In response to the growing need of leaders, the loss of ambassadors and young adults, the wave of technology and the focus on the Local Church, Senior Youth Leader (SYL) has been written for Leaders who wish to be involved with Ambassadors and Young Adults. Thus, SYL is a leadership curriculum for Senior Youth Ministry. The church is facing an alarming depletion of young people. It has often been reported that youth are leaving the church not because of doctrinal issues but relational ones. The reasons for losing them can be studied and researched, but something must be done now. The youth want a say in the development and planning of the work of God. Generally, the youth want to be recognised, listened to, appreciated, and involved. This Leadership Curriculum attempts to prepare youth and young adult leaders to address these important issues.
WHAT THE CURRICULUM COVERS
- LOCAL CHURCH EMPHASIS
The aim of this curriculum is to strengthen the fact and the reality that the Youth department is at the heart of the local church and that the operations of the youth department should be understood in the context of the local church.
- MENTOR
The curriculum addresses and makes use mentorship concepts from the beginning to the end. Each candidate shall formerly be accepted into the program through the local church board and assigned a mentor who will walk them through the course.
- TECHNOLOGY/MEDIA
This new curriculum seeks to integrate training with the use of technology to bring together the natural inclination of ambassadors and young adults towards media. It also includes the latest terminology and programs/initiatives of the department. Candidates are at liberty to choose between digital (video or audio) recording or physical filing.
- RELATIONSHIP TO MASTER GUIDE
Both the Master Guide (Junior Youth) and the Senior Youth Leader (Senior Youth) curriculums have some similar requirements and pre-requisites. Candidates can attend some lessons together though each curriculum will dictate the emphasis (junior or senior) thus effecting specialization. Those who already completed the Master Guide program may be exempted from some SYL requirements. The diagram below shows the Youth Ministries structure. Please remember that the SYL and MG are not new levels of the department, they are leadership curriculums for Senior Youth and Junior Youth respectively that complement the structure.
