Search Results for: gratitude – Page 2
Spring Newsletter 2019
Blessings Friends,
Happy Spring. It’s that time of the month, where the YMI Team is preparing to host you for our monthly gathering. We invite you to join us on Wednesday, April 3rd in the Old Refectory at Yale Divinity School. We have some adjustments this month. Unfortunately, our April Lunch & Lecture speaker is unable to join us. However, we will still gather as we will introduce our new interactive YMI Learning Lunch Lab, a sacred space designed to foster a community network, for those who are seeking to promote adolescent faith and flourishing in a diverse and changing world. […]
June Newsletter
June 2025 News
Prioritize Your Well-Being and Support Pride Month
Professional Wellness month focuses on the importance of mental, emotional, and physical health in the workplace. Whether you work for a church or volunteer, work at a corporation, or maybe you have retired, you should always prioritize your well-being. Take time to do one of the following:
Read our Scriptures of Reassurance
Watch our video on “The Science of Well-Being” with Dr. Laurie Santos. Santos is known for teaching others how to live happier and more fulfilled lives.
Start meditating with one of our
“We gather together to ask the Lord’s blessing…”
Adrianus Valerius’ Christian hymn, We Gather Together, is often sung at Thanksgiving. While times are challenging, we do have much to be thankful for today. At YMI, we’re thankful for all of you working in ministry with youth, and we know you are trying to find ways to continue to gather your youth group when we must stay physically separated. There are a lot of creative and wonderful ideas that youth leaders are sharing. Here are just a few ideas that we’ve compiled at YMI today:
First, if at all possible, keep your regular weekly meeting time via Google Hangout, Zoom […]
November Newsletter 2
“Yes, everything is for your sake, so that grace, as it extends to more and more people, may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.” [2 Corinthians 4:15]
Happy Thanksgiving to all! In this season of gratitude, we are thankful for your commitment to the faith formation of our youth. It is truly a blessing to be in community and conversation with each of you.
It’s not too late to RSVP for the YMI Lunch & Lecture with Andy Root on Wednesday, December 4. Lunch begins at 12pm, Lecture at 12:30pm. Youth workers know what it is to watch parents and youth participate […]
December Newsletter
This holiday season, we want to take a moment to extend our gratitude. We are so grateful for your continued support and participation. We literally would not be here without you. Thank you!
As you reflect on your year-end giving this National Day of Giving, we hope you will consider the Center for Continuing Education. Our community has grown to include learners from over 200 countries and over 10,000 participants in our on-line and in-person events and programs. We are funded solely through individual, church, and foundation gifts so your donations enable us to continue to provide the […]
Daneen Akers
Daneen Akers loves the gloaming, that time of day when it’s starting to grow dark and there’s magic in the air. She’s also very fond of books, walks in the woods, songs around a campfire, snuggles with her daughters, and large pots of hot beverages enjoyed with friends. Her works include Dear Mama God, a children’s prayer book filled with simple gratitudes addressed to the divine in feminine form, and Holy Troublemakers & Unconventional Saints, a middle-grades anthology with original portraits and profiles of diverse faith leaders who worked for more love and justice in their corner […]
Scripture
Have you ever wondered how scripture can inform your anxiety, your activism, or how to navigate racial or gender dynamics? Listed below are passages from scripture that help inform how Christians can think about a variety of topics that relate to youth ministry.
Writings on Nurturing Joy
Writings (click to view):
Adolescent Joy and Christian Worship: Awakenings and Deepenings, by Fred P. Edie
Agency: The Joy of Activism, by Almeda M. Wright and Nyle Fort
Beauty: The Light of Joy, by David F. White and John Leedy
Belonging: Paul’s Notion of Autarkes, by Michal Beth Dinkler
Creativity: The Joy of Imagining the Possible, by Stephanie Paulsell and Vanessa Zoltan
“Holding Lightly”: Cultivating Playfulness in Youth, by Courtney Goto and Lakisha Lockhart
Hope: A Pathway to Adolescent Joy and Flourishing, by Anne E. Streaty Wimberly and Sarah F. Farmer
Idolatry: Looking for Joy in All the Wrong Places, […]
Margaret S. Clark
Dr. Margaret S. Clark is an experimental social psychologist with additional interests in personality. Her research focuses on optimal intra- and interpersonal functioning close relationships, the social functions of emotion, and the intersection of those two areas.
Clark has long been interested in the normative nature of interpersonal processes as they occur within family relationships, friendships, and romantic relationships and in how the norms that apply to such relationships differ from those that apply to relating to acquaintances and business partners.
Much of her early work was devoted to demonstrating that the norms governing the giving and receiving of benefits in such […]
Youth Group Handbook
Sample Youth Group Handbook
© The Congregational Church of New Canaan
Table of Contents
Youth Ministers
Mission Statement and Beacons
Youth Group (YG)
What is YG?
General Information
Mission Trip
2010-2011 Calendar of Events
Middle School Youth Group (MSYG)
What is MSYG?
General Information
Mountainside Mission Trip
2010-2011 Calendar of Events
Junior Youth Group (JYG)
What is JYG?
General Information
2010-2011 Calendar of Events
Guppies
What is Guppies?
General Information
2010-2011 Calendar of Events
Mission Statement
We gather in the hope of creating a Christian community where youth can come to know that they are loved while learning to love themselves and others. The youth groups strive to be a sanctuary where youth are free to be themselves and embrace the knowledge that we […]
Ideas for Gathering Youth Online
Gathering Youth Online
As a youth group leader, you may be wondering about how to continue to gather your youth group when we must stay physically separated. There are a lot of creative and wonderful ideas that youth leaders are sharing online. Here are just a few ideas from YMI:
Keep your regular weekly meeting time via Google Hangout, Zoom or similar. Sample format follows:
A. Opening Prayer
B. Check-in with everyone
C. Activity (following are some ideas)
Trivia
Pictionary
Show and Tell (have everyone find something that means a lot (or the most unusual thing in their house) and show it off and […]