Agenda:

1. Prayer. Guiding Verse: I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you. (Psalm 32:8)
2. Wrap-up discussion regarding Need #3 - Review  notes from Nov 24th meeting.
   
   1. How do we instill responsibility towards the church?
   2. How to address the need of belonging to the church in the older youth?
   3. What do we do about counselling?
3. Start conversation regarding Need #4
4. Wrap-up

Discussion Notes:

How to: Instill responsibility towards the church:

• Manal: Main issue is that we don't have clear services for the kids youth to participate in; Need to create new services for the kids/youth to participate in.
  • Working with disabled people within the community?
• Holy: Some activities which can help kids fell part of the church:
  • Cleaning the church after services
  • Collecting donation items
  • Park clean-up, car washes, any activity which help the youth connecting together
  • Every time we did fund-raising it was for a trip. We should do fund raising to provide for needy people.
• Youssef: Good opportunity for the younger and older servants to mix and work together. Have the adult part of the service to avoid the service falling through.
• Nancy: A lot of our activities in the church are passive-based. We need to educate the kids to be inclusive. Example when girls participate in hymns period during liturgy.
  • Renovation of certain portions. Something the kids do together and it remains to remind them of something they did together.
  • Assign them genuine important roles (depending of course on their age, talents, and interest), but make them feel like their presence makes a difference, and their absence is noticed (in a practical sense)!
  • Take the fellowship outside in the community. Make the kids feel they are part of the bigger community.
    • For more Spiritual do a more involved bible study
    • For the creative ones, get them to work on projects in the church and community
    • Make the kids feel they are making a difference. Best achieved through their belonging to a true spiritual fellowship centred around Christ and the Word of God. 
• Marian:
  • Serve with seniors (as simple as filling govt form), shopping, drive to church/senior meeting.
  • Cleaning of bookstore or food store.
• Nelly: 
  • In order to feel "I belong", I need to know my church and be proud to be part of this church, this service, this mission etc.
  • Kids/Youth may only be exposed only to St. George Church in Vancouver. How do we educate them to learn more about the bigger church.
  • Consider trips to monasteries, missionary trips, Coptic orphans etc. This will help the kids identify with how big, old and established our church is.

How to: Address the need of belonging to the church in the older youth?

• Nancy: Individual service to show we care. No strings attached. Find a way for them to use their talents for ministry.
• This is not a one-time activity, needs follow-up. Coffee meetings. Weekly texts or calls.

How to: Foster a counselling mentality for SS kids and youth in our community?

• There are free counselling courses online. Nelly to send links.
• El-Mashora course was being taught in English online with Anba Youssef. Can Mervat check to see current status and suitability?
• Nancy: There is a church in Toronto has a course in counselling. Will look into it.
  (There is a program led by Fr. Pishoy Wasfy called "Youth Ministry Certification Program" .. more info at ymcp.ca). Also .. something that will support what we're hoping to do, is to think about starting a strong family ministry program in our church! It will make our work much easier if we're all on the same page.
• The goal is to educate a few servants to be able to recognize issues which need counselling. This is not for the servant to become the professional counsellor (unless they are qualified and willing). It is mainly for recognition and direction to proper counselling.
• Youssef: Have connection with Christian counsellors who we can refer kids/people to.
• Nancy: Has a friend (Maryam Demian - Peter) has a PhD in psychology from SFU. Mona El-Masry is also another local resource. Also Abouna Bishoy Wasfy (responsible for youth service at his church) and Abouna Botros Philobos are professional counsellor, perhaps invite him for overall servants or a smaller group.
• Nancy to ask Maryam if she can be a resource for us.
• Find another terminology other than "Counselling" or "Psychologist"
• Marian: Careful how to address kids and servants, alphabetical
• Nelly to approach Abouna Bishoy Wasfy:
  • How to recognize our cultural biases and tendencies which make us (Egyptian folks) go into a certain thought pattern?
  • How to recognize when a need for counselling exists?
  • What not to do to avoid exacerbating the problem and alienating a child/youth who may exhibit a certain behavior?
  • What should we do? What is it we can do when we identify the need?
  • How to see professional help? What resources are available to us?
  • Is prayer and relationship with God the answer to psychological issues?
  • How to approach Abouna/parents/family if this is the right thing do?
  • Do you have some form of youth ministry training?

Discussion with Mervat: Essential factors in creating a sense of belonging

• Active listening
• Empathy
• To be genuine
• Plan next Tuesday one-on-one, Dec 29th 9 PM.