| Statment from Bill Sinkford about Consultation on Youth Ministry |
Friday, March 25 2005 @ 01:16 PM PST
Contributed by: Jimmy C
Views: 1754
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 From UUA President Bill Sinkford and Youth Trustee Megan Dowdell:
March 18, 2005
Dear Friends,
The UUA Board directed that a consultation on our ministry to and with youth be convened. We (Bill Sinkford, UUA President and Megan Dowdell, youth trustee at large) were asked to serve as co-conveners.
The first step of that process occurred February 25th and 26th in Essex, Massachusetts. We gathered thirty youth and adults from across the Association to outline a process that would help Unitarian Universalism redefine and recommit to youth ministry. Participants included youth members of the YRUU leadership, youth who do not take part in YRUU activities, parents, youth advisors, ministers, religious educators, and UUA Administration, Staff and Board Members. A complete list of the participant and their roles are attached to this letter.
Working intensively over two days with an outside facilitator, the group identified five priorities to be addressed. These are:
* Youth Ministry needs to be served at a more robust, flexible, diverse level than YRUU currently offers.
* Denominational youth work needs to serve local congregations and their youth ministry.
* YRUU and UUA administration need to define an authority structure that respects the rightful role of institutional youth and adult leadership at the same time that it supports the growth and empowerment of all UU youth.
* Anti-racism and anti-oppression work is an important part of youth ministry, although there is not only one way of doing it, and the "right" way depends on individual identities. We need to move this
work ahead.
* There needs to be more and better communication among continental, district, and local levels, and within congregations.
Together, the group generated preliminary ideas for how these five issues should be addressed and who should be involved in addressing them. A smaller group was charged to synthesize the ideas into one coherent plan. This subcommittee will meet in late April to create a draft plan. Key stakeholder groups will then have the opportunity to respond to the proposal before it is finalized. The goal is to have a viable process finalized by August of 2005. It is expected that implementing the process will take one to two years to complete.
Information about each stage of the process will be shared as the work moves forward.
In Faith,
Rev. William Sinkford and Megan Dowdell
CONSULTATION PARTICIPANT LIST
Youth Participants:
Jova Vargas - YRUU Steering Committee
Lehna Huie - YRUU Steering Committee
Sean Fletcher - YRUU Youth Council Member
Sean Jones - YRUU Youth Council Member
Al Jensen - YRUU Youth Council Member
Sara Eskrich - Non-YRUU Youth
Dana Dwinell - Non-YRUU Youth
Jessica Potts-Mee - Non-YRUU Youth
Kelsey Pitcairn - Non-YRUU Youth
Michael Salandrea - Non-YRUU Youth
Julian Sharp - Youth Observer to the Board
Brian Kuzma - YRUU Program Specialist
Beth Dana - Incoming Youth Ministry Associate
Megan Dowdell - Youth Trustee to the Board / Co-Convener
Adult Participants:
Paul Richter - UUA Board Member
Rev. Makanah Morriss - LREDA and UUMA Representative
Mandy Keithan - LREDA Representative
Janice Marie Johnson - DRUUMM Representative
Emily Mitchell - Parent
James Buckner - Parent
Phillip Pike - Canadian Youth Advisor
Frank Filz - Non-YRUU Youth Advisor
Rick Roehlk - Adult YRUU Steering Committee Member
Dori Davenport - UUA District Staff
Judith Frediani - Director of Lifespan Faith Development
Jesse Jaeger - Youth Programs Director
William Sinkford - UUA President / Co-Convener
Facilitator:
UT Saunders - Independent Consultant
Logistics:
Ethan Field - Youth Office Assistant
_______________________________________________
Yruu-l mailing list
Yruu-l@lists.uua.org
http://lists.uua.org/mailman/listinfo/yruu-l
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| Authored by: BartFrost On Saturday, March 26 2005 @ 11:55 PM PST |
| Hey, thanks for posting this. Maybe you could edit it, and correct Jova's last name. It's Vargas...not Vargus...Thanks. [ Reply to This ]
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| Authored by: HaggisInDaEvenin On Monday, March 28 2005 @ 08:41 AM PST |
I'm glad I'm seeing this. While I generally highly distrust the YRUU Steering Committee, and am skeptical that the Youth Council has any real ability to affect change, There are other names in that list that are people I have a high amount of respect for and beleif in.
Change will happen, and will be an improvment. It'll be rough, it will cause pain, and that's alright. I've never found a painless transition to have solid grounding afterwards.
~Donald
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~Donald Wilson
http://www.donaldwilson.info http://www.uuhosting.net
~~Follow the heron home~~[ Reply to This ]
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| Authored by: Jimmy C On Monday, April 11 2005 @ 08:40 AM PDT |
Unfortunately, Common Ground III, referred to most recently as the Consultation on Youth Ministry effort led by Bill Sinkford was even more undemocratic than Common Ground I and II back in the early 80s, with only a handful of conference youth in attendence while 14 adults attended. About 10 youth who were UUA staff or board members or non YRUU youth were in attendance.
This is considered fair only if you want to turn the tables on conference youth without giving them a voice in the process. This is ironic because the youth supported Sinkford in his election bid because he was seen as someone who would help put and end to UUA oppression against our conference youth.
Youth Council 2004 failed to support Bill Sinkford on his Consultation on Youth Ministry effort even though they knew he would go ahead with it anyway. The main problem I have with Bill Sinkford's vision is that he is trying to make all UU youth programs the same, but UU youth cons could coexist with new efforts to revamp local youth programs.
Anti-racism programming is being stuffed down the throats of many UU youth who think it is poorly worded, despite many UU youth and young adults who support the effort. Because the UU youth don't like being called "racist oppressors" who need to feel their white guilt. But,
the UU Youth Office (made up of former conference youth) has decided that their ambivalence towards these off-color AR programs is a good reason not to support Con Con anymore and say they want to use their time for MORE anti-racism efforts.
This whole abandonment of the conference youth by former conference youth is a travesty. No matter what you call it.
If someone jumped off a cliff, would you too?
Well, Con Con is at the bottom of the cliff, all busted up.
What is next? Stay tuned for more action from the Consultation on Youth Ministry efforts.
Jim Sechrest
I'm 44
not a youth anymore
When my mom was my age
I was a college sophmore
I was in LRY
before they made it die
I became an advisor
so YRUU could fly
C*UUYAN was great
'cept for the food we ate
We had cool worships
along with debate
Now I'm old
Or so I'm told
I might be crazy
or just too bold
But the UUA
is on the way
to H. E. L. L.
I have to say
From what is this stemming?
Stop hawing and hemming
I've seen better leaders
When I studied the lemming.
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To be able think for yourself, independently of what others think... that is the greatest of all gifts.[ Reply to This ]
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