2004 Annual Report of Youth Outreach

Youth Outreach continued its mission of making the Armenian Church significant in the lives of youth and young adults, and teaching young faithful a way of life centered on Christ.  Based on the Diocesan theme, “Stewardship: Time, Talent, and Treasure,” programming concentrated on helping diocesan youth and young adults discover, develop, and use their God-given gifts to fulfill Christ’s mission in the greater church and in their own communities.

Youth Outreach continued its service and ministry to the youth, young adults, and families of the Diocese by: organizing youth and young adult leadership training, conferences, and retreats on the parish, regional, and national levels; working with the ACYOA Central Council; speaking to adult groups; providing resources for use by pastors and local youth workers; implementing camp guidelines; providing curriculum and overseeing administration of camps; participating on youth-related committees; and participating in fellowship opportunities with youth, young adults, and families.

Specific areas of service and ministry included:

Work with ACYOA:ACYOA is the vehicle through which Youth Outreach implements and fulfills its ministry, through the following means.

· ACYOA Juniors: New England Regional Retreat, Contoocook, NH (Apr.); Sports Weekends (May and Oct.) held in Watertown, MA and Providence, RI, offered religiously based programs at Watertown event.  Currently there are over 30 ACYOA Junior groups in the diocese, although nearly every parish has a group of youth ages 12-17 that gather regularly for church-sponsored activities.

· ACYOA Seniors: In addition to the ACYOA Executive Secretary, who works solely with the ACYOA Central Council, the coordinator worked with the ACYOA as advisor for: National Young Adult Leadership Conference (Mar.) in Stony Point, NY; General Assembly and Sports Weekend in Dallas, TX (May); Archbishop’s Tournament in Cambridge, MA (Oct.); ACYOA Regional Conferences in Southfield, MI (Oct.) and Livingston, NJ (Nov.).  Currently there are 14 ACYOA Senior chapters in the Diocese.  (NB: A report of the ACYOA Central Council appears separately.)

Diocesan Camp Programs: In Jan. 2004, the Diocese purchased the Balsam Shade property in Greenville, NY.  In anticipation of using the new Diocesan “Ararat Center” facility for the 2004 camp season, the Youth Outreach coordinator’s efforts from Jan. through Jun. centered on preparing the facility and St. Vartan Camp program to meet New York State camping regulations, which included preparing a detailed 250-page, state-mandated, written plan and camp manual; updating the camp program and curriculum; and preparing staff and program for the new facility in light of the stricter NYS camp regulatory system.  This preparation included visits with the upstate New York Department of Public Health and state camp inspectors; participation in the American Camping Association’s training conferences; development of staff training programs; and updated camp curriculum and programming.

Youth Worker Training: In light of the intense nature of the above-mentioned camp preparations, youth worker training, the focus of Youth Outreach in 2003 and an essential part of our Diocese’s youth ministry program, had to be suspended in 2004.  With the understanding that youth worker training is vital to the spiritual growth of our youth, Youth Outreach will focus in 2005 on recruiting and training youth workers, in the hopes of establishing trained youth workers in every parish, and offering yearly training conferences in every region by the end of 2007.  Currently, the Diocese has identified 20 youth advisors working with our youth and young adults.  Only six of these are part-time, paid positions; all others are volunteers, mostly dedicated parents who coordinate the activities of parish youth, with little or no formal youth worker training.

College Ministry: The college ministry facilitator focused on identifying college age students throughout the Diocese, helping to establish connections between college students and the church.  These connections are being established on the Diocesan and parish levels through e-mail, web, and personal outreach.  We hope that by ministering during these years, college students will retain a sense of belonging to the Armenian Church and to their parishes.  The ultimate goal of this ministry is to increase the likelihood that these young people will remain active members of the Armenian Church, with an interim goal of reaching out to all Armenian college students.  (NB: A report of the College Ministry facilitator appears separately.)

Ecumenical Involvement: As a delegate to the National Council of Churches (NCC) the Youth Outreach coordinator was part of the Young Adult Pre-Event Planning Team, and a presenter and attendee of the NCC General Assembly in St. Louis, MO (Nov.).  The coordinator also serves as a member of the NCC’s Education and Leadership Ministries Young Adult Ministry Team and Nominations Standing Committee.

Personnel: Youth Outreach staff for 2004 included: Yn. Arpi Kouzouian—coordinator; Nancy Basmajian—ACYOA executive secretary; Jason Demerjian—college ministry facilitator.