A Proposal for the Formation of the

ANGLICAN YOUTH LEADERSHIP ACADEMY

Vision

That the Children and Young People in Southern Africa seeks to be:

  • Anchored – in the love of Christ
  • Committed – to God’s mission
  • Transformed – by the Holy Spirit
Mission statement

That the Children and Youth People, fully participate in and commit:

  • To honour God in worship that feeds and empowers us for faithful witness and service
  • To embody and proclaim the message of God’s redemptive hope and healing forpeople and creation
  • To grow communities of faith that form, inform, and transform those who follow Christ

A proposal initiated by Provincial Youth Council (PYC) and the Development Team of Project2013 and forms part of the recommended solutions within the Vision Implementation Team for the priority : Protection and Nurture of Children and Young People.

December 2015

(1.0version)

Proposal prepared by Tony Lawrence (Provincial Youth Coordinator and Team Leader for Project2013)

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  1. INTRODUCTION:

“The church lost many young people as they entered college life simply because they were not given the opportunity to grow in a disciple-making journey during their childhood and teen years; and they were not encouraged or given the chance to disciple others and help others grow into Christlikeness. The only way to save this generation is to engage them in the disciple-making process, and partner with them in ministering within their communities. Today, youth and teenagers are waiting to be inspired, challenged and enabled to be used by God in helping their peers (brothers and sisters) to grow into Christlikeness, and, through this disciple-making journey, transform families and communities.” (Disciple-making 3.0 – Compassion International)

This is our mandate given by God to the church and requires our whole-hearted response and action. To give our children and youth anything less, is depriving them of the blessing of serving our Lord and Saviour and adding value to the building of the Kingdom of God.

In order for them to develop the skills and competencies to become effective and useful citizens in God’s Kingdom, they need to be trained. “Train upachildin the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” (Prov 22.6) – implies that (the exercise of) training also applies to children and youth and not only to adults.

Our young people complain that they are not encouraged to participate in matters of the church and neither are they educated and trained to participate effectively.

Every Parish should have an intentional focus on the training and development of their young as part and parcel of their discipleship process. And skills development (HOW to do things) is part and parcel of this.

But, Parishes need to be equipped to do this, and so do Dioceses.

As a church, we suffer from the following:

  1. Not knowing WHAT to teach and train our children and youth (at appropriate ages, etc.).
  2. Not knowing WHERE to find the best resources and materials, and worse still, HOW to develop the necessary resources, if necessary.
  3. Not knowing HOW to contextualise materials (not everything is useable in every context).
  4. Not knowing WHAT the best approaches and methodologies are to ensure maximum learning efficacy.

The Church (ACSA), largely, does not have a clear vision for children and youth ministries and much of it’s focus is still in the area of looking at ways of how to stop the haemorrhaging of young people after Confirmation as well as the focus on events, rather than serious intentional discipleship and laying solid spiritual foundations in the young.

The need to help Parishes and Dioceses in the area of children and youth ministry have been raised repeatedly over at least the last 30 years. Revd Mike McCoy wrote extensively about developing a Child Centric Church in his book The Child in our Midst (published in 1987). Various commissions have raised the same concerns, and yearly the same issues are raised at Provincial and Diocesan events (Synods, etc.).

Project2013 originally set out to develop a curriculum for the spiritual development of children and youth. However, early in the development process, it became very clear that producing a curriculum was a very small part of the solution, and that much of our effort should be placed in the training and equipping of the volunteers and facilitators whose responsibility it was to “train” our young – spiritually.

As an example, we estimate that at least 75% of Sunday School Teachers (across ACSA) receive less than 1 hour training per annum and a large number of these receive nothing at all. Sunday School Teachers might be gathering on occasion, but it is rarely for instructive training in children’s ministry practice. Also, a very large number of Sunday School Teachers do not have access to formal training courses and programmes.

A weekend training course on how to prepare lessons constitutes less than 20% of that a teacher or facilitator should be trained in. Project2013 has highlighted a number of key performance areas that are required and the training that should help the Teacher to become more proficient in all areas of children and youth ministry.

Most probably the most important aspect of children and youth ministry is that it does not have effective coordination and management (experienced and competent champions), and, the volunteers are generally left to their own devices.

It is into this ministry environment that we send our children to be spiritually “trained” expecting them to have a great foundation laid in their young lives that will stand them in good stead in later life.

PYC and the Development Team applauds those Dioceses who have made the effort to put supporting structures in place and who have embarked on strategic training planning, etc. Although, these are few and far between, the greater ACSA has very little, if anything in place that will guarantee any level of efficacy and growth. In fact, the children’s ministry (Sunday Schools) do not even have a Provincial voice, something we will be advocating for at Synod of Bishops as well as Provincial Synod.

