Talking Teen
Talking Teen 2022 #1
Talking Teen; March 16, 2022 – How to connect to your teen’s experience of anxiety and depression. A webinar presented in partnership with Gospel and Society and Culture committee of the PCNSW.
COVID-19 Resources
With the recent changes to the ability to gather in our places of worship, and even to assemble multiple people in the same physical space, a lot of churches will be thinking through how they might be able to use technology to be able to keep meeting together.
There are a huge number of options to think through, and in a season where there are already a lot of changes to manage, this can feel overwhelming.
When moving online, don’t think that you need to have everything be broadcast TV quality, or that you need to buy a lot of equipment. It’s best to start slowly, and keep learning. Remember that people in your congregation (or youth group) will need to learn these things too.
You might like to ask:
- how are you going to maintain and sustain what you’re committing to?
- how does what you’re doing communicate your values, cultures, and beliefs?
- how can you use this external force of change to encourage people from the fringes of your group to contribute more?
- how will you welcome new people?
- how will you help people who are not technology-savvy?
Below are a few resources to help think this through for churches and youth groups.
Useful Forms
If you have suggestions for what could be added, please email admin@pynsw.org.au.
Video Options
Realtime broadcast:
- Facebook Live – share what you’re doing over the internet as a facebook video in realtime.
- YouTube Live – share what you’re doing over YouTube in real time
Upload and then invite everyone in:
- Facebook Premiere – upload a video to Facebook, and everyone can go to the page at a particular time and watch it
- YouTube Premiere – upload a video to YouTube, build up expectations of when it will be launched, and invite people to watch it together.
- Make a webpage with your order of service: collect various media types together into the one page.
Video Options
Zoom:
- Zoom is a video chat platform which works with app, browser, or dial in on a regular phone
- Free account available, limited to 40-min duration calls. Paid account starts at $20.99/month for calls of up to 24 hours with up to 100 participants.
- Facebook group: Zoom for Ministry
- Video: how to run a prayer meeting over Zoom
- PY Document – ways to connect to a Zoom call
- PY Document – Advanced features of Zoom to consider
Skype:
Skype is a video conferencing app that needs a free account to use, and an app to be installed.
Google Hangouts:
Google Hangouts allows video chat – you need a free Google account to run it.
PIM Congregation Connect:
Free to Presbyterian Churches at the moment – how it works.
Church Online Platform:
Church Online Platform (free, but requires more technical literacy than the other options on this page).
Thinking about running church offline and online
- Facebook Group: Mission Thinking in Sydney and Illawarra
- Facebook Group: Online church ideas
- PY Document: Issues to consider in going online
Thinking about youth group online
- A post talking through some of the child protection concerns with online youth group
- Jericho Road guidelines for online communication with young people
- Safe Ministry guidelines from the Anglican PSU
What about music?
PY Document: What a CCLI Streaming Licence can help with.
Sample approaches of ways to do church
- Pre-record – Cornerstone Church Online
- Livestream – GracePoint Church Livestream
Including those with accessibility needs
- Closed captioning for the hard of hearing
- Auslan for the deaf who know sign language – you could add video of someone signing into your video chat
- Telephone access into whatever you’re doing
- Recording the sermon / service and distributing on DVD/CD
Remembering to contact people in your congregation
- Prayer triplets: can you set up people in threes who can connect on the phone or virtually?
- Small groups over Zoom / PIM Congregation Connect
- Phone Calls
- Checking your volunteers for burnout, given their extra levels of stress
- Counselling services
- Increased risk of domestic violence
- Financial Hardship
Closing Thoughts
What impact are these changes having on the young people at your church? How can you best encourage them (and your youth leaders) through this season?
More Resources
Ministry Papers
Fill in this form to download a copy of the Ministry Papers.
Useful Forms
Some form templates that may be helpful as you run youth group are available on the Jericho Road website.
Other Resources
Here we showcase different ideas from around the state that have been helpful.
Organising and promoting an event for parents of youth group kids (Ed Sowden, Bathurst)
The Shock Absorber. A podcast that aims to provide a framework for churches to biblically adapt to changes in society – by Soul Revival Church
