PYWA Small Group Grant Winner

Last November, PYWA awarded four Small Group Grants of $150 to Youth Workers across the country, in the hopes that these modest amounts of money would help encourage the creation of Youth Worker Small Groups. PYWA firmly believes that the community created when we gather as Youth Workers is an essential ingredient in sustaining Youth Workers - mentally, spiritually, and emotionally.

Here is how one of our Grant Winners used her funds:

Shannon Guse, Director of Christian Education for Youth, Faith Presbyterian Church, Tallahassee, FL

Shannon used the Grant money to purchase two documentaries -- Sexy Baby (A Documentary about Sexiness and the Cyberage) and The Line (about the Poverty Line) - and food for her group during the viewings. She gathered a group of area Youth Workers (staff and volunteer) to view the films and discuss how they might use them with parents and youth. Their goal was to create a lesson plan or discussion outline to help people connect the issues of poverty and sex to living their own lives of faith.

In Shannon's words:

"In March, a group of 15 volunteer youth leaders and 4 staff gathered from three different PC (USA) churches to share a meal together and to view and discuss the documentary, Sexy Baby. Our goal was to try to determine how this film could be used in our congregations. Could it be used with youth to discuss issues of sexuality? Should parents of youth watch this film as a discussion starter about rules regarding social media and/or other parenting issues?

Each participant in the group was asked to write down questions and comments about the film as we watched Sexy Baby. They were asked to keep in mind who should view this, if any parts were inappropriate for youth, college students, parents, etc., and how this film could be used to facilitate discussions about sexuality.

One of the participating churches is holding a middle school girls' lock in where they plan to address the issues surrounding social media and how what we post is a glimpse of who we are. Discussions will focus, and hopefully refocus, the young women to rethink what they post so they portray themselves as children of God. Clips will not be used from Sexy Baby, but much of the lesson plan stems from discussion that arose from the movie.

We have purchased a high school version of this documentary, and we plan to meet again to watch it and continue discussion on how it might be used.

In January the documentary, The Line, produced by Sojourners, was purchased. The first segment of this film was viewed by one of the high school youth groups and discussed as a study was begun on food insecurity and poverty among working people in the United States. The youth group had a lively discussion and from that discussion of the film, they invited a local organization to come do a presentation about hunger in our city. This sparked an initiative to invite other local PC (USA) churches to join an effort to raise funds for a summer mobile feeding program for children on free lunch who are not near a feeding site."

The 850-Reel-Responding Group, as they call themselves, plans to meet to view this film together in the fall and plan how it will be used as a follow up to the joint-project for the summer mobile feeding program. If you are interested in finding out more about the group and its conclusions, email Shannon at guses@faithpcusa.org.

PYWA will continue to pray for this group and hopes that through its gatherings, each participant will be blessed by the camaraderie, the sharing, and the support given to one another!

Are there Youth Workers in your area who would benefit from being together? Consider how you might organize something. It could be as simple as meeting at the local coffee shop one morning to enjoy a few minutes together!

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