Developingand teaching children and youth requires skills and competencies that can only be acquired through on-going and focussed training and equipping events (courses, programmes, seminars, etc.) and the framework for equipping volunteers and facilitators recommended by Project2013 follows roughly the following format:

  1. Assessment and Evaluation – the person’s entry into lay ministry in the area of children and youth. Passion and vocation is tested to ensure that the person has made the best ministry choices. (Too many volunteers land up in ministries for which they have little or no aptitude or calling for that particular ministry, and they need to be helped to move into areas where their (spiritual) gifting is more suited.).
  2. Skills Training – on-going training specific to the area of ministry. Training will focus on the following suggested areas:
  3. Personal development especially in the area of spirituality and good role modelling
  4. Lesson planning in accordance with an agreed curriculum.
  5. Models and methods of lesson presentation
  6. Curriculum planning and the use of existing programmes and resources
  7. The HOW to manage a class (or learning event) successfully
  8. HOW to involve parents (identified as critical to the whole process).
  9. Children’s ministry coordination and management
  10. And, a host of other dimensions that make up this ministry
  11. Formal qualifications – in children and youth ministry.
  12. Monitoring and Evaluation – ensuring good outcomes year on year.
  13. Mentoring and Coaching – ensuring each facilitator is being mentored and/or coached during their tenure.

In order to put a dynamic and effective children and youth ministry in place in any Diocese, we have to ensure that we have people in place who can make things happen for all the volunteers and facilitators/teachers. They, in turn, will drive the development of everybody who has the responsibility of ministering to children and youth and ensure that the outcomes that are expected, are, in fact, achieved.

To this end, we are proposing the establishment of the Anglican Youth Leadership Academy at a Provincial level whose primary task would be to help Dioceses to provide a great learning environment through trained trainers, facilitators and champions.

  1. STRATEGIC PURPOSE OF AYLA

AYLA is a Provincial organisation and it’sprimary purpose is to raise the competency levels of all our volunteers and facilitators who have direct and indirect responsibility of spiritually developing our children, youth and young adults. To this end it will focus on developing and training key Diocesan trainers and coordinators who in turn will equip our volunteers and facilitators (children workers, Sunday School Teachers, youth leaders, etc.) with the necessary skills and competencies, so that they can impact and serve the emerging generation of children, youth and young adults. The actual training will be coordinated by, and also performed by the Diocesan Coordinators/Trainers, and involving other experts (Clergy and laity) in the Diocese, as well as through training service providers like Growing the Church (GtC) and others.

AYLA will also, through it’s network of Diocesan Coordinators and Faculty identify and develop young talent not only for ministry and mission, but also as active Christian citizens in public and private sector.

  1. STRATEGIC VISION

To ensure that EVERY Baptised Anglican child, youth and young adult receives adequate opportunity to develop their God-given gifts and abilities and to see them put these into good use in God’s Kingdom.

To this end, to see over 10000 volunteers and facilitators in all the Parishes of ACSA trained and equipped with the necessary competencies to fulfil their roles and responsibilities with excellence.

  1. STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES

The broad objectives are as follows:

  1. Consultancy

Developing a vision and implementation plan for the children and youth ministry at Diocesan level requires specific considerations. Dioceses need to be helped to design a ministry that will work best within their context and AYLA should provide guidance in this regard.

  1. Curricula

Development of curricula frameworks for children, youth and young adults as well as for the training of facilitators and volunteers.

  1. Accredited courses

Identification of accredited courses and formal training programmes (through SAQA) for those who want to broaden or focus their skills, and, in addition, forging relationships with such institutions.

  1. Training
  • Primary focus is the training of Diocesan Coordinators who in turn will train all the children and youth ministry volunteers.
  • Training of all the faculty in order to ensure the highest quality of learning facilitation within pre-defined standards.
  • Forge relationships with training providers who will deliver specialised training (e.g. GtC for Rooted inJesus Junior, etc.).
  1. Research and Best Practice

The search for good materials and partnerships with other training providers should be on-going. AYLA will not necessarily be providing ALL of the necessary training, but will source appropriate resources as and when required.

  1. Policies and Standards
  • Of most importance is the implementation of the Child Protection Policy in each Parish.
  • Procedures and guidelines for effective administration of children and youth ministries.
  • Disciplinary procedures – code of conduct.
  1. Resources and Media
  • Establishment of a central database of all volunteers and facilitators. (The e-Learning system is being considered.)
  • On-line learning courses will be provided (also via the e-Learning system)
  • On-line mentoring an coaching will be provided by volunteer experts and counsellors (also via the e-Learning system)
  • Develop and maintain a very interactive web site and social media platform.
  • Develop an on-line resource repository
  1. Mentoring and Coaching

Developing a mentoring and coaching culture throughout the children and youth ministry through the implementation of various support persons (like the Child Champions).

