As a part of the final for the Youth Ministry Seminary and Certification Course final project, students muct create and execute a youth session. This could be a retreat, church school class, discussion group, service project, trip, etc.
The OYM will begin publishing these final projects as resources for our use by our parish youth ministry teams.
A Servant's Heart - Lenten Retreat
This retreat was created by Karen Gavrilovic of St. Nicholas UOC in Charlottesville, VA. This is designed as a half-day retreat with the following praxis learning objective:
- To give youth a way of thinking about how they may serve others
- To understand that even one person can make a difference in the life of another
- To look for opportunities to serve those God puts in our path.
Focus: When we serve others, we model Christ’s teaching.
Caring for God's Creation (Bees, Sunflowers & Me)This retreat was created by Db. Marta Shmyhelska of St. Sophia UOCC in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. This is designed as a five session workshop with the following praxis learning objective:
- Youth will develop an understanding that we, as caretakers of God’s creation, can always discover ways of improving the ecology in our world(be it picking garbage in the streets, saving a lost baby bunny or planting something to improve pollinators’ habitats around us, choosing to eat local food, choosing to grow own food, if possible, etc.).
- As Orthodox Christians, it is our responsibility to care for God's creation and that care is intrinsically tied to our daily faith.
- Youth should actively (not necessarily loudly) take care of the planet and that our Orthodox church fully supports this attitude and encourages us in being “priests of creation”.
Focus: Caring for creation, we model Christ’s teaching.
- Overview: Everything around us is God’s creation. All His resources are at our disposal but we need to be good caretakers of God’s creation and what He has entrusted to us.
- Plan: Plant sunflowers to attract pollinators and do other related activities to explore the topic. During the process youth will begin a deeper understanding of their connection to the world around them as seen through the eye of the church.
