Taking Action

The youth group has now chosen its Social Action Theme for the 2011-2012 church year. Modeling after previous local service project years, we will be basing the majority of our Social Action projects this year around a single theme. Because this year is a local service year (alternating with service trips, such as volunteering last year on the Navajo Reservation,) all of our projects will be based in our community and the Greater Boston area.

The concept of a theme is to have an arch for our projects, offering a sense of connection among our Social Action events. And while doing so, the Youth Group is aiming to grow stronger by using teamwork to reach a common goal. There will be multiple volunteer opportunities throughout the year not only for individuals, but youth and advisors to work together. Everyone will be able to contribute towards this theme.

The theme we have selected for this year is "Homes & Homelessness.” After working in small groups, discussing possible proposals, we took it to an entire group vote. After two rounds of voting, the winner was Homes & Homelessness.

One of the most important aspects of this theme is that it is in line with our Unitarian Universalist values and Economic Justice.

The projects that incorporate this somewhat broad theme may include (but are not limited to) volunteering at shelters and/or food pantries, advocating the need for safe homes, working with local organizations providing housing to individuals and families, etc. Over the next few weeks the youth group will be beginning to incorporate this theme into our calendar. Projects pertaining our theme will be spread all throughout the year.

I look forward to beginning the Social Action year with the youth group very soon and we welcome any suggestions form the congregation.

Erika Tai

High School Sophomore

Youth Group Social Action Coordinator

Worship

Worship in Youth Group can look a lot different than worship for the greater church community.  At it's base, Worship in Youth Group is an opportunity to think and reflect upon life's greater questions.

The majority of last night's meeting was devoted to Worship lead by Erik.  The following will give you an idea of what we experienced as a group last night.

Take a moment to make a visual representation of your Life right now, 

this can include words or pictures.

Next, take a few minutes to write or think about two alternative ideal 

lives for yourself.  

Finally, in thinking about those ideal alternate lives, take some time to think about what pulls you toward those alternatives?  Is it that you wish you took more chances?  Do you wish you listened more?  Do you wish you were more inquisitive?

Take those and try to incorporate them into your own life starting now. 

Social Action

This year, the Youth Group has chosen Homes and Homelessness as our Social Action theme.  This means that we will be working on projects in an effort to make a difference around this theme.  The above mural was put together at Youth Group to offer a visual representation of our theme.  Please let us know if you have any organizations or suggestions for projects we can do around this theme.

Mascots!

This past Sunday at Youth Group, we broke out into Touch Groups for the first time.  Touch Groups are smaller groups of 8-10 people designed to provide an opportunity to get to know people in a smaller setting than the usual 50-60 who come to youth group each week.  Touch groups will stay constant for at least through the end of December.  Each touch group has two youth YAC members and one adult advisor.

Each group was tasked with two main things.  First, we used the smaller group setting as an opportunity for brainstorming ideas for our social action theme for the year.  As most people know, we alternate years between a service trip and local projects.  This happens to be a local projects year so in order to frame our efforts, our Social Action Coordinator Erika gave each group a list of considerations to keep in mind when brainstorming.  At the end of the meeting each group shared their idea and then we voted, but more on that in a later post...

The second far more fun task that each group was saddled with was creating a Touch Group Mascot!  I think they can speak for themselves..

Six Components of Balanced Youth Programming

If you ask the youth members of this group why they come to youth group, I think in general the answer would be because youth group is a fun place to hang out with friends.  While fun and community are core parts of our program they are not the only considerations.

The UUA identifies 6 aspects of a balanced youth program.  Through the way we run youth group meetings and the programming we choose, we constantly strive to encompass these 6 components.  The following descriptions are taken from the UUA website (http://www.uua.org/religiouseducation/youth/leading/45563.shtml):

Worship
Worship is an important and sacred part of any balanced youth ministry. Youth worship may be interactive and non-traditional. Organizing worship in a circle and inviting youth to share creates a powerful sense of intimacy. Youth may also find fulfillment in following the habits and styles of traditional Sunday morning worship in their congregations. Many youth groups worship as a group as well as lead Sunday morning worship for their congregation. Worship is a time and place where we can share our spirituality and caring with the larger community.

Leadership
Opportunities to develop leadership skills and then put them into practice are integral parts of youth programming. Learning to work together, facilitate, foster cooperation, and collaborate, youth become strong leaders in our congregations, communities, and in the larger world.

Justice and Service
Youth have passionate opinions about social issues. Justice and service programming is a way for youth to express and explore our values and put action behind our concerns. Justice and service projects are an important way for youth to put hands and feet on our principles. They can also be fun.

Learning
Almost every aspect of programming can provide learning experiences for youth. Curricula are great resources for learning. Small group ministry, covenant groups, or other venues can provide space for healthy discussion - sparked by the topic of a guest speaker, movie, or from youth's own experiences. Youth community is a safe place to expand our horizons and to learn more about the world around us.

Community Building
Honor our friends and loved ones, and the social aspects of youth programs. Community building, or socializing, is a time for people to get to know one another. This is the time to bond, share values, establish trust, generate intimacy, and practice acceptance. Community building is the time to share our liberal religious values by getting to know one another.

Youth-Adult Relations
The last but certainly not least important component of a balanced youth program is essential. Communities where youth and adults work together and have power with each other have huge potential. Multigenerational environments encourage all of the other components of youth programming. Youth and adults can learn from each other, worship together, build community, empower each other to lead, and make a difference in the world.

Welcome to Youth Group!

This blog will follow the goings-on of the First Parish UU Church in Arlington Youth Group.  We are a group made up of approximately 70 high schoolers and 10 adult advisors who come together to build community, promote social action projects and worship.

Thanks for visiting!