Kenya: Anglican Church to Launch Facebook Sunday Service for Youths Who Can't Go to Church

From All Africa-

The Anglican Church of Kenya (ACK) will next year launch an online church service for its youthful flock.

Head of ACK Archbishop Jackson Jackson Ole Sapit has announced that the church will start training its priests on how to use social media ahead of the launch of the online service.

"As a church we cannot afford to be left behind and we need to embrace technology. It's a high time we start our online church to tap on the larger community in the social media," said Dr Sapit.

DIMINISHING NUMBERS

He explained that the bold move in meant to reach out to the diminishing numbers of young people attending church services. He urged fellow clergymen to be ready to embrace social media platforms.

More here-

http://allafrica.com/stories/201712220513.html

Lessons from the confessional on dealing with ‘cutting’

From Crux Now-

“I cut myself.”

It’s a bald statement, which I repeatedly hear in confessions of high school youth, one offered along with more mundane sins, such as disobeying one’s parents or stealing a jacket at school.  Sometimes it’s followed by a specification.  The young person behind the screen will add, “On my stomach.”

In one face-to-face confession, the young man showed me his arms.

In three decades of hearing confessions, I’d developed the attitude of Qoheleth, the author of Ecclesiastes: “There is nothing new under the sun.”  But after twenty years of primarily scholastic ministry, I have returned to parochial ministry.  Hearing so many confessions about “cutting” is new for me.

More here-

https://cruxnow.com/commentary/2016/11/13/lessons-confessional-dealing-cutting/

Episcopal youths forge 'Path to Peace'

From Oklahoma (with video)-

More than a 1,000 young people from around the country learned about the events of April 19, 1995, as they walked through the Oklahoma City Memorial & Museum on Wednesday as part of an Episcopal Church USA youth conference.

The tour and a candlelight vigil at the memorial and museum were among the highlights of the Episcopal Church USA's Episcopal Youth Event 2017 (EYE17) conference continuing through Friday in the metro area.

Youth organizers of the event said the activities at the memorial fit the conference's theme of "Path to Peace."

More here-

http://newsok.com/article/5556129

The case for dragging your bored teens (and tired self) to Mass

From American Magazine-

My two teenage boys don’t like going to Mass. They never have. When he was 4 years old my now 16-year-old used to stage-whisper the question “How much longer until the doughnut part?” every few minutes. So closely was Mass linked in his mind to the sweets he got at the end, that once when he heard a song on the radio that sounded like a hymn he asked, “Is that doughnut music?” Now that they are older, my boys no longer cry when they have to go to Mass, and they do not have to be bribed with doughnuts (though they never skip them). But their resistance can still be fierce.

On Ash Wednesday this year, none of us wanted to go. I was tired from teaching and stressed from my long commute home in a snowstorm. I wanted to put my feet up and watch the news. The 13-year-old felt he should be excused because his braces, which had been adjusted that day, were making his teeth ache. I believed it. The 16-year-old had a lot of homework and, really, really didn’t think he should be forced to go. He argued that he was old enough to make his own choices. I nearly caved. But instead, we got into the car and set out in the storm, both of them texting silently all the way, no doubt about the unfairness of it all.

More here-

http://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2017/05/18/case-dragging-your-bored-teens-and-tired-self-mass

Episcopal Church leader appears at breakfast gathering with youth in Homewood

From Pittsburgh-

Early on in his whirlwind day of worship and meetings in Pittsburgh, the national leader of the Episcopal Church answered a question that would frame all of his talks for the rest of the day.

Presiding Bishop Michael Curry, on the second of a three-day visit to the city, joined a packed fellowship hall for a breakfast gathering with youth Saturday morning at the Episcopal Church of the Holy Cross in Homewood.

As the youth gathered over juice, fruit and muffins, Bishop Curry led them in a call-and-response to the phrase, “We are the Jesus movement.”

One of the adults lining the back walls of the fellowship hall asked him to elaborate: “Why Jesus?”
More here-

http://www.post-gazette.com/local/city/2017/02/04/Episcopal-Bishop-Curry-joins-breakfast-gathering-at-Homewood-church/stories/201702040126

New Hope provides opportunities for children to break the generational cycle of incarceration

From Tulsa-

Growing up with a father who was in and out of prison was a defining part of Chace Evan’s childhood.

Evans was 4 the first time his father went to prison.

He remembers one visit in particular he and his mom made to see his father.

“We walked out and I started crying and my mom starting crying, too. I was so confused, sad and angry,” he said.

Evans had a lot of anger issues when he was younger, which he believes stemmed from his father’s incarcerations.

