Delegating social media January 13, 2011

The other day I was talking with a new friend of mine. Facebook had come up in conversation and she was surprised when she learned that her church had a Facebook page. As is true for many of our churches, a page was set up, updates were made and then it has sat for months.

In our conversation this young woman said, well I could do the updates, a couple times a week of what’s going on, that would be easy for me. I encouraged her to go to the person who is in charge and offer her services.

I share this story because a Facebook page can be a great way to push information to your congregation. A reminder of weekday activities and a call ‘home’ for a Sunday series. Many young adults use social media, often Facebook, over email or going to a website. They also have busy lives, and seeing a reminder for an upcoming event in their Facebook feed might be just what they need to show up.

The good news is that the task of doing these simple updates doesn’t have to rest on the overworked shoulders of the person doing ‘everything.’ A trusted caring congregant like the one I described above might be sitting there in your sanctuary ready and able to step up to the plate. I suggest making an agreement about what their duties include and don’t include and let them at it.

You don’t have anything to lose, and there is so much to gain.

Love and Blessings,

Rachel

P.S. twittering would be good too, but that’s a story for another day.

starting a group from 1 January 3, 2011

Ba dop. A facebook message. Hey Rachel, ‘how I can be involved if I don’t have anyone here?’ Anna recently graduated from YOU and wants to be part of an NGU group, but she comes from a Unity community where it is a NGU group of one. Often folks like Anna give up after a while on a spiritual community in her age demographic and by the time another young person comes along they are the only one and the cycle is repeated. I’ve gotten to know Anna over the last few years and know she is a passionate young woman who loves Unity and has a deep desire to take the powerful community experience of YOU to the next stage of her life.

But it’s no small task to find like-minded young people and get them to come to church. Hence Anna’s question. So instead of trying to do the above, here are some suggestions I gave her and I pass on to you:

Start a group at your church or college that is aimed at spiritual community not just at young people so there is greater potential for people to attend. A couple ideas:

• An evening or pre-class sacred experience at the church. This can include discussion, meditation, movement, etc. It is young adult friendly, but people of all ages can enjoy it. (for an example of an alternative service:  http://unity.org/association/adults/nextGenerationMinistry/pdf/SacredCircle.pdf)
• Create a meditation circle, spiritual book discussion group, or drum circle at your college. Maybe this group meets for a meal and community time after.

The first idea invites members of the current Unity community to a new sacred experience. The second invites young adults who are on a similar spiritual path to come together.

There are many ways to create community if you look outside the box you expect it to be in. Good Luck Anna.

Happy new year to all. May it be a year of countless blessings.

Holiday opprotunities December 23, 2010

Christmas is literally right around the corner. This is a time when new folks and people we might have not seen in a while show up at church. It is also when young adults often are visiting home. What can we do to reach out and help them feel like this community, their church community is ‘home’?

Maybe it’s giving a Daily Word subscription to the young people in your congregations that have moved on to college, the workforce or are in the service. Maybe it’s inviting members of your community to be prayer partners with these folks. Maybe it’s creating a bulletin board where updates and prayer requests can be posted.

Yes I know Christmas is in 2 days, a little to close to implement these ideas NOW. I post these here to stoke your imaginations and invite you into co-creating a year where every person in our community feels welcomed and loved.

Wishing you peace, love and joy for the holiday season and always.

Rachel

Asking questions October 11, 2010

Frequently I am asked “Rachel what do I do for young adults in my church?”, “why don’t they come?” or a long list of similar questions. The answer of course is that there isn’t a simple answer to this. Just as each of our spiritual communities have a different flavor and personality, what is going to ‘work’ for the young adults varies from community to community.

At the 2010 Unity People’s Convention I was honored to co-present a workshop (twice) with Ogun Holder titled ‘Intergenerational Ministry the Top Ten’. One of our main points was that finding what works takes time and persistence.

Over the next few months as I share what Ogun and I presented and new things I discover, I hope you share too. What is working, what you have questions about, what definitely didn’t work.

Hopefully together we can start answering these questions and co-creating a world that works for all.

With Joy,

Rachel

The beginning September 27, 2010

This is the beginning of a blog that I hope will be a center of ideas and dialogue. The intention of starting this blog is to have a venue to share interesting information I discover that is related to Next Generation Unity (NGU) and young adult ministry and for you to share what is working for you.

Why young adults? Look around. Many church members and leaders I talk with agree that they are missing from their communities. This is not just a Unity phenomenon, this ‘gap’ is happening in many faith communities. According to some census data I dug up in the US those who are currently 20-34 years of age are about 20% of the population. Twenty percent! I doubt anyone reading this has that kind of numbers in their spiritual community (and if you do, please, let’s talk).

I firmly believe that a multi-generational community is the best and only way to have a fully thriving ministry. Which is why I am  focused on this age group, to have balance in our communities they must be a place of belonging and growth for all ages.

We are going to discover and explore ideas for growing this population in our Unity community. Not every idea presented here will be the ‘right’ one for you, but I hope it will be helpful and thought-provoking.

Let the exploring begin!

Peace and Blessings,

Rachel

PS that census data was at http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/QTTable?_bm=y&-geo_id=01000US&-qr_name=DEC_2000_SF1_U_QTP1&-ds_name=DEC_2000_SF1_U