85th Anniversary of the United Church of Canada

*The United Church of Canada was formed on June 10th, 1925 (which makes us 85 years old in 2010). You may want to celebrate the history of your particular church congregation by playing the Church History Scavenger Hunt link . You will have to adapt the items to find to suit your church context but it gives you a basic idea.*please keep in mind that this article comes from a site that does not necessarily reflect the theology of the United Church of Canada. You may have to adapt other articles as need should you choose to use them.

~It could also be fun to compare the history of your congregation to the historical timeline of the United Church that can be found here United Church timeline link . If you don’t know significant dates within your own congregation get your youth to interview some of the spiritual elders in your congregation to see what collective wisdom they might have.

~The United Church also has it’s own You Tube channel. You can link to it here at United Church You Tube channel link . If your youth haven’t seen it yet you might want to play the video “E-Z Answer Squirrel” that is found under the Wonder Café link on the right side of the screen.



* Just for You ~ Historical information on the formation of the United Church of Canada can be found here at Church Formation overview link.

Gardening and Nurturing the Earth

*It’s hopefully safe to say that we are likely in the midst of gardening season now. An idea would be to literally have your youth group get dirty. See Kore Creative link – click on the “Get Dirty” link towards the bottom for a theological rationalle. Perhaps you might consider approaching your congregation about providing some seeds and bedding plants and having the youth group landscape the church grounds (you might want to invite some green-thumbed adult volunteers to join you who could mentor your youth in their gardening skills and it would be awesome to invited the Sunday School to join you so your youth can mentor the children as well ~ make it a true intergenerational event!). You could conclude your time together by offering a blessing for the plants and God’ people who will enjoy them all summer long (for ideas see Garden prayer link which has a garden blessing prayer by Edward Hays.*please keep in mind that this article comes from a site that does not necessarily reflect the theology of the United Church of Canada. You may have to adapt other articles as need should you choose to use them.


~Also see Community Garden link for practical suggestions on how to get a community garden going.

~If gardening isn’t your youths thing other ways to “get dirty” while providing service might be to organize an area for picking up trash (make sure to provide the youth with gloves and good, sturdy garbage bags), or helping with a “Habitat for Humanity” build in your area (while the youth might not be able to actually work on the site they can help make a meal for the construction crew).



* Just for You ~ For background on the benefits of a spirituality of gardening see Gardening as a Spiritual Practice and Youth Gardening video link.

Graduation and Youth Group Wind-Up

*For some youth ministers “official” youth group activities wrap-up in May as they take a break over the summer. To not lose the momentum of your group consider choosing some photos of your youth activities from over the past year. Create a photo album for each of your youth and include in each of the albums the photos you have chosen. Make sure that for each person that there is at least one photo with them specifically in the picture for their own album. Leave empty spaces at the end of each album to indicate this is for the memories to come when you join together again the fall. It is also important for your youth to know that even though there won’t be “official” youth group events during the summer that the ministry is always available to them (if you are taking holidays – and I certainly hope you are taking some time for rest and renewal over the summer – make sure to let them know who will be available to take their calls/e-mails/etc. It feels good to know that the church is always there to care for them.).

~If you haven’t done so already now might be a really great time to do a review and evaluation of how the past year has gone. It doesn’t have to be all talk. You can do things like a continuum - having one side of the room being great, the other side being it sucked and the middle being neutral ground. You can ask for their opinion on things like different activities you did, how connected they feel to the group and the church as a whole, what they’d like to see happen in the next year, the next three years, etc.

~It is also the season of graduation. If you have any youth group members that are graduating from Grade 12 here’s an idea that you can use with them. Go to this link Graduation idea #5 link and scroll way down on the page to idea #5 Quilt Sunday by Lisa McArdle. *please keep in mind that this idea comes from a site that does not necessarily reflect the theology of the United Church of Canada. You may have to adapt other articles as needed should you choose to use them.



* Just for You ~ How are you going to stay in touch with those who may be graduating from both school and youth group? If they are off to university or moving out on their own a care package waiting for them at their new address would be one way to let them know that the people “at their church home” are still thinking about them. Make sure to include in it a special invitation for coffee or lunch together the next time they are home for a visit. Another thing that you could do to help them adjust to their new location is to connect them with a church congregation in their new area. If you don’t know of any church congregations in their particular area contact Debbie Coss, Conference Youth Minister at dcoss@confmnwo.mb.ca  for recommendations.

~If your graduates are remaining in your congregation find ways to connect them both into some of the youth activities in more adult mentoring ways and also help them “transition” into some of the other ministries of the church by connecting them with an adult mentor of their own in their area(s) of interest e.g. Christian Education/Faith Formation committee, Outreach/Social Action/Mission group, etc.

~See what you agree with after reading an interesting article by Tim Schmoyer at My Toughest Challenges in Youth Ministry article link. *please keep in mind that this article comes from a site that does not necessarily reflect the theology of the United Church of Canada. You may have to adapt other articles as need should you choose to use them.\