Evans’ mother has also been in prison and she was worried that her son could follow in his parents’ footsteps.

More here-

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/new-hope-provides-opportunities-for-children-to-break-the-generational/article_4bc85174-f948-5e19-b5d3-08e4722ff9ff.html

St. Alban’s officially opens outreach center

From Texas-

 Ella Evans, 6, had been using the new Reed Outreach Center at St. Alban’s Episcopal Church and School even before it officially opened on Friday.

Friday morning, about 450 people attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the center, located at 1417 E. Austin St.

The center is equipped with a rock wall, a stage and an audio-video system for recording school plays. The church will use it for church events including picnics and youth group activities as well as hosting and mission trips.

The opening coincided with the school’s celebration of Grandparents Day.

More here-

http://www.valleymorningstar.com/news/local_news/article_83f474aa-71fc-11e4-9aeb-f3cc87fe3b62.html

Churchgoers want more youths in their ranks

From Connecticut

In moments of weakness, I am prone to complaining about a certain question that I am asked almost every time I meet a new person in a religious context: "Why are you in church?"

The wording may vary, but the basic query -- and the surprised tone in which it is stated -- remains the same.

Many of my fellow UConn students who grew up in the so-called "mainline" Protestant churches -- Congregational (like me) or Methodist, Presbyterian, Episcopal, etc. -- seem to think there's something rather shocking about me attending church regularly at my age, and I am far too prone to growing defensive about it.

More here-

http://www.newstimes.com/news/article/Churchgoers-want-more-youths-in-their-ranks-5737452.php

‘Marked for Mission’ EYE14 is sent out to heal the world with love

From ENS-

 After four days of worship, workshops, prayer, long walks across the Villanova University campus, late-night conversations and contemplation of Scripture and the Five Marks of Mission, EYE14 all came down to the call to go out into the world and love it.

“Whenever God is about to change the world, God tells somebody to ‘Go’” and that is what is happening now, Diocese of North Carolina Bishop Michael Curry said during this sermon at the Episcopal Youth Event 14 closing Eucharist July 12.

God, Curry said, is the “very essence” and source of love, and “our mission is to love this world and ourselves into the very dream of God and when you do that, you’ll have the strength you need to bear any hardship and carry any cross because you’ll find power.”

More here-

http://episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/ens/2014/07/14/marked-for-mission-eye14-is-sent-out-to-heal-the-world-with-love/

Is youth ministry killing the church?

From Christian Century-

After having worked for several years as a youth pastor, I recently accepted a call to be an interim solo pastor. One weekend, Sara, a beloved saint of the church, died after a long battle with Alzheimer's. On Sunday morning I was standing in the choir room discussing plans for the funeral when Jonathan—a high school sophomore—walked in. “Deanne,” he said to the music director, “I heard about Sara, and I thought you might need me to take Libba's spot in the bell choir this morning.” She gratefully accepted his offer and excused herself from our conversation to review the music with him.

It was a pretty mundane exchange, but I was blown away. It's remarkable enough to see a 16-year-old boy drive himself to church early to join a bell choir comprised of adults in their 50s and 60s. But even more intriguing was Jonathan's perceptiveness. Not only did he know that Libba was Sara’s daughter, but life in the church had taught him to anticipate congregational needs. He knew that Libba played with the bell choir, and he realized she probably couldn't play that morning. Unprompted—I checked with his parents—he offered to fill in.

More here-

http://www.christiancentury.org/blogs/archive/2010-02/youth-ministry-killing-church

Youth Groups Driving Christian Teens to Abandon Faith

From Charisma-

A new study might reveal why a majority of Christian teens abandon their faith upon high school graduation. Some time ago, Christian pollster George Barna documented that 61 percent of today's 20-somethings who had been churched at one point during their teen years are now spiritually disengaged. They do not attend church, read their Bible or pray.

According to a new five-week, three-question national survey sponsored by the National Center for Family-Integrated Churches (NCFIC), the youth group itself is the problem. Fifty-five percent of American Christians are concerned with modern youth ministry because it's too shallow and too entertainment-focused, resulting in an inability to train mature believers. But even if church youth groups had the gravitas of Dallas Theological Seminary, 36 percent of today's believers are convinced youth groups themselves are not even biblical.

More here-

http://www.charismamag.com/spirit/church-ministry/18920-youth-groups-driving-christian-teens-to-abandon-faith

What’s so uncool about cool churches?

