April 2017 Newsletter
NEXT MONTH: Diocesan Acolyte Festival!
The date of this festival is approaching, and we encourage you to register your acolytes soon! 

Building on the energy of last year’s successful festival, acolyte teams of all ages are invited to gather with peers from across the diocese for a morning of workshops, a shared meal, and a glorious festival Eucharist with Bishop Gates.

May 20, 2017

9:30am to 2:00pm

First Evangelical Lutheran Church, Brockton

Mother's Day Walk for Peace
Youth groups and others are invited to join  B-PEACE for Jorge , the diocesan antiviolence campaign, at the 21st Annual Mothers’ Day Walk for Peace to benefit the Louis B. Brown Peace Institute. The walk is a celebration of our collective potential to create communities where all families can live and all children are valued.

More information is available at the event's website.

Sunday, May 14, 2017

Town Field Park, Dorchester, MA
1520 Dorchester Ave.

Program begins at 8:00am

Walk begins at 8:30

Lynn Youth Pride
Join St. Stephen's Church for their 2nd annual Youth Pride hosted by the BE YOU LGBTQ+ Youth Group. BE YOU is proud to present this event as a celebration of the LGBTQ+ community in the great city of Lynn and beyond.

The event will include food, games, community art project, and make-up artists to help youth express their inner beauty. The event will feature True Colors, an award-winning theater program for LGBTQ+ youth.  The True Colors team will perform from 1pm-2pm followed by a Q&A with the cast and producers.

The event is free and welcomes all LGBTQ+ youth as well as allies!
June 3, 2017

11:00am to 3:00pm

St. Stephen's, Lynn

(For more information, please contact The Rev. Sarah van Gulden at 508-367-4750 or svangulden@ststephens.org)
Getting Ready for Summer Camp
Registration NOW OPEN!
Barbara C. Harris summer camp programs embrace the wonder of God’s creation found in nature and the camper’s distance from the distractions of everyday life.

Campers learn important life lessons and gain new perspectives as they live and play in a community centered on Christian beliefs and values.

Read more about camp programs and dates at the camp website.

Session 1: Sunday 6/25 – Friday 6/30

Session 2:  Sunday 7/2 – Friday, 7/7

Session 3:Sunday 7/9 – Friday 7/14

Session 4: Sunday, 7/16 – Friday 7/21

Session 5: Sunday 7/23 – Friday 7/28

Youth Leadership Academy 2017-2018
The Youth Leadership Academy (YLA) launch is July 23-July 28, 2017, at the Barbara C. Harris Camp in New Hampshire. 

Designed for young leaders entering ninth or tenth grade this fall, this special week at the camp provides a week-long leadership-development and faith-formation program, plus all that summer camp has to offer. 

At the end of the week, participants are introduced to the yearlong Youth Leadership Academy and invited to continue (but signing up for the YLA week at camp is not committing to the yearlong program).  
July 23 - 28, 2017

Barbara C. Harris Camp

Register directly through The Camp at: http://www.bchcenter.org/camp
A Message For Holy Week
As we gather at the foot of the cross, and as we gaze into the empty tomb, may you and your young people be bowled over by the wondrous works the Spirit has in store for you—so that you and they will be empowered to take Christ’s light and truth into our streets and our world.
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Resources for Youth Ministry
Youth Ministry and Contemporary Issues: Mass Incarceration

The prison population in the United States has exploded over the last 30 years. The U.S. has the highest prison population rate in the world. The exponential increase is attributable in large part to the mass incarceration of people of color, in particular the lock-up of black and brown men. Many of the people serving time were sentenced for minor drug or other nonviolent offenses.

How can youth ministers respond with young people to this alarming rise in the prison population?

This is the question at the center of a youth ministry series produced by the Institute for Youth Ministry at Princeton Theological Seminary. This particular resource includes lessons to get kids thinking, questions to start conversation, and theological statements by church leaders on how young people and youth ministers can take action against mass incarceration:

Download the lesson plan >>