Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.
1 John 3:18
Congregations touch the lives of children, youth, and families in many positive ways. Whether it is through the youth programs, service projects, or intergenerational activities, you are involved already in the work of building assets in young people.
Once your congregation makes the commitment to intentional asset building, much of what you are already doing will remain the same. Ideally, focusing on the 40 Developmental Assets will bring a more systematic approach to your planning and assessment. Using the asset framework can help ensure that your ministry will effectively and consistently promote the goals of your congregation and the well-being of the young people and families you serve. In addition, you can serve as an effective and important clearinghouse of information about the importance of the 40 Developmental Assets for volunteers in your network, churches, and the families you serve.
In all youth initiatives, a focus on asset building will encourage movement toward an asset-building perspective.
| Moving from . . . | Moving toward . . . |
| a focus on the negative, the fears | a focus on the positive, the hopes |
| a focus on programs | a focus on relationships |
| a commitment to “our kids” | a commitment to “all kids” |
| considering youth as recipients of ministry | embracing youth as leaders and contributors |
| isolated and fragmented programs | cooperation and support among various youth initiatives and with others in the community |
| age segregation | integenerational relationships |
Links to Presentation Resources for Introducing Asset Building
There are a number of resources available for you to use as you meet with leaders, and as the asset-building strategy in your congregation, unfolds. Check out the following.
Introducing Asset Building to Congregation Leaders is an outline to help guide your presentations about the 40 Developmental Assets. As you prepare to give this presentation, keep in mind that asset building is a framework or lens, not a program such as Youth for Unity. It’s a challenge to offer a picture of exactly what an asset-building congregation looks like. Asset building will look slightly different in each community.
Free Download: More related supporting resources for reference or distribution.
Getting Started with Youth Initiative Leaders
A first important step to take is make sure that leaders for each congregational youth-related ministry know about the asset framework and are encouraged to be asset builders in their daily lives. Plan to gather leaders of all your youth initiatives and share the presentation in Section 2 of this tool kit with them. Encourage these leaders to plan a time for sharing this presentation with volunteers working with them.
As leaders begin to plan for the specific activities of their youth initiatives, share the information in this section of the tool kit with them. Encourage them to use Handout 13: Asset Building Checklist for Congregational Youth Initiatives and Handout 14: Assessing Youth Activities through an Asset-Building Lens from Section 4. These exercises will help them assess the ways that the activities of their initiatives build assets and to consider how they can be more intentional in asset building in their activities.
Another important early step is to assemble a leadership or planning team for each initiative that includes young people. If including youth on leadership teams is new for your congregation, you’ll find helpful tips for successful intergenerational leadership teams on toolkit Handout 15: Building a Great Leadership Team and toolkit Handout 16: Leading Successful Meetings with Youth and Adults.
Goals, Experiences, and Activity Plans. Congregational ministries—including youth initiatives—offer young people activities that include a wealth of asset-building experiences: loving and caring relationships, opportunities to lead and serve, learning new things in active ways, discovering their God-given gifts and abilities, building important skills for living, and encouragement to shape positive values. These qualities are important to build on while planning to integrate asset building into existing youth initiatives.
Too often, youth leaders focus all their energy on planning for a specific activity. This makes it easy for all involved to lose sight of what kids actually experience during the activity and, sometimes, even why they’re doing the activity—the goal of the initiative. To make certain that asset building is infused into a youth initiative, it may be most helpful to start with the goals of the initiative (including goals for asset-building), then describe what young people need to experience to reach these goals, and then plan what activities will provide these experiences.
For example, many congregations participate in famine projects related to hunger programs. The ultimate goal is to help develop in young people a sense of compassion, commitment, and confidence that they can make a difference in their community and help to end hunger in the world. The immediate goals of this initiative are to raise funds to help feed hungry people and to perform community service projects. Depending on the churches involved, additional goals may include such things as helping young people to:
- Build stronger relationships with other youth from area churches;
- Learn about issues of world hunger;
- Become more aware of local needs; or
- Grow in hospitality skills for serving in a community meal program.
As you look at the list of 40 Developmental Assets, you can mark several assets that may be strengthened through these experiences, such as #8, #9, #26, #27, #30, #33, #34, or #39.
Continuing the example, to meet the goal of helping youth develop hospitality skills for working in a community meal program (connected with assets 26, 27, 33, and 34), youth need these experiences:
- Welcoming community meal guests of different ages; and
- Participating in caring conversations with guests as the meal is eaten.
Therefore, the activity plan needs to include:
- Learning about the background of the community meal program and the guests it serves (by interviewing other volunteers, listening to a presentation, and/or reading literature from the organization);
- Role-playing ways to greet individuals of different ages (appropriate words, the role of touch, etc.);
- Practicing active listening skills;
- Identifying good questions to ask while at the dinner table;
- Assigning youth to serve as greeters and table hosts; and
- Meeting after the meal to discuss what was learned about self, neighbor, and God in this activity.
By thinking through the goals and activities of each youth initiative in this way, leaders and volunteers will provide many rich opportunities for young people to grow in faith and assets.