From The Gospel Side-


I recently spent six-months doing a rotation as a hospital chaplain. One day I received a page (Yes, hospitals actually still use pagers). Chaplains are generally called to the rooms of people who look ill: People gray with kidney disease, or yellow with liver failure, discouraged amputees, nervous cancer patients. In this room, however, was a strikingly attractive 23 year-old young lady sitting up cheerfully in the hospital bed, holding her infant daughter and chatting with family and friends.

Confused, I stepped outside and asked her nurse, “Why did I get paged to her room?”

“Oh, she looks fabulous. She also feels great and is asking to go home,” the nurse said.

“…And you are calling me because?” I asked in confusion.

The nurse looked me directly in the eye and said: “Because we will be disconnecting her from life support in three days and you will be doing her funeral in four.”

The young lady had taken too much Tylenol. She looked and acted fine. She even felt fine, but she was in full-blown liver failure. She was dying and couldn’t bring herself to accept the diagnosis.

Today I have the sense that we are at the same place in the church. The church may look healthy on the outside, but it has swallowed the fatal pills. The evidence is stacking up: the church is dying and, for the most part, we are refusing the diagnosis.

More here-

http://thegospelside.com/2012/09/23/whats-so-uncool-about-cool-churches/

Why millennials are leaving the church

From CNN-

At 32, I barely qualify as a millennial

I wrote my first essay with a pen and paper, but by the time I graduated from college, I owned a cell phone and used Google as a verb.

I still remember the home phone numbers of my old high school friends, but don’t ask me to recite my husband’s without checking my contacts first.

I own mix tapes that include selections from Nirvana and Pearl Jam, but I’ve never planned a trip without Travelocity.

Despite having one foot in Generation X, I tend to identify most strongly with the attitudes and the ethos of the millennial generation, and because of this, I’m often asked to speak to my fellow evangelical leaders about why millennials are leaving the church.

Armed with the latest surveys, along with personal testimonies from friends and readers, I explain how young adults perceive evangelical Christianity to be too political, too exclusive, old-fashioned, unconcerned with social justice and hostile to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.

I point to research that shows young evangelicals often feel they have to choose between their intellectual integrity and their faith, between science and Christianity, between compassion and holiness.

I talk about how the evangelical obsession with sex can make Christian living seem like little more than sticking to a list of rules, and how millennials long for faith communities in which they are safe asking tough questions and wrestling with doubt.

More here-

http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2013/07/27/why-millennials-are-leaving-the-church/?hpt=hp_c4

Pope nixes 'boring' practice of reading text to students, uses Q&A

From Catholic News Service-

Pope Francis ditched a 1,250-word prepared speech to students saying it would be "a tad boring" to read out loud and opted instead to just quickly hit the high points and spend the rest of the time answering people's questions.

"Would you like that?" he asked as some 9,000 students, alumni and teachers from Jesuit-run schools and associations in Italy and Albania yelled "Yes" with cheers and applause.

Then over the course of 30 minutes, Pope Francis answered 10 questions, including how to deal with doubt, how to live with hope in a troubled world and whether Christians should be politically active.

The special event in the Vatican's Paul VI hall June 7 was an occasion for young people, parents and educators to highlight the Jesuit charism, particularly in the field of education, and to celebrate the election of the first Jesuit pope in the church's history.

More here-

http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1302499.htm

No Rescue Required

From The Living Church-

Review by Jonathan Mitchican

It is no secret that the church in America is in a state of collapse, particularly among the young who consider the Faith increasingly irrelevant to their lives. In response, churches have tried all sorts of new and exotic approaches to keeping people interested, from the life coaching sermons and sugar pop music of megachurches to the “Let’s all fix the world” mantra that has become the raison d’être of the liberal mainline churches. None of it has worked. If anything, our efforts at reigniting church have driven young people further away. Into this mix has emerged Jonathan Fisk’s new book, Broken: 7 “Christian” Rules That Every Christian Ought to Break as Often as Possible. His suggestion for how to fix the church and keep our young people to boot is radically simple: Stop trying.

Fisk has developed a strong following in the last couple of years through his show on YouTube called Worldview Everlasting, which garners thousands of viewers each week. In that medium, Fisk speaks to mostly twenty and thirty-somethings, mixing his staunchly Lutheran presentation of the gospel with pop-culture references, funny video clips, and quips. That may sound unsophisticated, but Fisk does not shy away from hard topics, delving into the theology of atonement and sacramental grace and quoting from the original Greek when explicating passages from the New Testament. The edginess of the videos allows Fisk to speak the deepest, most complicated, and controversial truths of the Christian faith to those who would never encounter them in dusty old tomes or seminary textbooks.

more here-

http://livingchurch.org/no-rescue-required

Applicants sought to plan national Episcopal youth event

From The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette-

The Episcopal Church is seeking adults and teens to help plan its 2014 Episcopal Youth Event.

