My Faith, My Life, Leader's Guide Revised Edition

Jenifer Gamber

Description

My Faith, My Life is a trusted confirmation curriculum for the Episcopal Church.

With this leader guide, leaders can create short, intermediate, and longer programs, including confirmation sequences of six, nine, or twelve-sessions, a retreat or similar short program, or a longer study that is integrated with other current programs over the entire academic year. Filled with prayers to begin and end each session, plus a variety of activities that tap into multiple learning styles and ways to interact with the congregation, this is a primary go-to resource for any youth leader. New material includes how to select, train, and support mentors, as well as how leaders can strengthen their own spiritual life.

Sujets

• Religion
• Christianisme
• Christian Ministry
• Philosophie et théologie
• Youth

Informations

• Publié par: Church Publishing Incorporated
• Date de parution: 01 septembre 2014
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780819229656
• Langue: English

Extrait

My Faith, My Life
Leader s Guide
JENIFER GAMBER
To Emily and William
Copyright 2014 by Jenifer Gamber
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher, with the exception that permission is hereby granted to persons who have purchased this book and wish to reproduce these pages for worship, church school, and other nonprofit use.
Unless otherwise noted, the Scripture quotations contained herein are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Morehouse Publishing, 4785 Linglestown Road, Suite 101, Harrisburg, PA 17112 Morehouse Publishing, 19 East 34th Street, New York, NY 10016
Morehouse Publishing is an imprint of Church Publishing Incorporated. www.churchpublishing.org
Cover design by Laurie Klein Westhafer Typeset by Beth Oberholtzer
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Gamber, Jenifer.
My faith my life : leader guide / Jenifer Gamber. - Revised Edition.
pages cm
ISBN 978-0-8192-2964-9 (pbk.) -- ISBN 978-0-8192-2965-6 (ebook) 1. Episcopal Church-Doctrines-Study and teaching. 2. Church work with teenagers-Episcopal Church. I. Title.
BX5930.3.G37 2014
283 .73-dc23
2014016958
Contents

