Recent Events

Upcoming Events › Past Events
November 2022
Creating Communities of Belonging for Youth With and Without Disabilities
Online Event
Video from the event is here: Creating Communities of Belonging for Youth With and Without Disabilities
Slides from the event are here: Creating Communities of Inclusion and Belonging for Youth with Disabilities PowerPoint Presentation
Video
October 2022
Talking about Sex, Tech, and Faith with Teens
Online Event
Video and clips from the event are here: Talking about Sex, Tech, and Faith with Teens
Slides from the event are here: Talking with Teens about Sex, Tech, and Faith
Video
September 2022
The Storm Isn’t Over: Ways to Support the Social Emotional Needs of Youth
Video and clips from the event are here: The Storm Isn’t Over: Ways to Support the Social Emotional Needs of Youth
Slides from the event are here: The Storm Isn’t Over: Ways to Support the Social Emotional Needs of Youth
Video
May 2022
Why Ministries Innovate and How to Start: Knee Deep in Flotsam
We’re exhausted and disoriented by this newness, not just because innovation is unfamiliar to us, but because the shackles of normalcy are off, allowing us to hear God in new ways. As our institutions, practices, and assumptions about ministry (and ourselves) shed unnecessary weight in order to stay afloat, we're suddenly a much more nimble church than we were a year ago. We are awash in more possibilities than we can process.
In this seminar, we’ll consider how the events of the past two years are changing how we think about the church—and how it is surfacing new and long-forgotten possibilities for the work God calls us to. Come explore compelling stories of innovation, new tangible experiences from around the church, and the theology that undergirds healthy and passionate praxis in this new frontier!
Video Clips and Interview clips are here: Why Ministries Innovate and How to Start: Knee Deep in Flotsam
Video
April 2022
Empowering Young People Toward Beloved Community
Online Event
This presentation will build upon the ethnographic and theological research in Church in Color to highlight practical steps congregations and other organizations can take to resist racism and embrace Beloved Community in the work of youth and young adult ministry. The practical theological framework is grounded in Kingian ethics that makes room for the particular stories, questions, and experiences of young people in distinct congregations or organizations.
Video and clips from the event are here: Empowering Young People Toward Beloved Community
Video
March 2022
Talking about Race with Young People
Online Event
Video
February 2022
Connecting and Integrating Children’s and Youth Ministry Across the Church
Online Event
So often our churches segment children’s ministry and youth ministry as if they were unrelated efforts. This presentation aims to equip lay and clergy leaders to take a wholistic view and approach to ministry with young people. We will discuss ways to join the programming we do with children to those programs offered to older youth, locate ways to integrate both into the life of the church, and discern where God is moving our ministries as we continue to emerge from the pandemic.
Video and clips from the event are here: Connecting and Integrating Children’s and Youth Ministry Across the Church
Slides from the event are here: Connecting and Integrating Children’s and Youth Ministry Across the Church
Video
December 2021
I Hear You: Creating Listening Spaces with Youth
Online Event
How well do you listen to youth's stories?
No, really.
And how well do your young people listen... really listen to one another, and to God's work in their midst?
Long-time youth ministry worker Mark Yaconelli has spent his career engaging in the quieter nature of youth ministry. Through the use of contemplation and compassionate exercises, Mark has fine-tuned the art of listening. By modeling this for youth, youth workers impart a valuable skill set to their young people: how to listen to one another, and how to be attentive for God's work in their lives.
Video and clips from the event are here: I Hear You: Creating Listening Spaces with Youth
Video
November 2021
Belonging
Online Event
As youth leaders, we strive to be welcoming towards everyone. We want every young person to feel like they belong.
But what does “belonging” actually look like? What might it mean to prioritize actual belonging in your youth group?
We all want to belong to a community and that sense of belonging is elemental to our well-being. Join Dr. Margaret Clark for a conversation about just how much young people want to belong, how they strive to belong and what really makes people feel that they belong.
Video from the event is here: BelongingSlides from the event are here: Belonging
Video
October 2021
Grief, we all feel it, but do you know what to do with it?
Online Event
Video and clips from the event are here: Grief, we all feel it, but do you know what to do with it?
Slides from the event are here: Grief, we all feel it, but do you know what to do with it
Video
September 2021
The Emotional Intelligence Factor: How to Apply EI to Youth Ministry
Online Event
Video and clips from the event are here: The Emotional Intelligence Factor: How to Apply EI to Youth Ministry
Slides from the event are here: The Emotional Intelligence Factor: How to Apply EI to Youth Ministry
Video
August 2021
Conversations with Colleagues: Looking Ahead
Online Event
"As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another." -Proverbs 27:17
As you look ahead to the new church year, are you feeling excited? Are you feeling tired? Do you have your youth group schedule ready to go? Or, are you still tweaking?
Do you yearn for meaningful conversations with fellow youth workers who "get" it? Might your tools need some sharpening?