So far even the location hasn't been chosen. The 2011 Episcopal Youth Event in Minnesota drew more than 700 Episcopal teens from across the country, plus several hundred adult chaperons and staff members. A lengthy report to the denomination includes information about the duties and decisions of the planners.

Nominations for the planning team are due by Saturday, Feb. 16, 2013. Those chosen will be announced in March.

To be eligible for the Mission Planning Team youth applicants must currently be in grades 9-11 and must be active in an Episcopal parish. Adult applicants must be at least 25 years old, active in an Episcopal parish and have experience working with high school-aged teens. More requirements, including travel dates, are on the denomination's Web site.

More here-

http://blogs.post-gazette.com/news/faithburgh/36848-applicants-sought-to-plan-national-episcopal-youth-event

Better Together

From The Living Church-

For the past six years the youth groups of San Andres, Yonkers (Iglesia Memorial de San Andres), and Christ Church, Bronxville, have found that we are better together. Our young people meet every Monday night. We have traveled to the monastery at Taizé in the spirit of reconciliation and trust. We have met and worked with those in need in New York City and across the nation. Our kids long to be challenged and tested. They want to engage their faith. They want love to be active, not passive.

The Rt. Rev. Griselda Delgado Del Carpio, Bishop of Cuba, invited us in August to expand our understanding of “better together.” This was a gift greater than any of us could have imagined. As a mixed group, ranging from ardent capitalists to crypto-communists, the young people had high hopes for the trip. They wanted to see American cars from the 1940s and ’50s and experience the culture of the Buena Vista Social Club. They wanted to pose in front of Che Guevara murals and step back into the world of Hemingway. They wanted to ask about universal medical care and the education system in Cuba. And they were able to do it all. But what most profoundly affected them was the extraordinary generosity and spirit of the Cuban people.

More here-

http://www.livingchurch.org/better-together

Calvary Episcopal Church youth participate in Missionpalooza 2012

From Texas-

Youth members of the Calvary Episcopal Church, located at 806 Thompson Road, in Richmond, recently participated in Missionpalooza 2012.

Missionpalooza is a five day mission trip to Bastrop County, wherein youth volunteers work on a variety of charity improvement projects. This included painting, removing debris and brush from around homes, building sheds, digging trenches for pipes and painting house signs.

The volunteer work was part of a long-term recovery effort to restore an area where more than 1,600 homes were burned during the 2011 Labor Day weekend.

The missionary groups also worked in Bastrop State Park.

A total of 160 youths and adults participated in Missionpalooza.

More here-

http://www.ultimatefortbend.com/stories/403890-events-calvary-episcopal-church-youth-participate-in-missionpalooza-2012

Bishop's Bike Ride rolls through Canton

From Ohio-


Between 1:30 and 4:30 p.m. today, approximately 50 participants in Episcopal Bishop Mark Hollingsworth Jr.’s  7th Annual “Bishop’s Bike Ride,” will spend the night in Canton, the first stop in the five-day ride. 

After stopping at First Friends Church at 5455 Market Ave. N, they’ll have dinner at 6 p.m. at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church at 515 48th St. NW, then spend the night with host families from St. Mark’s, St. Paul’s in Canton and New Life Episcopal Church in Lake Township.

 The group will meet for breakfast at St. Mark’s at 7 a.m. and leave at 8 a.m. for the next leg of their ride.  They will stop Wednesday in Wooster, Thursday in Gambier, and Friday in Ashland, before ending their ride Saturday in Wakeman, where they’ll attend a diocesan picnic.

The purpose of the ride is to raise money for youth mission trips.

More here-

http://www.cantonrep.com/newsnow/x1880830984/Bishops-Bike-Ride-rolls-through-Canton

Church scandals a 'wake-up call' to everyone

From New York-

The church is the last place where children should be in danger of abuse.

Through the decades, the church has founded and operated innumerable children's hospitals, summer camps, orphanages, preparatory schools and athletic programs.

So, when the church itself violates the sacred trust to care for children, the sin seems unpardonable.

"You expect a church to be safe," said the Rev. Marilyn Sanders, pastor of St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Bainbridge. "Abuse is a horrible thing to happen, especially in a church. That's why we need to create a safe environment."

Episcopalians, Catholics, Jews and others have adopted strict policies in recent years to protect children from child sexual abuse, ranging from such measures as criminal background checks of church officials to requiring that two adults always be present with children.

More here-

http://www.pressconnects.com/article/20111203/NEWS01/112030374/Church-scandals-wake-up-call-everyone