FGC Good News Bulletin, April 2005
Youth Ministry
Friends, Spirit is alive and moving in a powerful and dynamic way through our High School and young adult Friends!
We want to spread the good news that by building a true intergenerational community we feel the Religious Society of Friends will be nourished and invigorated in a way that could be breathtaking. Faithfully building authentic and deep intergenerational ties may require nothing short of a cultural shift in the Religious Society of Friends--the rewards could be tremendous.
On March 11-13, the Ad Hoc Youth Ministries Discernment Committee met for a Consultation with twenty High School teenage and young adult Friends. The gathering of thirty Friends was consistently Spirit led and was filled with deep searching, listening and sharing about the needs of our young people. While there was a strong emphasis on the need for well organized and adequately supported opportunities for connections among young Friends of similar ages, perhaps more powerful and unexpected was the deeply felt need on the part of young Friends to feel welcomed into the wider community of Friends.
Powerful ties based in mutual respect and reciprocal nurturance developed over the weekend. We learned that Friends of all ages need the same things:
- To feel loved and valued as individuals;
- To be seen as we really are without assumptions based on age, race or sexual orientation;
- To have our gifts recognized and well used;
- To receive eldering and to be available to elder others;
- To be held accountable for living our faith.
From this rich insight and experience, the committee met and has begun to put this powerful calling into concrete program recommendations to be considered by FGC.
Robin Greenler, Clerk and Karen Stewart, Staff
Ad Hoc Youth Ministries Discernment Committee
