programs are nearest to you. They can welcome your high school youth into the college experience. They can support the work at your church. They can train students for a future in ministry.

The Youth Theology Network is a resource for your high school ministry, and we invite you to join us.

 

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This article was written by Jodi Porter and first appeared on www.ChurchLeaders.com.