This week, our nation is reeling from the tragic deaths of Alton Sterling, Philando Castile, and the Dallas Police Officers who were shot during a protest. As an organization that seeks to equip youth workers in every part of the U.S., we realize that you represent churches and communities across all ends of the spectrum. Some of you have been carrying the weight of systemic racism all of your lives. Your communities see the worst of it, your students are growing up in the midst of it, and your life is directly impacted by it on a daily basis. Some of you are allies of people of color, who recognize the presence of systemic racism but don’t necessarily feel the direct impact of it and in turn, you’re working to open the eyes of your church and your students to it. There are also others of you who are just now being confronted with the reality of systemic racial divides, you have a spiritual burden to help, but you don’t know what to do.

What we all have in common is the call to shepherd students through times like this. We’ve gathered resources below in an effort to help you with both the immediate needs for your next youth group gathering and to help you think about your next steps well beyond that.

RE-WATCH THE GOOGLE HANGOUT

*Forgive the technical issues we had in the first 13 minutes. The conversation was so great, I hope it doesn’t distract you too much before the technological issues clear up in minute 13.  

This Google Hangout was a chance for us to process the tragedies that occurred this past week, to describe our emotions and our fears, and to help many of us think about how we can guide our students down a path of reconciliation. Ginny Olson and LaTasha Morrison led the conversation with youth workers from around the US.

TOOLS FOR YOUR NEXT YOUTH GROUP GATHERING

Here is a quick list of prayer stations and thoughtful questions that you can repurpose for your next youth group gathering by including the details of the recent tragic deaths of Alton Sterling, Philando Castile, and the Dallas Police Officers:

• Prayer experiences and questions.
• Prayer stations.

HELPFUL DOWNLOADS AND LINKS

We’ve made all of our YS Explores videos and seminars that were a part of our conversation last year about multiculturalism in the Church at the National Youth Workers Convention available to you for FREE. Just click the links below to start the download, and you can hear thought leaders from all across the spectrum of ministry share from their experiences and how they practically took steps toward racial reconciliation.

• A Biblical Case for Multiculturalism – Tony Campolo
• Building Bridges To Racial Reconciliation- Latasha Morrison
• Code Switching – Karen McKinney
• Loving and Learning From Failure – Kathy Khang
• Multiplicity- Youth Ministry in a Socioeconomically Diverse Community- Trey Grant
• Show Me The Power- James White
• Theology Panel- Being Open to “The Other”- Deb Hirsch, Brandon Winstead
• Theology Seminar- Bonhoeffer, American Racism and Youth Ministry- Andy Root, Reggie Williams
• Ys Explores-Youth Ministry in a Multicultural World (Video)

Here are blog posts and articles that will help guide you toward some next practical steps and might even be good resources to share with parents in your church.

• Talking Race with Youth – Princeton Theological Seminary
• A Discussion on Church Racial Reconciliation
• Leading Students Into Racial Reconciliation
• A List of 10 Books on Racial Reconciliation and the Church
• Supporting Students in Tragedy
• Moving Beyond Fear
• What Can We Do? Practical Ways Your Youth Ministry Can Have a Global Conscience 
• The Teenagers Guide to Helping Friends in Crisis
• 60+ Resources for Talking to Kids About Racism
• A Series of Posts related to: “Talking to Kids About Racism”
• 9 Things to Try Helping Your Child’s Anxiety

SHARE YOUR VOICE

We are constantly working to include helpful voices and perspectives from across the spectrum of youth ministry, especially those willing to engage in difficult topics like this. Here are two ways you can be involved:

• Comment below with your thoughts and resources to share.
• Email me directly to write a blog post about your experiences.