Overview of the Curriculum
Resources for Designing Your Program
Inquiring Minds Want to Know: A Recipe for a Confirmation Program
Designing a Program of Inquiry for Your Church
A Six-Session Program with a Retreat
Session 1 Chapter 1: Baptism and Confirmation: Beginnings
Session 2 Chapter 2: The Bible: Stories about Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow
Session 3 Chapter 3: Knowing Our History
Session 4 Chapter 4: Faith: What Do We Believe?
Session 5 Chapter 5: Worship: Responding to God s Blessings
Session 6 Chapter 8: Navigating the Church: From Local to Worldwide Church
Weekend Retreat
Chapter 6: The Sacraments: Signs of Grace
Chapter 7: Spirituality: Created for Prayer
Chapter 9: The Mission of God: What s Your Ministry?
A Ten-Session Program
Session 1 Chapter 1: Baptism and Confirmation: Beginnings
Session 2 Chapter 2: The Bible: Stories about Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow
Session 3 Chapter 3: Knowing Our History
Session 4 Chapter 4: Faith: What Do We Believe?
Session 5 Chapter 5: Worship: Responding to God s Blessings
Session 6 Chapter 6: The Sacraments: Signs of Grace
Session 7 Chapter 7: Spirituality: Created for Prayer
Session 8 Chapter 8: Navigating the Church: From Local to Worldwide Church
Session 9 Chapter 9: The Mission of God: What s Your Ministry?
Session 10 Final Gathering
Session Exercises
A Mentoring Program
Mentoring Basics
Sample Letter to Mentors
Sample Quick-View for Mentors
Discussion Questions for Youth and Mentors
General Resources
Articles for a Newsletter
Instructed Eucharist
Making Communion Bread
Group Games and Icebreakers
Prayer Resources
Praying with Anglican Prayer Beads
Praying with a Labyrinth
Praying with a Text: Prayer Cards
Praying with Icons
Stations of the Sacraments: An Experiential Exploration
Stations for the Parable of the Sower
Handouts and Duplication
Baptismal Promises
Bible Stories
The Apostles Creed
Order of Worship
Questions about the Church
Outreach Project Reflection
Team Presentations
Worship Worksheet
Overview of the Curriculum
T he Episcopal Church expects all people who are baptized at an early age to make a mature affirmation of faith and commitment to the promises made at baptism and receive the laying on of hands by a bishop. At some time in our faith journey, we are expected to speak for ourselves before our community and claim our faith, our voice, and membership in the church. Confirmation is such a time. Choosing to be confirmed is an important milestone in the deepening of one s faith journey.
Although our knowledge, beliefs, and experiences of God will change throughout our lives, discerning whether to be confirmed is a particular time of inquiry, prayer, exploration, and study. If we expect our young people to speak for themselves, we must allow them to do so-to seek and find their own faith and share their discovery with others. At the same time, our beliefs do not appear out of thin air. They are the result of our tradition, culture, experiences, and the beliefs of our families and communities. The book My Faith, My Life: A Teen s Guide to the Episcopal Church does just that-presents the history, belief, experience, and tradition of the church in a way that invites youth to explore and wrestle with the big questions of faith. This leader s guide provides a framework for doing so.
The curriculum balances activities in the five attributes of a healthy Christian community: study, fellowship, worship, prayer, and service. These are the characteristics we find in early Christian communities (see Acts 2:42-3:1). Each is essential to a healthy spiritual life and the wholeness to which God calls us. This curriculum includes each of these components in some measure. Depending on the other Christian formation programs offered at your church, you might want to emphasize one aspect over another.
Six- or Ten-Session Options
This guide presents two frameworks-a program with six two-hour sessions with an Instructed Eucharist and an overnight retreat as well as a program with ten one-hour sessions. A service project, team presentations, mentoring, and Instructed Eucharist can be included in either program. Both cover all the chapters of My Faith, My Life .
The six-session program is most suited for a church with an active Christian formation program already in place for youth and where this class is an additional commitment by teens. I recommend that the class meets at a time other than Sunday mornings so that confirmation supplements, not replaces, the regular formation program. This schedule emphasizes for youth that confirmation is a choice to deepen their commitment to Christ and to the church. Retreats either at the end or the beginning can be a highlight for the youth. Retreats get them out of their comfort zones and provide them with an opportunity to create community in ways that are difficult in the more institutional settings of the church building.
The ten-session program can be used successfully as a once-a month supplement on Sunday morning, on Sunday evening, or during the week. Each session is one hour and covers one chapter with an ending session to look at the liturgy. Remember that this curriculum is meant to be flexible . Just as no two communities are identical, neither should their Christian formation offerings be the same. This leader s guide includes other components and exercises not included in the ten-session program such as an Instructed Eucharist, team presentations, Stations of the Sacraments, and a Parable of the Sower meditation. Mentoring is also a component to add. All exercises are listed by chapter on pages 53-72. Take a look at these exercises as you plan your sessions.
A Word about Adult Mentors
As part of confirmation preparation, many churches choose to pair a youth with an adult in the church. Mentoring provides an opportunity for the members of the church to live into the promise they made to support the newly baptized in their life in Christ. A mentor is a mature, faithful Christian who can share his or her own faith journey with youth and explore faith questions without predetermined answers. It is someone other than a parent with whom youth can share questions and struggles. As a parent I am blessed knowing that as they were growing up my children were comfortable talking to and seeking advice from other adults in our faith community. Other parents can offer different experiences and perspectives. The more people they know and respect who have Christ in the center of their lives, the more a Christ-centered life becomes a norm for them. Please read A Mentoring Program (pages 75-82) for more guidelines and discussion questions for mentors.
Materials That You Will Need
In addition to the book My Faith, My Life , every youth and adult leader will need to have their own copy of the Book of Common Prayer and Bible at home. You might give a copy of My Faith, My Life to parents and/or mentors to read along with the youth. Some churches have a lending library for parent and mentor copies. I have found Saints, Signs, and Symbols by Hilarie and James Cornwell and The Anglican Young People s Dictionary by June A. English, both published by Morehouse Publishing, to be helpful resources. A copy of Holy Women, Holy Men , available as a printed book as well as a downloadable PDF file online, would also be helpful. Most of the opening worship activities require some setup. Materials you need are listed under each session.
Session Overview
This program was developed with the theme of journey in mind. Confirmation is a milestone along a continuing faith journey that began when each of these young people was brought into creation at birth, continued when they were brought into a faith community at baptism, and will continue after confirmation. Opening worship as well as gathering time activities relate to this theme of journey. The following describes the parts of each session.
Icebreakers give group members an opportunity to get to know one another in a fun way. They also disarm reservations and disperse the nervous energy as the youth begin their journey.
Alternate gathering question poses a question for the group. This provides an opportnity for the youth to share what is going on in their lives, thus drawing everyone into closer relationships. The question for reflection is intended to be an alternative to the icebreakers; however, you can use bo