Agenda:

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)

1. Consider what will our output be? A document which can be part of a "Training Manual for the Servants"?
2. Review Summary Items from past meetings starting Nov 15, 2020 through Feb 16, 2021
3. Select top 10 items for implementation
4. Wrap-up and discuss next step (Work groups? Champions? etc.)

How to convey topics of these discussions to other servants:

1. Clear direction for bi-weekly servants meeting. Build the outcome of these discussions into a curriculum to be given during that meeting.
2. Implement workshops where the servants can participate and feel part of the implementation.
3. Divide groups by classes (elementary, middle etc.) in workshop.
4. *mandatory* workshops! Can be like continuing education "credits", and you need to get 5 credits or so every year for example :) We can have multiple sessions a year for the different themes/actions and have people sign up. Top 10 at one sitting might be too much in one sitting.
5. Record and post meetings online and keep as reference.
6. Quarterly spiritual days for servants for the workshop. Focus on a few initiatives at a time to ensure successful roll-out.
7. Continuous improvement vs 1-workshop spread apart of each other.
8. Categorize initiatives over 3 categories:
   1. For Servants
   2. For Parents 
   3. For Kids
9. Focus the bi-weekly meetings to cater to one theme at time over a period.
10. Create a table showing WHAT we need and HOW to implement it. The message needs to be repeatable over time as new servants join the service.

Action: Create a table in a google doc which we can all contribute to.

From Nov 24 meeting with focus on Need #3: Need to belong to the full community of the church:

• Engage kids when you ask them to do something, participate and do it with them. Be a role model.
• Servants need to create an atmosphere that facilitates friendship between the kids.
• Find ways for the kids to connect with each other. 
• Kids need to know each other well. We need give them opportunity to get to know each other through play.
  Find opportunity for kids to play. Find games.
• Create activities that encourage groups to work together.
• Find the talent of each child and initiate activities to help their talent shine. Show their identity.
• Show the care towards them specifically. Create a service which they can do together.
• Give them sincere chance to talk without being judged
• Instill responsibility. The church is my home. I belong to this church and my efforts matter
• Prayer meetings for servants so kids see the role model.

From Dec 8 & 22 meetings with focus on Need #3: Need to belong to the full community of the church - Focused on the "HOW?":

• How to: Create an atmosphere that facilitates friendship between the kids?
  • Help younger adults (Youth servants) become role models.
  • Engage the young adults with the grades 4,5,6 to help grow the identity. For example, Friday night together and participate with the older youth in some activities within the church.
  • Possibly mini retreat in one of the family homes. Give more opportunity for the younger kids to learn from the adults. Learning through example.
  • Manal: Big Brother/Big Sister system. Prepare future leaders and role models. Older kids may modify their own behavior.
• How to: Foster an atmosphere of friendship within the same class?
  • Give kids responsibilities in the class: Paper Handler, Attendance Taker, Cleaning before leaving, Garbage collector, distribute chairs, candy distribution, Jacket handling during winter, on zoom give job responsibility. Servants to create a chores list and distribute among classes.
  • Create a buddy system within the class - Give kids the responsibility of checking on each other.
  • Engage some of the kids with the servants when they go Eftekad. Especially between groups who seem separate.
  • Create a schedule of events. Keraza through sports. Make it a habit that each year, there are specific repeatable activities.

• How to: Instill responsibility towards the church?
  • Need to create new services for the kids/youth to participate in.
  • Create activities to help the kids be 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.
    •  
  • Take the fellowship outside in the community. Make the kids feel they are part of the bigger community
  • 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.
  • Individual service to show we care. No strings attached. Find a way for them to use their talents for ministry.

From Jan 5 meeting with focus on Need #4: Need to be empowered by Faith that makes a difference:

• Emphasize the relationship building aspects of our ministry to the servants.
• Build relationship by finding out more about your kids. Ask them about their lives in the class.
• Ask class servants to come up with a list of things they can delegate to the kids in their class to help them feel engaged.
• Select champions within the servant community who can do more and then share with the group.
• Build and organize sport activities to help bring the servants and youth together.
• Mandate youth multi-day retreats to help foster the relationships.
• Mandate that class servant have one-on-one communication with kids in their groups (phone calls, face meeting) weekly.
• Bible study groups for those interested.
• Need to have a strong family ministry because the home is the first place children learn. Strong curriculum. Important values. How do we reach out to the families to be part of the program.

From Feb 2 & 16 meetings with focus on Needs #1 & 2: Need to Know Christ and Who they truly are:

Need #5: To Be Equipped with the teachings of the Orthodox Faith;

• Focus on prayer
  • Meditation sheets
  • Turn off the light during prayer. Turn on a candle.
  • Teach the order or prayer (Glory, peace to church, peace to the people, peace to us)
  • Make a prayer corner
• Agpeya Prayer - How to make it more effective:
  • Slow it down, Quality vs Quantity
  • Pray it not read it
  • Portions which can be sung as a group
  • Praying after Asheya is more challenging
• Practice of quiet time (Khelwa). Time spent by oneself to self-empty.
• Shed the false identity. Believe and live our true identity as beloved children of God. Humility in place of self-centeredness. Who am I and how does Christ see me? Our discussions need to focus more on who we are, our purpose, our value in the eyes of God, and our true identity.
• Plan on doing specific services during the fasting period. Think about something the servants can do during the fasting period.
• Servant can plan a day/time for their class with Abouna for confession. NEEDS CONSISTENCY.
• Encourage bible study groups (by area, region, age groups etc.)
• Encourage daily bible & prayer time with the whole family.
• Leverage Abouna's support to promote the importance of this as families.
• Recommend to have a couple of servants in-charge of this service who can lead all activities with focus only on this.
• Organize regular parent meetings around child minding during SS.
• Caution that sometimes, our teaching may be very biased in cases against other Christian denominations. Kids needs to love everyone but be affixed in their core faith.

General Guidance Topics

• Number of servants per class - too many causes confusion and lack of ownership
  • Consistency of servants attendance. Too many servants per class waters down the responsibility. 
  • Rotation Schedule? 
  • If we rotate, what happens to the continuity of care and ownership?
  • Rotating servants feel side-lined and don't participate much?
  • Need to create new services and re-distribute the servants between Sunday School and these services.

• Specific activities related to Parents?
  • Servants to meet with parents of each class on a regular basis. Ensure parents are on the same page. Also, capture undesired home behavior which may affect the kids.
  • Give parents positive feedback on their kids which encourages the kids. 
  • Fostering the relationship with parents can also help grow the relationship between the kids of the same class.
  • Parent/Child activity days where families can participate. will grow the servant/parent relationship.