Happy New Year!
We hope you had a lovely holiday. As you make plans for the new year, we hope you will consider participating in some of our upcoming events! We have offerings ranging from a free 8-session Bible Study on Corinthians; a webinar on caring for yourself – “Soul Care: Practices for Clergy/Lay Leaders;” a workshop on overturning your “Immunity to Change;” a series on youth centered topics to better your ministry; and of course, Summer Study 2025. We hope you will join us. Details can be found below.
Financial Wellness Month
January is Financial Wellness Month. Listen to our 3-part series on “Church Budgets in the Xennial World: Pursuing Sustainability” with Jim Elrod, which reviews church budgets and suggests changes to implement in your budget process. The video series is here.
We also suggest watching our video on “Grant Writing for Congregational Leaders” with Alison Cunningham. You may find grants available this year that could significantly benefit your church or organization. Watch the video here.
Quest for Life Curriculum
This January we are focusing on our Yale Youth Ministry Institute Quest for Life curriculum, which provides a roadmap for nurturing joy for youth. Each lesson has been developed by leading practical theologians & youth workers. You can find the lessons here.
Love of Children Program
In the Spring of 2023, the Justice and Local Church Ministries of the United Church of Christ was awarded a grant from the Lilly Endowment through its Nurturing Children Through Worship & Prayer Initiative. The Yale Youth Ministry Institute is honored to be a partner in this initiative through the creation of content and hosting webinars with experts in the field. This four-year program will allow the denomination to engage in thorough research to assess the state of Children’s Ministry in the United Church of Christ and then take that information and create a dynamic program to strengthen our local congregations in the work of children’s faith formation.
YMI has been working with the UCC to address key topics such as childhood development, storytelling and spirituality, children in worship and more. Join us on February 5, 2025 for the first in this important series of offerings:
Upcoming Offerings:
- “Context Matters: The Impact of Social Context on Emotional Growth” with Dr. Szu-Hui Lee, PhD, ABPP on February 5, 2025
- “Storytelling with Spirituality” with Mark Yaconelli on March 12, 2025
- “The Meaningful Inclusion of Children in Worship: Theology and Practice” with Wendy Claire Barrie on April 2, 2025
From the YMI Director: Yellow Stars
Dear youth ministry friends,
In the Christian calendar, we find ourselves in the midst of the twelve days of Christmas (no, that’s not just a song), and edging into the season of Epiphany. Epiphany is, thematically speaking, a time of celebrating light. The gradual lengthening of the days. The hope that shines in the coming of the Christ-child to earth. And, the beacon that we are called to bear into this tired, hurting, troubled world.
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1 Corinthians in the First and 21st Centuries Bible Study with the Rev. Dr. Allen Hilton We’ve reached a moment in history when the world needs Jesus-followers to be ONE Body. As social ties fray and break around politics and other divisive forces, as loneliness becomes epidemic, we do well to hear and heed the apostle Paul’s prescriptions for the divided Corinthian church. Among Paul’s letters, 1 Corinthians gives us the clearest picture of daily life in a first-century church. |
Soul Care: Practices for Clergy/Lay Leaders with Rae Jean Proeschold-Bell In this course, you will try out several practices that have been tested and shown to improve the health and well-being of clergy. You will also learn about a curriculum for church personnel committees that can improve communication, trust, and open-hearted reflection among lay leaders, for the betterment of the church. |
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Overturning your ‘Immunity to Change’ with Dr. Robert Kegan “Immunity to Change” is a novel approach to personal improvement– now being deployed all over the world–which surfaces and engages those aspects of a person’s underlying mindset that prevent them from bringing about the very changes they most want to make. This free workshop will provide participants a fast-moving opportunity to try on this approach for themselves, conducted by one of its creators, Harvard professor Robert Kegan. Come with a Personal Improvement Goal you most want to work on in mind! |
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Summer Study 2025
Save the date! Yale Divinity School Summer Study will take place June 2-6, 2025 online. If you have not signed up for updates on Summer Study, you can do so by entering in your email address at summerstudy.yale.edu. Click in the box on the right hand side of the page.
This year’s schedule includes the following courses and professors. Click the course titles for more information on each course.
- Harry Attridge, The Book of Revelation and the ‘End of Time’
- Dr. Kenneth P. Minkema and Joseph Cochran, Jonathan Edwards on the Trinity
- Markus Rathey, Sounds of Death and Mourning: Requiems and Funeral Songs through the Ages
- Dr. Jerry Streets, Minding the Spirit Within Us: The Meaning of Prayer, Meditation and Mindfulness
- John Hare, Faith and Reason
- Donyelle McCray, Preaching for Introverts
- Greg Mobley, The Book of Psalms: The Hopes and Fears of All the Years
- Julie Faith Parker, The Bible Through Art and Artifact III
Registration will open soon.
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Ministering to Those Impacted by Suicide This training will increase awareness of the impacts of suicide, teach practical tools for responding appropriately and sufficiently in times of suicidal need, and expand the thinking of leaders about how churches and organizations can proactively address the hopelessness and isolation that contribute to suicidality. |
AI and the Ends of Humanity: Thinking Theologically After ChatGPT The advent of increasingly sophisticated and potentially autonomous forms of artificial intelligence poses a challenge to understandings of the human place in the cosmos in ways perhaps as profound as the Copernican Revolution. YDS will bring together theologians, ethicists and philosophers of religion to reflect on the profound ways in which AI is transforming our sense of selfhood and agency, our interpersonal relationships, and our societies. |
| If you’d like to help support our mission, you can make a donation here. There is joy to be found in practicing generosity. Your gift will enable us to continue to provide the necessary tools and resources that support life changing ministries. | 
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