Come join us on Wednesday, August 25th, for a peer-led resource-sharing opportunity! This will be a space for colleagues to connect, and speak about what has worked for their churches in the past year. We will also look towards the fall, and together sharpen our tools for the year to come.
May 2021
Empowering Parents to Practice Faith at Home: A Ministry Leader Workshop
Online Event
Faith formation can't happen if children and youth are spending just one hour a week at church - or much less these days, so what are the barriers families encounter when trying to establish faith practices at home?
The Rev. Traci Smith, author of Faithful Families, joins us on May 5 at 12:00pm to present the fundamentals of developing faithful family practices and outline the role that ministry leaders play in encouraging and supporting families. Discover how to help parents feel confident and well equipped as they nurture their children's faith development, at every age. We'll also spend time in an "Idea Lab" learning and sharing in small groups and we'll wrap up the webinar with Q&A.
Now is the perfect time for families to develop real habits and practices of faith at home. Following the webinar, participants will receive links to several short videos and outlines of spiritual practices that you can share with your congregation.Video and clips from the event are here: Empowering Parents to Practice Faith at Home: A Ministry Leader Workshop
Videos on different practices you can do at home are here: Empowering Parents to Practice Faith at Home.
Video
April 2021
Adventures in Space-Making with the Rev. Phiwa Langeni
Online Event
Video and clips from the event are here: Adventures in Space-Making with the Rev. Phiwa Langeni
Video
March 2021
Innovation, Imagination, and Frustration: New Directions for Youth Ministry
Online Event
Video and clips from the event are here: Innovation, Imagination, and Frustration: New Directions for Youth Ministry.
Video
February 2021
A Journey with LGBTQ+ and Immigrant Youth
Video and clips from the event are here: A Journey with LGBTQ+ and Immigrant Youth.
Video
December 2020
A New Vision of Youth Ministry Beyond the Walls of the Church: Mission Work and Outdoor Ministry
Video and clips from the event are here: A New Vision of Youth Ministry Beyond the Walls of the Church.
The presentation slides for Andrew Wicks is here.
The presentation slides for Rev. Ryan Gackenheimer is here.
Video
November 2020
The Science of Well-Being
Video
October 2020
Just Breathe: Resilience Strategies for Today’s Youth & Youth Workers
-
- What resilience is from both theoretical and practical perspectives
- How resilience is weakened through adverse childhood experiences
- How resilience can be strengthened
-
- Physical - Natural methods
- Mental, emotional methods
- Spiritual methods
-
- Highlights of promising practices in building resilience with youth
-
- Reinforce the importance of the connection between mind, body and spirit in strengthening (or adversely weakening) resilience.
- Invited participants to join one of 2-3 breakout rooms to think together, discuss and model resilience interventions based on what they have learned about resilience, with application to various “composite” youth profiles.
- Reconvene the group for brief share-outs of the models developed and questions/discussion sessions.
Slides from this event are here: Just Breathe: Resilience Strategies for Today’s Youth & Youth Workers
Video
September 2020
Wrestling with Rest in a COVID-19 World with Nathan Stucky
The video and clips from this event are here: Wrestling with Rest in a COVID-19 World with Nathan Stucky
Video
August 2020
A YMI Seminar on Racial Resilience
Join Christopher Carter and Seth Schoen for a six-part seminar designed to guide participants through the Racial Resilience anti-racism training with the primary goal of becoming an anti-racist member of society. Addressing structural racism within the US in general and churches in particular requires an analysis of the theo-cultural ideologies that normalize/moralize racism and the development of tools/capacities that enable human beings to undermine these false ideologies. This seminar equips participants with the necessary tools to 1) be able to identify internalized, interpersonal, and structural racism, and 2) attend to the inner stirrings of their conscience (i.e. culturally racist ideologies) that have historically led people (especially white people) to the false conclusion that there is another plausible explanation to what they are witnessing other than what it appears to be – racism, and 3) discern how they might engage in theologically grounded compassionate anti-racism action(s) with youth.
The six sessions will occur on August 5, August 19, September 2, September 16, September 30, and October 14. Those who complete the course will receive a Certificate of Completion from YDS.
July 2020
Racial Resilience: Anti-Racism as Spiritual Praxis
-
-
- Authentic storytelling and research-based content
- Compassionate space for holding uncomfortable truths
-
-
-
- Forced participation
- Shaming, blame, or judgment
- Political agendas
Video and clips from the event are here: Racial Resilience: Anti-racism as Spiritual Praxis. -
Video
June 2020
Fear, Isolation, and Anxiety: Understanding the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Youth, with Dr. Josephine Kim
April 2020
POSTPONED: Dr. Angela Gorrell on Social Media and Working with Youth
New Haven, CT 06511
March 2020
Rev. Mark DeVries on Sustainable Youth and Children’s Ministry
New Haven, CT 06511