As the start of our ministry year approaches, we now will begin to turn our focus to putting our plan for the year into action. As with our meetings, we will need everyone’s assistance in order to make our hopes and aspirations for our children and our community a reality. We now, amongst ourselves and in our wider community, need to turn out focus to organizing our leadership for these ministries.
From the discussion in our last meeting on June 14th we have drafted a tentative Youth Ministry Calendar for the 2018 - 2019 year. We are pleased to announce that this calendar is now available for review online. Simply click forward to September to begin tentative viewing events month-by-month throughout the coming year.
Please take some time to review the calendar! You can view tentative meetings and events for the 2018 - 2019 ministry year. If you'd like to contribute any feedback, thoughts or ideas, please contact Fr. Nick. You are also welcome to attend our next meeting!
Please find the attached presentation for this evening which will help to guide our calendar discussion. We will be having a very broad discussion this evening about how and when we will schedule ministry meetings and events. We will workshop two typical months in our ministerial life at Taxiarchae, and discuss developing a weekly and monthly ministry schedule that can work year-round (accommodating Lenten schedules, etc).
Our next meeting is Thursday, June 14th from 7-8:30 PM. For those of you who are not able to make it to the church, we will set up a video conference so that you are able to join remotely, if you would like. If you are not able to attend, please send any thoughts or ideas you have, and we will incorporate them into the meeting agenda.
This next meeting will be to plan our youth calendar for 2018-2019. For the calendar we want to bear a few, basic guidelines in mind (these are based off survey findings and Family YM Forum discussion):
1) Less is more - we want to do a few things well
2) We need to document what we do. We want to build institutional memory so that we can pass on what we learn and do to future generations.
3) We need to think not just about youth, but families and parents.
Some suggestions we received last meeting for family and parent events are:
1) Family Potluck Dinner - Fall and Lenten
2) Parent Evening - Open up opportunities to discuss contemporary social issues parents are facing in raising their children, and workshop/discuss these issues and a faith-based response.
3) Summer Programming
This past evening we gathered in Metaxas Hall to discuss the findings so-far of our on-going youth ministry survey, and to discuss the future and vision of youth and family ministry at Taxiarchae Church.
Please take a moment to fill out our survey, if you have not yet had the opportunity. Your input is valuable! We want to hear what you have to say!
1) Better, more timely communication about youth ministry events. Our families are busy with extracurricular activities, but, if given the opportunity, will prioritize a church event over other obligations.
2) We have a need for more age-appropriate programming. In particular, we need to expand youth ministry programs for younger age groups.
3) Another area and opportunity for growth is developing and improving parent involvement and engagement.
If any of these points speak to you or resonate with feelings you have had, or if you have other insights, we need to hear from you!
Please contact Fr. Nick to learn more and to get updates about upcoming youth ministry planning meetings. Stay tuned for our next meeting announcement!
St. Ignatius of Antioch to the Trallians
Didache (Teaching of 12 Apostles)
Orthodox Church Fundamental Teachings
Sources of Teachings of the Orthodox Church
Dogmatic Tradition of the Orthodox Church
Tradition in the Orthodox Church
Orthodox Church on Controversial Issues
