Young people and adults in the Episcopal Church have worked together to identify the elements that characterize relational youth ministry in our denomination. They describe our style of youth ministry. The characteristics of relational youth ministry in the Episcopal Church are:
1. Youth are members of the Body of Christ with particular gifts; they are part of the Church today and tomorrow.
2. A major purpose of youth ministry is to help youth share their gifts and participate fully in the Church, beginning at the local level.
3. Diversity of persons, culture, ideas, and theology within the Church and within youth ministry is good and to be affirmed; no one pattern of ministry ought to be mandated.
4. Small gatherings of young people within a congregation, essentially Christian peer groups, are an appropriate part of youth ministry and support youth participation in worship, study and service.
5. As an inherent part of congregational ministry, youth programs are not expected to carry the Gospel alone.
6. Because there is a sacramental focus in the Episcopal Church, the written word is not to be regarded as the sole channel of grace nor is Bible study the chief activity of Christian youth.
7. There is an openness to other sources of revelation, and the continuing action of the Holy Spirit; questioning and struggle in life and faith are affirmed; dogmatism
and "canned answers" are distrusted.
8. Interpersonal relationships are a channel of grace and an important context within which faith is shared, transmitted, discovered, and tested.
9. Full growth (intellectual, physical, psychosocial, moral, spiritual) of the individual in community is an appropriate goal of youth ministry.
10. It is desirable for youth to assume responsibility for their own lives and to enter into mutual relationships with adults insofar as their gifts and situation in life will permit.
11. The Incarnation is a sign that all of life is appropriately taken seriously, discussed, and celebrated by a Christian; there is not a sharp distinction between sacred and secular.1
Working within context of relational youth ministry assumes that "Ministry is not defined by age; young people are called to the same ministry as all other members of the Body of Christ," 2 and is rooted in the definition of lay ministry found in the Catechism.3
A few years after the first publication of the characteristics of relational youth ministry in the Episcopal Church, a group of representative young people and adults developed what became known as the "Basic Principles of Relational Ministry."4 The principles of relational ministry have witnessed a subtle shift in the focus of youth ministry over the past two decades from a program oriented ministry to a ministry rooted in relationships. The emphasis has been shifting in many places from a ministry "to and for" young people toward a ministry "with and by" young people as well. This relational approach to youth ministry is rooted in the Incarnation. It comes from the perspective of our identity in Christ: that is, who we are and whose we are as children of God and members of the Body of Christ. It recognizes the possibilities and limits of what it means to be human, created in the image of God. It pays attention to the related issues and concerns of identity, such as meaning, alienation, brokenness, reconciliation, sexuality, values, decision making, failure, accomplishment, development and faith.
Such a youth ministry recognizes the common mission and ministry of all baptized persons, regardless of age. This means that "program" grows out of our encounter with that mission and ministry and is therefore determined by the lives who are the focus of youth ministry---young people---where they "live and move and have their being." It is in the midst of our living and relating to one another that we come to face what it means to share and participate in the mission and ministry of the baptized. Christian formation is seen as growing out of "intentional relational experiences."
Relational ministry is by its very nature ongoing. It is not something that can be turned on or off or programmed in a predictable way. It is by definition dynamic, in process, a living out of human relationships in the context of a faith and belief in a compassionate, loving God.
What follows are four basic theological principles of relational youth ministry. While they focus on youth ministries, these principles are broadly applicable to all areas of ministry.
1. From Let's Put Young People in their Place, prepared by Robert Gribbon, Nancy J. Van Scoyoc, Dale Evans, Bobbie Bevill, et al. (The Episcopal Church Center, 1984), pp. 44-46. The text of the assumptions is slightly updated in this article.
2. Let's Put Young People in their Place, p. 47.
3. See The Book of Common Prayer, p. 47.
4. "The Principles of Relational Ministry" were developed through the Diocese of Connecticut in consultation with the Youth Ministries Office at the Episcopal Church Center. These principles became part of the Youth Ministries Leadership Academy (YMLA). Finished texts for the principles and prologue, portions of which are used in this article, were developed by the Rev. Thomas C. Ely, coordinator of the YMLA program and former director of youth ministries for the Diocese of Connecticut.
© 1996 The Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society PECUSAThis article is from Handbook for Ministries with Older Adolescents, a publication of the Ministries with Young People Cluster
of the Episcopal Church Center, New York, NY. Permission is granted for congregational use and use by diocesan youth coordinators. You may order this resource from Episcopal Parish Services.
