For the Lord is good and His love endures forever; His faithfulness continues through all generations.
Psalm 100:5
It begins with you. Asset building in congregations doesn’t start with a major program or a new youth initiative. It begins with personal commitment. It begins with individuals who pledge to do what they can to ensure that young people have as many asset-building opportunities as possible. And when these individuals choose to work together in asset building, amazing things can happen.
As you read through the material in this section, ask yourself what you, personally, can do to help young people experience more assets. Maybe you’ll start by learning more of the names of the kids in your church and neighborhood, and taking time to say hi when you see them. Maybe you’ll spend more time with the children and youth involved in the current ministry initiatives of your congregation. Maybe you’ll ask a young person to work with you in planning a serving project. Maybe you’ll become a mentor for a young person. Maybe you’ll include more stories from youth initiatives in your next newsletter, written or spoken message. Maybe you’ll speak up more often for the needs of young people at community meetings. Maybe you’ll pray more for our young people.
The most effective starting point in this work is to learn what the 40 Developmental Assets are and identify something that you can and will do to build more assets in children and youth, regardless of what others in congregations may choose to do along the way. The experience of Search Institute is that a grassroots approach to asset building has the greatest potential for bringing lasting change in a community. The most important work lies in identifying, linking, and unleashing adults and youth to shape a vision, building on the efforts already underway and tapping the creativity, experience, and passion that these advocates bring.
Five Steps for Getting Started
As you learn more about the asset framework, begin to involve others in your congregation in the work of shaping stronger support for young people. These steps may be helpful guides for your asset-building work. Resources to help you get started, are included in this Toolkit.
Step 1: Articulate the benefits you see for congregations
- Review all the information in this tool kit to identify the themes, strategies, benefits, and ideas that really resonate with the strengths, priorities, and challenges for congregations;
- Ask yourself: As you’ve begun learning about asset building, how do you see it helping your congregation? What need does it meet? Why are you passionate about it?
- How can you imagine asset building both reinforcing and strengthening your congregation’s work with children, youth, and families?
- Reflect on the times you’ve already seen asset building happen in your own life, in your church, in your community. Be ready to tell those stories.
- The point here is not to come up with a detailed plan, but to articulate why you are passionate about asset building and its benefits for your congregation. Building plans that everyone shares will come later.
- Consider implementing a strategy for teaching the language of Developmental Assets to your entire congregation. One successful model for this has been developed by members of Amazing Grace Lutheran Church in Anchorage, Alaska. Homilies lasting 3-5 minutes were presented during 50 Sunday worship services during one year. Youth were active and visible in presentations. Explore the homilies and their related PowerPoint slides: Alaskan Homilies to Help Kids Succeed and check out the Alaska ICE website at www.alaskaice.org.
Step 2: Share information about asset building–create a buzz.
- Learn all you can about the asset framework.
- Seek out individuals who currently are building positive relationships with young people in their families, church, or community, and are likely to be excited about the asset framework. Share the information in this tool kit with them. Presentations to groups about the asset framework can reach large numbers of people, but sharing one-to-one may be a better place to begin. It gives you a chance to discuss the material and shape key messages in conversation with others before you get in front of a group.
- Gather a group of interested board members, youth initiative leaders, and volunteers from your church to shape a vision for asset building. Find those who might be influential in informal ways as well as those in leadership positions. Remember to include young people in this group of early planners.
Step 3: Listen and learn.
- Identify current activities and relationships in your congregation that support asset building. Referring to Handout 11: Qualities of Asset-Building Churches and Handout 13: Asset-Building Checklist for Youth Initiatives may help you generate this list.
- Once you have identified the asset building that is already taking place, lift up positive examples and stories for board members and network churches in newsletters and presentations. Celebrate the many good things being done for and with youth and children.
- Identify factors that may impede asset building in the ministry of your congregation. Determine those things that can be changed.
- Dream. What will be different in your congregation and your community in three years if asset building becomes more intentional today? What would you see happening? Identify concrete goals and a few beginning action steps.
Step 4: Shape your asset-building messages.
- The abundance of information and research about the 40 Developmental Assets can be overwhelming. As you begin, choose three key messages about the assets that you think are most important, based on pressing issues and priorities in your network and community. You can add more detail about the framework as the work grows.
- Plan to share these three key messages with your congregation. Keep in mind that in communication, as well as in asset building, repetition is crucial. One rule of thumb suggests that people need to receive a message at least five times in at least three different ways in order to remember it!
- Consider the value of one-to-one communication, printed information, and presentations. Plan how youth can be involved as teachers for their peers and for adults.
- Tailor the presentation outline included in this section for use in your setting.
- Make a commitment to include information about the 40 Developmental Assets and tips for building assets in each newsletter.
Step 5: Create awareness; foster energy and commitment.
- Offer many ideas and opportunities for asset building so that all adults and youth can begin to be involved. Include some that are easy (smiling and saying thank you to the young person who works at the grocery store) and some that are more demanding (being a mentor to a middle school student).
- Work with all leaders of your congregation’s youth-related initiatives—such as intergenerational service projects, early childhood and after school programs, vacation Bible school—to explore ways that assets may be built more intentionally through these existing ministries.
- As you plan a new initiative or program with children, youth, or families, consider how your activities can be more intentional in building assets.
- Encourage pastors and other church and community leaders to be visible and vocal asset builders.
- Invite volunteers to make a public commitment to being asset builders through their congregational activities. Acknowledge these asset builders in some way, such as with lapel pins or t-shirts.
- Investigate if and how others in your community are working with the 40 Developmental Assets. Consider how your congregation might connect with their efforts.
