Young Adult Ministry
Starting Packet
Whether you want to start a young adult ministry from scratch or you are looking to build upon your existing programs, this starting packet is for you! On this page you will find guides on all the pieces that make a successful young adult ministry tick. The first few pages highlight major topics and reference supplemental materials throughout the packet. Simply scroll down to the section you would like to view and clink on the link to open a Google document on that topic. Feel free to save a copy to your google drive or print it out!
What is Young Adult Ministry?
A Young Adult Ministry in the Unification faith is a ministry that encourages young adults to grow in their relationships with God, True Parents, and the world. YAM accomplishes this by providing relevant opportunities and experiences that are specifically designed for the young adult age group to grow in their faith.
Why is Young Adult Ministry Important?
The young adult age range encompasses many of life’s most exciting and confusing times, such as entering college, the workplace, the Matching and Blessing, or another area in life. While navigating through these new adventures and responsibilities we often allow our life of faith and spiritual growth to take a backseat in our lives. Young Adult Ministry is a space where young adults can intentionally invest into their lives of faith with other like-minded people, which is very important because most of the time our regular routine does not already provide this type of opportunity. At YAM you can replace conversations that start with “How’s work?” with conversations that start with “How have you experienced God this week?”
Tips & Best Practices
Creating a Vision for YAM
An essential component of any young adult ministry is to have a clear vision. A vision acts as a compass because it will set the intentions of your ministry and guide the staff in all of their planning and programming. To learn more about how to create a vision for a Young Adult Ministry, check out our YAM Vision Setting page and YAYAM Education Framework.
Based on your vision it’s helpful to come up with a basic plan for the semester. Lives are busy and time can fly so making a plan can help set steps in motion for monthly/weekly events but also give time for you and your team to plan initiatives that may take some more time and planning, like retreats or workshops. We’ve included a template and model for you to use!
YAM Programming Models
The Programming for your Young Adult Ministry will be the bulk of what you actually do. Every community has a unique young adult community and consequently no two YAM are the same. Each community should seek to implement a combination of programs that works specifically for them. For some great ideas on types of programs your Young Adult Ministry can utilize, visit our YAM Programming Models page. You can also use this nifty 10 Steps to Planning an Awesome Event Template and this Walkthrough to help explain each step along the way.
Funding for YAM
True Love makes the world go round, but money sure helps a lot too! Visit our Funding a YAM page to learn more about the various methods you can employ to fund your young adult ministry.
Workshops and Retreats
Step aside kids — workshops and retreats are for young adults too! In fact, these kinds of gatherings are one of the best ways to build a sense of community as young Unificationists. Visit our Workshops and Retreats page to learn about the different types of workshops and retreats that your community can put on for young adults, and what purpose they help serve.
Taking an Intentional Break
Don’t let your YAM fizzle out due to the inevitable breakout of Summer-Break Flakiness Syndrome across your college student participants. Instead, visit our Taking an Intentional Break page to learn about how to take an intentional break between YAM sessions, and how to utilize that time to come back next semester even stronger!
FAQ
Do you have any other questions that were not answered in the above categories? Visit our YAM FAQ page to find out how good the National YAM team is at mind reading, and also hopefully find the answer to your question.