Children/Youth Formation

Children and Youth Formation Resources

Serving our young people during this time is a top priority of our diocese. Join us in supporting the youth of our congregation. We are in this together.

Resources for Learning

Faith @ Home is a year-round weekly email includes four separate lectionary based reflections and prompts for families (however that is defined) and friend groups. During this time of more people being at home, Faith @ Home is working on a new program to provide daily resources for all people to stay engaged while being at home.
Illustrated Ministries creates illustrated resources for the church and the home, encouraging creativity and active engagement with faith. They are currently releasing free materials for parents and children staying home here.
Household Bible Reading with Lectio Divina introduces families and small groups to the practice of studying the Bible using Lectio Divina. “Sometimes the Bible can be confusing and difficult to understand. With Lectio Divina we give ourselves permission to let the Bible be what it is. Questions will undoubtedly surface. If you like, search for the answers. Seek out conversations. Or simply let the questions be.”
Blessing Children in the Home is a simple practice for reminding children how loved they are.
How2charist is digitally instructed Eucharist and could be a great activity to learn about all that goes on during a church service.
Grow Christians from Forward Movement is a great website to find inspiration for faith at home, describing itself as “striving to create an online community of discipleship focused on the practical details of life at home.” It includes reflections, stories, images, and recipes from diverse Episcopalians, celebrating the presence of God throughout the Christian year.
Tabi Tobiassen of St. Anne's Atlanta is doing Sunday Morning Formation via Facebook Live. Check it out here and take your own steps to Sunday Mornings!
The Rev. Michael Sahdev of Southeast Florida is doing daily 5 minute videos for reflection that are perfect for young people and can be found on his Youtube Channel.
Download Youth Ministry is offering a FREE 2 month membership! Take advantage of this powerful resource.
Rooted in Jesus BINGO cards for work and self care - they are really cool. :)
Princeton Theological Seminary | Youth Ministry in a Pandemic

Resources for Connecting in Youth Ministry

Zoom is a way to connect, have bible study, compline or just see the youth you minister to on a more regular basis. Contact the Office of the Bishop if you would like access to our account.
Social media is a great way to stay connected during these times. We recommend Instagram for youth. Check out the @eycdioatl instagram for some inspiration on what we share. Lizzie Mcmanus put together some neat thoughts on social media during this time. View them here.
GroupMe serves as a great way to connect via group text with much better functionality than a thread text.

Zooming for Youth Group

Helpful Guidelines for Meeting via Zoom:
- Settings:
  - Always use a meeting with a password
  - Consider where you choose to share the link carefully in regards to who might else see the link
  - Enable the “Waiting Room” feature
  - Turn on “mute participants upon entry”
  - Turn off “join meeting before host”
  - Turn off "virtual backgrounds"
  - Turn on “start meeting with participant video off”
  - Remove disruptive participants
  - Disable ”allow removed participants to rejoin”
  - Let participants know about the Gallery View that shows the entire meeting group.
  - Auto save chat history
  - Turn off file transfer
  - Turn off private chat
  - Turn off whiteboard or turn to auto save if you’re using it for a lesson/game.
  - When ending the meeting, be sure to end the meeting for all participants.
  - Do not post screenshots of meetings online without permission of everyone in the photo. If possible, remove names before posting.
- Other Things
  - All Safe Church Standards are to be met when possible while using any online communication tool
  - Remember the Rule of Three applies and at least 2 adults should be present throughout the meeting.
  - We suggest whoever is spiritually leading the meeting is NOT the host, so they can focus on the ministry.

We met via Zoom with Youth Workers on 3.18.20 and we actually tried out some games for Youth Group. View the entire meeting here. The games start around the 30 minute mark.

Wallace Benton of St. David's started the meeting with a discussion of how in this time we are best serving our young people as Pastors. Our job is to be present. We don't have all the answers, but we can listen. Watch the beginning of the meeting to hear different scenarios that might come up during this time.
Matt Bowers of St. James Marietta showed us a great way to play Jeopardy with Zoom. Create your own web based Jeopardy board here, or you can build one off a PPT template here.
On a follow up Zoom meeting, Matt Martin of St. Peter and Paul led us in a game of Quiplash and it was LOADS of fun! Watch the entire meeting here.
You could also play a number of PPT based games available from Break Free Youth Ministry.
Sally Ulrey of St. Columba's explained how something as simple as room tours (with rules ahead of time) or getting an object in your house that represents your personality is a great icebreaker. She also shared that we can create Small groups within Zoom using Zoom Rooms. This is a great way to break up the group for small group discussion during program.
Another easy game to play is Pictionary using these steps:
- Break up the team into Team A and Team B - you can change their names if you want
- Screen share the whiteboard - under the admin panel at the bottom
- Private message the word to the person that will draw on the whiteboard
- Keep a timer on the screen using a computer stopwatch
Want more resources Zoom? Visit E-Formations Youtube Channel dedicated to Zoom instructional videos!
You can also check out our siblings in Arkansas' page for Video Conferencing.

Youth Worker Zoom Check-Ins

The Offices of Youth Ministries is offering weekly Youth Worker Check-Ins via Zoom. Wednesday's at 2pm can be joined here.

Diocesan Youth Ministry Resources

Join us for Guitars + Compline on Monday's and Friday's at at 9pm using this link! This is a repeating meeting, so this link will live until the end of May. All youth and youth leaders are invited.
We are hosting a Diocesan Youth Zoom Night April 8 using the same Guitars + Compline link. It will be from 8:30-9:30 and include games, music, scripture study, small groups, and large group share
Sign up as an adult chaperone for Guitars + Compline here because we need chaperones virtually just like we do in person!