The NAECED conference ended yesterday afternoon, but I had decided to book another night at the hotel at my own expense so that I didn't have to rush out of the last workshop to catch my plane. I remember having to do that in San Antonio and it kind of defeats the purpose of why I'm here to begin with.
The last workshop I attended was "Tween Ministry" and it was presented by Stacy Holley who is the Christian Formation Minister for Children and Youth at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
I chose this one because Claire Hart and I had been talking about curriculum and what other churches do for their Middle School kids. Tweens are generally 4, 5, 6 graders, and we struggle at Grace with how to divide up the grades around that age. We used to be K-2 in one classroom, 3-5 in another, 6-8 in JYG and 9-12 in SYG. But our population of kids K-5 is small right now, so I made the decision to merge K-4 into one classroom and move the 5th graders up to JYG. It is a challenge to bridge that gap of maturity. For the 5th graders to be downstairs with K would be hard for them to get what they need out of Church School. To move them upstairs to JYG, they are dealing with Middle School kids and Middle School issues.
What I found in this workshop is that Tweens are a unique age group that really and truly do bridge that gap between wanting to be children and play, but also anticipating being a teenager. There were some wonderful ideas of play/learning for this age group, and also some discussion points that I think are worth passing along to Claire to bring up in JYG.
Stacy's church runs a very comprehensive faith and sexuality workshop for tweens called, "He, She, We and God" which has had great success at her church. It is a weekend workshop that gives parents and children a chance to learn together, practice communication skills, laugh, have fun and worship together while celebrating the connection between faith and sexuality. I'm wondering if something like this would work at Grace. Stacy goes all over the country facilitating these workshops...because as you can imagine...it is discussion topic that needs to be presented by someone trained to do so.
My overall feeling of this conference? This is my third conference, and I would say, that although it has not been my favorite one...I have learned a lot. There were so many workshops I wished I could have gone to, but unfortunately you have to choose only one per time slot and you never know what you are going to get until you get in there. As I said in a previous post--Episcopalians like to think a lot. And then they like to talk about what they are thinking a lot. And I needed more practical ideas in some of these workshops. But each workshop did teach me something I did not know, or think about, before, so in that sense it was wonderful.
I belong to an email listserv for NAECED (now called Forma) and making the connections to people I talk to regularly is always great. The listserv is always a great place for resource and support. When I filled out my survey yesterday about the conference I stated my concerns that Forma, with all its partnering with places like the Episcopal Camp and Conference Centers and Youth Ministry centers and now ordained clergy joining...that the "little" people like me--the volunteer Christian Education Director, Youth Group Director and teacher--are not forgotten. That is why NAECED was formed.
Forma's tagline, is "Partnering to Inspire Christian Formation." The word is not an acronym like NAECED. It derives from the Latin word "formare," meaning to "form or to shape." Forma's philosophy is that we are now an association of individuals with various ministries, committed to the ministry of Christian Formation, each bringing our own unique gifts and knowledge.
Many small parishes wish to send their volunteer leaders to this conference, but don't have the budget to do so. I feel very fortunate that Grace Church pays my conference fees and hotel out of my Christian Ed budget. I am happy to donate my own money for the airfare and expenses because I see what a difference it makes to be here and learn from others.
Next year the conference will be held in Albuquerque, NM. We will see where we are in my budget if I can once again attend, but I hope to be able to.
By the way...Mardi Gras is beginning here and I so wanted to bring back some King Cake for everyone. But I can't fit it in my suitcase, unfortunately! After the conference ended, I did take a walk down Decataur Street for the world famous beignets at Cafe Dumonde. I couldn't leave here without trying one. Delicious!
The last workshop I attended was "Tween Ministry" and it was presented by Stacy Holley who is the Christian Formation Minister for Children and Youth at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
I chose this one because Claire Hart and I had been talking about curriculum and what other churches do for their Middle School kids. Tweens are generally 4, 5, 6 graders, and we struggle at Grace with how to divide up the grades around that age. We used to be K-2 in one classroom, 3-5 in another, 6-8 in JYG and 9-12 in SYG. But our population of kids K-5 is small right now, so I made the decision to merge K-4 into one classroom and move the 5th graders up to JYG. It is a challenge to bridge that gap of maturity. For the 5th graders to be downstairs with K would be hard for them to get what they need out of Church School. To move them upstairs to JYG, they are dealing with Middle School kids and Middle School issues.
What I found in this workshop is that Tweens are a unique age group that really and truly do bridge that gap between wanting to be children and play, but also anticipating being a teenager. There were some wonderful ideas of play/learning for this age group, and also some discussion points that I think are worth passing along to Claire to bring up in JYG.
Stacy's church runs a very comprehensive faith and sexuality workshop for tweens called, "He, She, We and God" which has had great success at her church. It is a weekend workshop that gives parents and children a chance to learn together, practice communication skills, laugh, have fun and worship together while celebrating the connection between faith and sexuality. I'm wondering if something like this would work at Grace. Stacy goes all over the country facilitating these workshops...because as you can imagine...it is discussion topic that needs to be presented by someone trained to do so.
My overall feeling of this conference? This is my third conference, and I would say, that although it has not been my favorite one...I have learned a lot. There were so many workshops I wished I could have gone to, but unfortunately you have to choose only one per time slot and you never know what you are going to get until you get in there. As I said in a previous post--Episcopalians like to think a lot. And then they like to talk about what they are thinking a lot. And I needed more practical ideas in some of these workshops. But each workshop did teach me something I did not know, or think about, before, so in that sense it was wonderful.
I belong to an email listserv for NAECED (now called Forma) and making the connections to people I talk to regularly is always great. The listserv is always a great place for resource and support. When I filled out my survey yesterday about the conference I stated my concerns that Forma, with all its partnering with places like the Episcopal Camp and Conference Centers and Youth Ministry centers and now ordained clergy joining...that the "little" people like me--the volunteer Christian Education Director, Youth Group Director and teacher--are not forgotten. That is why NAECED was formed.
Forma's tagline, is "Partnering to Inspire Christian Formation." The word is not an acronym like NAECED. It derives from the Latin word "formare," meaning to "form or to shape." Forma's philosophy is that we are now an association of individuals with various ministries, committed to the ministry of Christian Formation, each bringing our own unique gifts and knowledge.
Many small parishes wish to send their volunteer leaders to this conference, but don't have the budget to do so. I feel very fortunate that Grace Church pays my conference fees and hotel out of my Christian Ed budget. I am happy to donate my own money for the airfare and expenses because I see what a difference it makes to be here and learn from others.
Next year the conference will be held in Albuquerque, NM. We will see where we are in my budget if I can once again attend, but I hope to be able to.
By the way...Mardi Gras is beginning here and I so wanted to bring back some King Cake for everyone. But I can't fit it in my suitcase, unfortunately! After the conference ended, I did take a walk down Decataur Street for the world famous beignets at Cafe Dumonde. I couldn't leave here without trying one. Delicious!
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