Youth ministry can bring Churches and Schools into partnership, mentor in schools, work to end sex trafficking, provide spiritual renewal, and use project-based learning.
Faith 2 Faith Ministries, Inc.
f2fmi is a next generation leader for North America for the Global Network of Evangelists in the Luis Palau Association. It also has an outreach in Poland. It spreads the gospel through youth centered community based outreach in partnership with the church.
LifeFAQs, an arm of f2fmi, “will make a difference in the lives of teens by providing scholarships, mentoring in after-school clubs, and character education classes and assemblies during school.”
f2fmi held its first Virtual Vision Gala on May 9, 2020. Tom Miyashiro, CEO, had reported, “How exciting that distance is no longer a factor for attending this live event online!” More than 80 people joined to learn more about participating in the work of sharing the gospel with students. There were exciting updates about continuing the work virtually through LifeFAQs Coaching and Mentoring, Alpha and youth groups figuring out how to transition to online environments.
See this 3 minute Faith2Faith video.
As also noted below, anyone in New England interested in starting an Alpha group should contact f2fmi.
An all NEW Alpha Youth Series will have “10 new, shorter episodes to run over an 8-week Alpha Youth course. Each episode is under 20 minutes long and is hosted by eight unique Gen Z voices from around the globe. Created for youth by youth.”
TheJesusClubs.com
TheJesusClubs.com reach Gen Z by training a high school student in 90 minute Zoom sessions to start a Jesus Club to meet weekly in his or her high school. Trainees “share the death, resurrection, hope and forgiveness found in Jesus Christ” and pray for their school. Sign up for a Zoom training and download their app.
Church & School Partnerships
A Church/School Partnership is a very effective way for a church to serve its neighbors.
Already, numerous church/school partnerships throughout the U.S. have been highly successful for schools, for churches and most importantly for students.
Locally, the New London Public School District in early 2020 asked for help from the “faith community” to partner in providing “wrap around services” to youth “and their families” at Bennie Dover Jackson Middle School in New London.
Their reason is that a number of students in the 6th, 7th and 8th grades at the School experience trauma in their families or outside the school and need wrap around services. Therefore, the Culture & Climate Department for the School District started holding monthly meetings and forming committees of stakeholders developing options for this collaboration.
Related to this, New London Public School System had numerous Job Openings, including ParaProfessional for which training was available.
Kairos Torch
The Kairos Torch program for youth ministry had been active for years at the Cheshire Correctional Institution in Cheshire, CT prior to the covid pandemic. It “begins with a Weekend retreat in the … correctional facility for youth 25 and under. The mission is to engage their reasoning skills in seeking balance for their lives. A Kairos Torch Weekend creates a safe place for the youthful offender to realize their God-given potential through the mentoring of a mature, Christian volunteer. It encourages the stripping away of the masks they hide behind, and moves them towards making better life choices.” Men, women and couples can volunteer for this. See KairosCT.org.
Human Trafficking
Ending Human Trafficking is another youth ministry. The Underground is a grass-roots, faith-based initiative “dedicated to ending sex trafficking and sexual exploitation in Connecticut. It represents over 850 members from more than 135 community churches and growing. We believe that ending human trafficking and sexual exploitation requires the efforts and voices of many people and we are committed to working with those agencies and individuals steadfastly involved in abolition movement.
Spiritual Renewal
Walk to Emmaus “is an experience of Christian spiritual renewal and formation that begins with a three-day short course in Christianity. … After the Emmaus Weekend … groups of four to six people meet weekly to reflect on their spiritual journey and encourage one another in accountable discipleship. “
Alpha is “a series of interactive sessions to discuss life and the Christian faith in an informal, fun and friendly environment.” The Alpha Guide outlines the talks for each of 15 sessions in small groups or teams.
As noted above, anyone in New England interested in starting an Alpha group should contact f2fmi.
Project-based Learning
Looking to the future, the Project-based Learning model described below has been enormously successful preparing students for a fulfilled life.
Project-based Learning has been a game changer for student success in Summit Public Schools, as described by their co-founder and CEO Diane Tavenner in her book, “Prepared, What Kids Need for a Fulfilled Life.”
From Wikipedia, “The pedagogy employed at Summit schools, dubbed “Summit Learning,” is a personalized, project-based learning (PBL) curriculum that puts students “in charge” of their own learning.
For example, students run projects at their own pace instead of traditional coursework modules. Teachers focus their energy on tutoring individual students as many grading functions are automated.
Goals in the Summit model are that
- every student graduates,
- prepared for further education and fulfillment in life and
- has habits of self-direction, curiosity and a sense of purpose.
Briefly, as described by Bill Gates, the Summit curriculum has three key elements:
- Self-directed learning. Students set their own learning goals, develop learning plans, test their knowledge and assess their performance. They work at their own pace.
- Project-based learning. Students dive deep into a topic and collaborate with other students.
- Mentoring. Every student meets weekly, one-on-one with a mentor. Students are exposed to new ideas, people, places and things.
Be sure to see two 3-minute videos at Summit Learning. Personalized Learning was started as a pilot and it became a game changer, becoming learners for life. It works at high school, middle and elementary levels.
This video describes how each Summit student uses a free digital platform. Each tudent ersonal goals to daily actions and progress with mentoring by the teacher.
Here is a draft of a handout to a student to Form a Project Team.