May/June 2018
YOUTH NEWS
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Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity. 1 Timothy 4:12
UPCOMING EVENTS
Printable Calendar of Events
JUNE 13, JULY 11 & 18 | Fellowship event with Pensacola area Episcopal youth groups
All 6-12th graders are invited to the home of Mia and Warren Jerrems (1407 Soundview Trail, Gulf Breeze, FL 32561) for this collaborative event with Pensacola area Episcopal youth groups. We will share a meal at 5pm followed by paddle boarding, worship, games and living into community through fellowship! This is a great time to bring a friend! We will gather on J une 13, July 11 and July 18.

(If your youth group plans to host any collaborative events like the one above, please let us know so we can help spread the word! Email jenn@diocgc.org .)
JUNE 23- JULY 1 | Episcopal Youth Domestic Mission Trip
The Commission on World Mission and Youth are putting together a team of youth missioners to travel to Houston, Texas. The Diocese of Texas has offered a concerted youth effort called Episcopal Strong that provides our diocese with an opportunity for a helping mission. We are looking for a maximum of 16 youth and 4 adult leaders to represent various parishes from the Diocese of the Central Gulf Coast. Youth 15 to 19 years old.

See the information flyer below for complete details of the trip.

Contacts: Keith Greene at godthing2@cox.net or Anne McEniry at saintjameseyc@gmail.com.

AUGUST 26 | Worship on the Water
Bring your paddle board and worship with us on the water at Camp Beckwith on Sunday, August 26, from 2 -5 pm.
SEPTEMBER 15 | Acolyte Festival
Held at Christ Church Cathedral in Mobile. Save the date! More information coming soon.
COMMUNITY
Visioning Summit for a Mission Statement and Goal Setting
During the first week of May, Leslie Manning and Stephen Ingram of Ministry Architects - the consultant group hired by Bishop Russell to focus and revitalize our diocesan youth ministry - held three visioning sessions with youth and youth ministry leaders. The intent of the gatherings was to generate words, phrases, and objectives to help guide our Youth Ministry Team in creating a mission statement and set high reaching goals for the next several years. In total, there were about 50 participants in the sessions. Thanks to all who attended!

The brainstorming exercise was fast-paced, creative, challenging and fun! All the results have been compiled and are currently undergoing word-smithing by the Youth Ministry Team. The next step will be submitting our work to Bishop Russell for approval.

Very soon we will have a powerful mission statement and venturesome goals to share with you all!
RESOURCES
STILL TIME TO JOIN THE SMALLER CHURCH COHORT!
“Don’t wait until you have youth to begin building for youth ministry,” said trainer Melissa Rau at our first Youth Ministry Smaller Church Cohort gathering. St. Andrew’s (Panama City) parishioner Sally Brewer agreed saying that at last year’s Youth Ministry Visioning workshops she learned the value of having a ready-on-the-shelf Sunday School lesson in case kids ever showed up – and two years later, her Sunday School routinely has 8 elementary school kids in it.  

The five churches who kicked off the Cohort in April had a great experience and their individualized coaching sessions are going well! For the next couple of months, Ministry Architects (who organized the Cohort) is willing to continue enrolling churches and bringing their teams up to speed in time to attend the remaining three workshops. Whether you have two 5th graders in Panama City or a cluster of middle schoolers in Foley – the Youth Ministry Smaller Church Cohort is where your parish can learn to build sustainable, successful family and youth ministry.


YOUTH MINISTRY BEST PRACTICES
NEWSLETTERS - Sarah Bolt, youth minister at Christ Church Cathedral, said when asked about good Youth Ministry practices that work, "We have found that focusing on the upcoming event at the top of the email/newsletter and include pictures of the youth throughout the email/newsletter [works best]. I would include the calendar for the current semester at the bottom of the email/newsletter, but focus the email/newsletter on the event that is coming up next. In our experience, youth do not read the email/newsletters, but parents seem to like seeing what’s coming up and the visuals from the pictures help."
The purpose of this newsletter is to help keep Youth Ministry leaders and all those who support their ministry up-to-date with the latest information on events and news about Youth Ministry in the Diocese of the Central Gulf Coast.

We would love - and be so grateful - for you to share this newsletter or any portion of it in your church communications.
DioCGC Youth Ministry
www.diocgc.org/youth
DioCGC Youth Ministry is a ministry of
the Episcopal Diocese of the Central Gulf Coast