  1. Hosting the annual Symposium for Diocesan Coordinators.
  2. Hosting an annual Seminar for talented young leaders
  1. ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE

A Provincial Academy Office consisting of the following people:

A Director – to manage the overall operation and to provide consultancy to the Dioceses.

A researcher and designer of curricula (including sourcing of programmes and materials)

A Master trainer to facilitate the training of Diocesan Coordinators

An Administrator

A media administrator (web and social media development)

A Provincial Board of Trustees who will:

Provide Vision and direction

Will set corporate goals

Will bring Influence

Will provide overall Governance

Will assist in raising Funding

Pool of Facilitators (Faculty)

The key to the success of the Academy is the development of a pool of Faculty who, through their own expertise and experiences, will provide training and facilitation on courses, seminars and workshops within their respective Dioceses and wider in ACSA.

A call will be made for clergy and laity who have experience to offer, to enrol in the faculty pool. Once enrolled, they will be required to attend a Faculty Development Seminar (3 to 4 days) where they will be given full orientation on our standards and learning objectives as well as to learn how to train and teach children, youth and young adults effectively.

Diocesan Coordinators

It will be required that each Diocese appoints a Diocesan Coordinator for Children Ministries and another for Youth Ministries. These, with other appointees, will form a Provincial Network of Facilitators which will be the main focus of the (Provincial) Academy. Their responsibility will be to ensure that all volunteers (down to Parish level) are trained and equipped (using available Facilitators and Faculty from the Faculty Pool).

  1. STRATEGIC INITIATIVES - 2016.

To present at Provincial Synod 2016 (already agreed at SoB Feb 2016) and formalise the founding of an Academy with a Board.

To formalise the recommendations of Project2013 and to initiate implementation in at least 2 Dioceses.

To host a Provincial Symposium for the Diocesan Coordinators to attend – June / July to orientate people about the outcomes of Project2013, the establishment of an Academy for training, and, to request involvement from Dioceses. If a Provincial Symposium cannot be hosted, then cluster events can be arranged.

To develop the on-line infrastructure (electronic database for volunteers, on-line resources, at least one on-line course, on-line mentoring).

To develop the Faculty Pool (database)

  1. KEY EVENTS

Academy Symposium (June / July 2016) or Cluster Events.

Leadership Training Seminar (September or December 2016) in conjunction with Growing the Church.

  1. BUDGET REQUIREMENTS

It is envisaged that the Academy will formally launch in September 2016 at or after Provincial Synod and that staff will be appointed from January 2017 depending on available funding.

For the period up to 31st December 2016, Tony Lawrence will drive the formalisation of the Academy and it’s Board. Funding will not be required for this as he is currently supported by the PYC Provincial Allocation Budget.

Tentatively, it is envisaged that there will be up to 4 staff members from 1st January 2017 requiring at least R1m per annum to cover salaries. A further office expense budget of R250000.00 will be required per annum to cover the cost of administration, office and travel costs including a subsidy for the Annual Academy Symposium (or Seminar) for Diocesan Coordinators.

It is recommended that a review is done after 3 years to determine the impact the Academy has had and whether it’s objectives should be changed in any way.

All financial suggestions are subject to review by the new Board once more accurate requirements have been established.

One of the key functions of the Board is to use their influence to raise investment and donations. It is also understood that the Academy will not receive a budget allocation from the Province unless agreed by Provincial Synod or PSC meeting.

  1. PROPOSED IMPLEMENTATION PLANS

Making representation at Synod of Bishops in February 2016.

Consider the formation of the Board

Consider the raising of finances.

Consider appointment of additional staff.

Implement services to the Diocesan Coordinators, viz. :

Provide strategic consultancy

Prepare Coordinators with frameworks and operational infrastructure

Host a Coordinators Symposium or Cluster Event

Set standards and policy issues

Develop curriculum for Diocesan Coordinator training

Develop training courses and programmes

Develop training infrastructure (especially electronic)

Establish in national database for volunteers

Design and implement online resources, materials, courses, mentoring, etc.

Continue online research

Develop general and broader services

Leadership training seminar (at least one for 2016)

Research (SAQA) accredited courses for formal study

Faculty development seminars (at least 3 clusters in 2016)

Specialised programs – research and publish

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