Caring for College Students
Left Side Youth Ministry
by Kimberly Armstrong
2y ago
It is almost “back-to-school” time! Lately, I have been thinking about caring for college students, and what kind of encouragement/support our church offers to them. The sad reality for my local church is that we sort-of forget them until they come back for a holiday, or special occasion. Out of sight, out of mind, right? Why Reach Out? Our young adults need our love and support especially through the college years. This is the time when our young people are narrowing in on who and what they want to be. I don’t know about you, but I could have used a little bit of Jesus during that time in my ..read more
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The Hope in Starting Over
Left Side Youth Ministry
by admin
2y ago
I am one of those people who loves starting over. I love the reset button. Almost every Sunday I think, “It’s a new week! I get to start over on Monday!” The beginning of every month brings me a sense of something new. And, guess what? I get into New Years for the same reason. Is that weird? Maybe. But, I find hope in starting over. We all need hope this year. Fortunately, we are getting closer to that starting-over point where hope begins to shine through. The pandemic brought much loneliness, sadness, and fear. If you think about it, the pandemic began during Lent 2020, and now, in 2021, man ..read more
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Socks of Love
Left Side Youth Ministry
by admin
2y ago
For the last few years, my youth group has been making “Socks of Love” for our local homeless shelter. We stuff small winter necessities in a pair of warm socks, tie them off with a handmade card, and pass them out to our friends at the shelter. As you might guess, it has been a big hit; not only with the folks experiencing homelessness, but with our youth as well. They absolutely love assembling them, handing them out, and seeing the faces of the men and women who receive them. What goes into Socks of Love? Well, we fill the socks with love, of course! Haha! Really though, below is a list of ..read more
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Acceptance Has No Boundaries
Left Side Youth Ministry
by admin
2y ago
I have the good fortune to take my dogs, Zeus – a 99lb Goldendoodle, and Albus, a 15lb rescue mix (we aren’t sure), to the church with me when I work on the weekdays. As a matter of fact, if I don’t bring them, I get in trouble with our Pastor and Secretary! Everyone loves seeing Zeus and Albus. For us, the dogs and me, acceptance has no boundaries in the church (for the most part). The other day, I let the dogs out into the fenced yard of our church, and they were immediately drawn to the fence where there was a person walking a dog down the ally. The dog was a beautiful pit bull. Of course ..read more
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Lent @ Home
Left Side Youth Ministry
by admin
2y ago
The last time my church was in person, in our sanctuary, was Ash Wednesday 2020. As we approach a whole year of not worshipping together in our sanctuary, we feel the fatigue of being distanced. However, we march on with more experience and ideas of doing faith formation at home. I promise, we can pretty easily do Lent @ Home! In 2020, we were thrown into figuring out how to do Lent @ home. As the youth director, I did not get anything together until Easter morning, when I drove around the city dropping off plastic eggs and treats to all my children and youth. Easter was a cold, rainy day for ..read more
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Understanding Micro-aggressions Youth Lesson & Activity
Left Side Youth Ministry
by admin
2y ago
To begin the work of advocating for racial justice, it is important for us to begin understanding micro-aggressions, learning about how we use our words when we are speaking of or speaking with our brown and black neighbors. Understanding Micro-aggressions Youth Lesson & Activity is a guide to open discussions about verbal and behavioral micro-aggressions. Once we name them and recognize them, we can begin to eradicate them from our lives. First, this lesson is based on John 8:1-11, the story where some Pharisees brought a woman before Jesus, saying that she had committed adultery. The men ..read more
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Looking at “Just Mercy”
Left Side Youth Ministry
by Kimberly Armstrong
2y ago
Triftbooks.com “Just Mercy” is a true story written by Bryan Stevenson. Stevenson is a lawyer, as well as the founder and Executive Director of the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI). EJI advocates for human rights. They have essentially changed the face of our justice system over the past thirty-plus years. Hopefully, looking at “Just Mercy” can help us be the allies we strive to be. Unjust Numbers According to EJI’s website, “169 people have been exonerated and released from death row since 1973.” This fact speaks volumes about the wrongful convictions our justice system allows. The website also ..read more
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Learning How to be an Ally
Left Side Youth Ministry
by Kimberly Armstrong
2y ago
I don’t know about you, but I have been inundating myself in all things black, anti-racism, systemic racism, white church culture, mass incarceration, the new Jim Crow, etc… I am learning how to be an ally to my black and brown fellow humans. Undoubtedly, in the last few weeks, I have been contending with my own deep-seeded prejudices and ignorance that seemed so normal to me. I have been a youth leader in a progressive denomination for seven years. The work I do with my youth is based on being inclusive and affirming of all God’s people. Furthermore, I never considered myself a racist. Racist ..read more
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Children & Racial Justice
Left Side Youth Ministry
by Kimberly Armstrong
2y ago
As I prepared this week’s mailings to K-5th graders, I felt overwhelmed with greif. How do we talk to children about racial justice? Then, I realized that the lesson from Deep Blue for this week was very timely. Truly, Deep Blue’s, “Communities Live Together,” speaks truth to power for what is happening in our world today. This made it so much easier to braid together our faith with a message of hope and justice. More than ever, it is important that church leaders identify how we should work with children and families around racial justice. Therefore, we need to learn and understand how to te ..read more
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How to Stay Connected to Youth Group During a Pandemic
Left Side Youth Ministry
by Kimberly Armstrong
2y ago
Hello fellow youth workers! How do we stay connected to youth group during a pandemic? I am going to share with you the items I have been putting in care packages for our youth, as well as what has worked and what has not worked in cyber-space activities. By now we are all tired of saying and hearing the words, “during this time of quarantine…” or “in these hard times…”. It is still surreal to me that we are in a pandemic. Probably like you, the very first thing I started doing when we were asked to stay at home was to try to figure out how I was going to stay connected to my youth during thi ..read more
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