Christian Education & Adult Formation

Who are Young Adults?

Today's population of young adults are between the ages of 18 and 30 years old. They were born between 1974 and 1986 and are considered part of our post-Christian culture. Episcopal students are leaving the Church of their families in higher percentages than any other Christian denomination.

At the 2003 national Episcopal Church conference, "Will Our Faith Have Children? Christian Formation Generation to Generation" a seminar group described the Post-Modern Culture of today (having begun statistically in 1980).

These terms could also be used to describe (generally) this generation:

Context of where we come from; common norms no longer exist.

What can the Church offer?

What is the Church called to be?
Community that works together
Encouragement & space to listen for voice of God
A place where you can think
A place where one can look inward and outward at the same time
A place where one can speak and share and have someone listen
An environment for spiritual growth - a place to encounter the Divine

The role of a Youth or Young Adult leader:

• To be a cheerleader
• To "see" them
• To be where they are - go where they are (Just like Jesus!)
• To be trustworthy
• To be present
• To be able to listen
• To be able to learn and explore issues of faith together, not teach
• To be adults - not 40+ year-old youth
• To be sincere
• To offer a vision of the benefits of adulthood
• To offer a vision of their relationship with God
• To offer a vision of why the church is important to them
• To provide a hospitable environment
• To have integrity - and do the best with the resources available
• Don't Manage - Watch
• Don't Talk At - Listen

Ideas for programs for Young Adults:

• Vocational discernment - opportunities to share vocational insights and journeys
• Wednesday evening movies: Sacred Cinema
  • Ethnic movies and films
  • Pot-luck food based on a theme
  • Theological reflection afterwards
• Seeker style services
  • Multimedia service
  • Praise & Worship band
  • 3rd service - not Sunday AM
  • Go where the people are
  • Starbucks coffee afterwards
• What makes marriage work?
• Luncheons at a church across from a college campus. Socratic discussions. Food for brain and heart.
• Gather weekly for fellowship, conversation, Eucharist.

The Reverend Douglas Fenton, (dfenton@episcopalchurch.org) Staff Officer for Young Adults and Higher Education, had this to offer (based on Daniel Levinson's Theory of Adulthood and Sharon Daloz Parks' "Big Questions, Worthy Dreams: Mentoring Young Adults in Their Search for Meaning, Purpose and Faith." (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2000)

Mentor / Protégé model:

Relationships need a generation of separation

Purpose is to

Provide support

Offer challenge,

Move to a vision

Model is to facilitate:

The purpose of Young Adulthood is to form a dream (Levinson)

Know yourself

Name and claim our qualities

Integrate our polarities

Care for our selves

Create companionship with peers and mentors

Establish continuity with the past

Create inviting and safe space

You should always have three relationships in your life:

Paul - Mentor

Barnabas - Peer

Timothy - Protégé, Mentee

Curriculum and Resources:

The Seekers is a program designed for youth or young adults, ages 18-22. It provides leaders with outlines for discussion and activities. There are two years of materials (25 sessions each), both focused on four units: Faith, Life, Self and Values.

Links:

• Resource Generation (young adult stewardship) works with young people with financial wealth who are supporting and challenging each other to effect progressive social change through the creative, responsible and strategic use of financial and other resources
• Church of the Apostles is an organic missional community, affiliated with God, through Jesus Christ, in the power of the spirit originating in Seattle, Washington. "We share a spiritual kinship with all those who affirm the most ancient Christian confession "Jesus is lord." Within the larger Christian village, we are part of the Anglican (Episcopal) and Lutheran (ELCA) tribes."
• Discernment Resources
• Higher Education Ministries for the Episcopal church
• Young Adult Ministries for the Episcopal Church
• Provincial Coordinators' Group for Ministry in Higher Education (PCGMHE) Provincial coordinators are selected by their peers and provincial leadership on a voluntary basis to network. They produce over a dozen events each year across the church for students, chaplains/campus ministers, and faculty/administrative staff. They are available for phone consultation and some make visits to local ministries. The coordinators meet twice each year to plan common programs and give oversight to the churchwide ministry in higher education. The Coordinator for Province I (CT, MA, Western MA, ME, NH, RI, VT) is the Rev. Erik Turnberg of Hanover, NH.
• College and University Ministries in Connecticut
  • University of Connecticut, Storrs is connected with St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Storrs on the UCONN campus. The Rev. Amy Fallon is Chaplain.
  • Episcopal Church at Yale worships at Christ Church in New Haven on Broadway. The Rev. Dr. Nihal deLanerolle, Chaplain-in-Residence
• Young Adult Service Corps is a ministry of Episcopal Mission Works through the Office of Anglican and Global Relations.

Gathering the neXt Generation is a powerful network which has been developing over the past three years to do just that. After beginning in 1998 as a clergy group, GTNG has expanded to become a resource which allows laity and clergy of all generations to work together for mission in a postmodern world. The network is designed, sustained and managed by lay and ordained Episcopal Gen Xers. Anyone who cares about these issues is encouraged to use it.

GTNG has four simple core values, which participants are asked to affirm:

• We are Christ-centered.
• We value the leadership of Gen X.
• We value our relationships in Christ over the issues that divide us.
• We value restoring all people to unity with God and each other in Christ.