Announcing the Diocesan Youth
Caucus – Summer 2004
By SHERRY MCCALL ROSS
The Diocesan Youth Missioner has been working with a sub-group of the Mission Strategy Team to explore appropriate directions for youth ministries in the Diocese. From a generic but overwhelming desire for the Diocese to be proactive in strengthening the faith formation of the Church’s youth and evangelizing those youth who do not identify with a particular faith background, the Youth Sub-Group and the Youth Missioner have determined that young people need a forum by which they can have a voice in helping to guide the Church in how it might best meet their needs.
To provide this forum, the Youth Sub-Group, in cooperation with Mission Strategy and the Youth Missioner, will sponsor a multi-day Youth Caucus for youth ages 13-21 to take place August 2-5 at Towson University.Through a focused exploration that genuinely engages young people in the process, we hope to gain an understanding of young people, their needs and their gifts, and begin to work with them in building a systemic response by which the Church can authentically engage them as full participating members of the body of Christ.
The Caucus will utilize the Open Space Technology model to facilitate conversation. Under this model, participants will gather daily for a large-group shared experience that examines faith perspectives through artifacts of popular culture (i.e. music, film, shared concerns) to generate thought, interest and questions. Participants will then self-select into groups identified by a particular issue or question “sponsored” by participants themselves. Each group will be responsible for reporting on their conversation to the larger group at the conclusion of each day.While there will be opportunities for pleasure and play to nurture community and provide for individual rest and renewal, the Caucus is NOT a lock-in or retreat. It is designed to engage young people in finding their voice to inform the Diocese.The goal is to ultimately have a Youth Congress that will continue to meet annually to guide the implementation of the ministry design concepts that come from the Caucus.
In order to make the Youth Caucus a reality, the Youth Sub-Group will need the help of the Diocese - clergy, lay leaders, church school chaplains, parents and any adult who is interested in supporting ministries with youth.There are many ways that any adult can support this initiative: • identifying youth and young adults ages 13-21 to participate in the Caucus. • identifying financial resources to support youth participation (a concerted effort will be needed to secure the required fiscal resources to support the Caucus without having to pass costs on to youth participants; i.e. grants, parishes and individuals to sponsor youth participants). • be present at the Caucus, or identify another caring adult to be present, for all or part of the time (adults will be guided in their specific roles and will debrief daily). • participate in the planning and design of the Caucus. • participate in post-Caucus meetings to determine appropriate responses to outcomes.
The goal is to identify a minimum of 50 adults to offer their support in one or more of these ways. If you are interested, or have questions or suggestions, please contact the Diocesan Youth Missioner or one of the members of the Mission Strategy Team.
Sub-Group:
Sherry McCall Ross,Youth Missioner: 443-326-3542 / smccallross@ang-md.org
Sub-Group Members:
The Rev. Bo Chapman: emmanuel@ang-md.org
Chuck Donofrio: cdonofrio@cartondonofrio.com
Maurice Fox: Maurice_O_Fox@bd.com [Return to Top of Page]
R E M I N D E R ! !Roundtables for Youth Ministry
All persons working in ministries with middle and high school age youth are invited to gather with fellow ministry workers to pray and break bread together, explore topics related to youth ministry and share ideas and resources.
Roundtables are always on the 3rd Thursday (locations rotate) and will begin at 6:30 p.m. with prayers and dinner, followed by a brief presentation on a topic related to Youth Ministry and casual conversation until 8:30 p.m. Hope you will join us!!
Please contact Sherry the week before if you are able to attend: 443-326-3542 / smccallross@ang-md.org. Date Location Topic
April 15 St. Mark’s Lappans Equipping the Saints - 18313 Lappans Road Raising up leadership Boonsboro among youth and adults
May 20 Diocesan Center Self-care for Ministry workers 4 East University Parkway Baltimore
And coming in the fall... Tuesdays, too!
Beginning in September - 2nd Tuesdays, 11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.The same format as 3rd Thursdays - begin with prayer and lunch, followed by a brief presentation and casual conversation. Stay tuned for locations! [Return to Top of Page] |
