Blue Boat of Youth and Young Adult MinistriesHow Congregations Can Better Serve Their Youth
Leads for Keeping Youth in Your Congregation We started asking “How could your church better serve you?” after noting the responses to the magic-wand question were highly aspirational. Because they are qualitative instead of quantitative, measuring these two questions is more difficult than evaluating youth’s favorite part of church. The two most prominent responses were food-based and some form of “[My congregation] can’t because they already serve me well.” Other responses included promoting youth leadership: “It could send a youth leadership newsletter for opportunities such as those mentioned in the meeting at the UUA.” “More opportunity for youth leadership.” “Get the kids more involved in everything and tell us all about what’s going on in the general congregation.”…
What Would You Change with YOUR Magic Wand?
Youth Perspective on What We Need to Do Better One of the questions we asked the youth who visited the Unitarian Universalist Association UUA was, “If you had a magic wand, what would you change about your church?” This question – although seemingly frivolous – was intended to see what needs youth had that their congregation wasn’t serving. Instead, the responses showed us the aspirational vision our youth have for their congregations. Because of these responses, we added another question: “How could your church better serve you?” We shared the responses to these two questions with the leaders of the youth’s congregations. The “magic wand” questions elicited some fantastically detailed responses from our youth. Their…
Favorite Parts of Church and Why
Youth’s Favorite Parts of Church As you can see by the chart on the right, there is a very clear winner in terms of what youth enjoy the most about church. 44% of youth prefer youth group over every other aspect of congregational life. This isn’t new information; we’ve known that youth prefer the opportunities for community and connection that youth group provides. We also know that youth group serves young people’s needs regarding identity formation and community participation. Social events, religious education, and coffee hour follow youth group as the most popular activities (15%, 14%, and 11% respectively). These programs serve very similar needs as youth group in meeting the social needs of youth. Religious…
What Youth Do at Church… and Why
Youth Participation As mentioned in the previous post in this series, this survey has some flaws. The first question we asked was a check-all-that-apply, “When I attend church, I go to…” that had five possible responses: The worship service, Religious Education classes, Youth group, Coming of Age, and Our Whole Lives Because we didn’t define the time period, we don’t know if this comes from the last year, last six months, or just gives a general sense of preferences. It was left to the respondent to decide what church attendance means to them. There is also no qualitative data to back up the data we have. We don’t know why they responded the way they did….
What Do UU Youth Do In Their Congregations?
The Results are in! Last year, we asked youth who visited the headquarters of the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) in Boston, MA to fill out a brief survey about the ways they were involved in their congregation. 351 middle and high school aged youth filled out the survey answering questions like “What programs do you attend at your congregation?,” “What is your favorite part of church?,” and “If you had a magic wand, what one thing would you change about your church?” Introduction The purpose of this survey was to create a small picture of what programs our youth participate in at our congregations. We asked questions like: Do you attend Sunday morning worship? Coming…
Announcing Youth Caucus 2016 Deans
At the time this post was published, there were a mere 270 days before thousands of Unitarian Universalists would gather from around the nation to learn, worship and do business together at General Assembly 2016 in Columbus, OH. This year’s Sr. Dean, Andrea Briscoe, and Jr. Dean Eric Broner will be spending each of those days joyously laboring over creating the best Youth Caucus experience yet. Please give them a hearty welcome! Bio: My name is Andrea Briscoe and I live in the suburbs of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. I’m 16 and currently a junior in high school. UU profile: I’m a member of Main Line Unitarian Church where I served on the Board of Trustees as the youth…
Join the YA@GA 2016 Team Today
Worship and GA Talks Coordinators Needed! APPLICATIONS MUST BE RECEIVED BY OCTOBER 4, 2015 (CLICK HERE) Ayla Halberstadt and Cameron Young, YA@GA 2016 Co-facilitators have a cool pitch for you… I am Ayla Halberstadt, a co-facilitator for YA@GA 2016! I am the director of religious exploration at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Central Oregon and live in Bend, OR! In my spare time during the fall you can find me knitting, yelling at the TV while I watch college football, and surrounding myself with pumpkin scented things. I am so excited for General Assembly 2016 in Columbus, Ohio! Being apart of the YA@GA team is fulfilling and fun. You work alongside amazing young adults from…
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GA 2015 Youth Caucus: “WE Are the Revolution”
TODAY Youth Caucus attendees Collen Lee & Phoebe Mussman share this reflection of their experience attending General Assembly 2015. – Ed. By: Colleen Lee & Phoebe Mussman Today. Today, 5,000 hearts beat faster. Hues of blue, green, and every shade of the rainbow proudly glow. Today, we are encompassed by the colorful and comforting aura that the world is better than it was yesterday. Today, on June 26, the United States Supreme Court ruled that gay marriage is legal in this nation. In an auditorium packed with overjoyed Unitarian Universalists of all ages, the celebration and contagious energy assures us this is one of the best days we’ve experienced. This…
Support OWL in the Philippines
You Are Challenged: Make Change Happen Now A message from Lauren Amabile and the Unitarian Universalist Church Council, asking you to respond before the end of this month. Greetings, Unitarian Universalist Blue Boat Friends! I am writing to let you know about a really important and daring step the UU Church of the Philippines (UUCP) is taking towards youth development by offering Our Whole Lives (OWL) sexuality education for all Unitarian Universalist teens and young adults over the span of two years. The initial offering of OWL will be in December 2015 for youth ages 12-16 years old. The total budget for this OWL program is over $33,000, which includes the training for about 20…
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