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Posted on June 13, 2010 in
9 Month Report presented at Spring General Assembly
by Michelle Hawe
Youth and Young Adult Ministries
Spring General Assembly, June 13, 2010
Respectfully submitted by: Michelle Hawe, Youth Ministries Director
Website
The Youth and Young Adult Ministries website was launched in early February. On the site anyone can find our weekly youth bulletins, a calendar of the upcoming events, blogs about past activities and different information that youth and parents may find of interest, all of our fliers and forms for upcoming activities, and updated pictures of all our youth’s activities. Please visit us on the web at http://www.saintanna.org/youth.
Youth Weekly Bulletin
On January 24, 2010 we started our weekly Youth Bulletin. These bulletins share insight on the commemoration of the day, a short discussion about a term used in Church such as stewardship or diakonia or witness or a bit of detail about a specific saint or event of the Church, all upcoming activities for the week, and a save the date section. There has been positive feedback on this new addition. Bulletins are posted on our website.
Stewardship
We would like to begin teaching our youth about what it means to be a good steward of the Church. The Youth Stewardship program incorporates the three T’s: Time, talent, treasure. I have been working with Greg Kyritsis in organizing this aspect of Youth Ministry. This program will launch in the Fall with the kick off of Youth and Young Adult Ministries and the Youth Religious Education Program. We will begin our efforts with time and talent.
HOPE/JOY
HOPE and JOY met weekly this year. We had a group of core attendees. Curriculum fluctuates between Feast Days and Saints or the Parts of the Church. Each session the kids are engaged in some sort of discussion and activity. Children concluded the school year with a pizza and game night.
GOYA
GOYA is for our Jr. High and High School students. These children met every Tuesday. The youth have been inviting their friends from school to join the group! A night of GOYA consists of a game or activity followed by a discussion or lesson. In the last 9 months many children have become more involved and opened up about their faith.
Young Adults
Our Young Adult has college students and young professionals. They gather on Saturday evenings for Great Vespers and then have time to socialize. We have a handful of young adults that continually attend. We are slowly getting more young adults interested and involved. Our young adults now have semi regular gatherings with the young adults from Holy Cross in Sacramento. This group has been invited to be involved in activities with the Church of the Holy Cross in Belmont. We will have our first Fall Retreat in Tahoe November 5-7, more details of the retreat to come.
St. John Chrysostom Oratorical Festival
This is the first year St. Anna participated in the festival. Mr. Alex Stamas and Ms. Kaylee Efstathiu spoke eloquently about their faith to their peers. Both participants advanced to the District level in Fresno. They competed against other speakers their age. The text of their speeches and the video of their presentation can be found on the Youth Website. Next year we plan on having more participation from our youth in this program.
Summer Plans
There are more families to reach in our community. In the coming days I will be contacting our families to meet with them to learn what they expect/want from youth ministries as I gather their feedback from this year’s program. I will also share with them what youth programs can offer their children.
During the summer we will continue with the program with trips including Disneyland, Discovery Kingdom, Sunsplash, camping, hiking, a day at the lake, and more. My time will also be spent creating next year’s curriculum and schedule.
Lessons Learned
In last nine months I have learned I need to reach out to the families more by approaching them. Along with reaching out to families I need to improve my communication with the younger age group (HOPE/JOY) families. I also have come to the conclusion curriculum needs to be focused on one topic throughout the year to provide depth into specific subject matters and youth groups need to be more divided by age to have appropriate curriculum. Throughout the year, I have been reminded that Christ does guide us in all of our endeavors.
