Forming a junior youth group and talking to parents

At the Montreal youth conference, two youth were inspired to see the difference that children’s classes and junior youth groups are making in the world.They teamed up with a young couple who had recently moved to Montreal to begin a junior youth group in their neighbourhood, taking advantage of the structure provided by a city-wide teaching project. They have also brought parents into the conversation about the spiritual empowerment of youth by visiting them and holding a parents gathering.

Before the conference, we already had a small but terrific class for children, but, in our neighbourhood, no junior youth group had formed since we ourselves had been junior youth. At the conference we were extraordinarily inspired by the concepts of coherence in our life, of mutual support and of service at the centre of our lives. We saw to what extent the junior youth groups and the classes for children were making a real difference, everywhere in the world. The second day of the conference, we had the idea of starting together, as animators, a French junior youth group in our neighbourhood. With excitement, we spoke with the coordinators, who were exceptionally helpful, and the project was launched. On the third day of the conference, we were introduced to a couple, Élodie and Nathanaël, who had just arrived from France and were planning to move to our neighbourhood. What a confirmation! It so happened that we needed more people, particularly more people with experience with junior youth groups, to help us. We contacted them and got to know one another.

Later in the summer, an expansion project was planned for four Montréal neighbourhoods, including Saint-Michel. Approximately 25 animators met at the beginning of the phase to pray and study Ruhi book 5 (while still having fun, of course). Each day, our knowledge on youth, junior youth and service grew. Every afternoon, for two weeks, we would go to the Saint-Michel neighbourhood with Nika (the junior youth coordinator), Élodie and Nathanaël. We rehearsed conversations with junior youths and parents, fearing their reaction. Élodie, Nathanaël and Nika were just incredible, they helped us and guided us every step of the way. We targeted the junior youth who were in the park and everything was a success: some exceptional junior youth listened to us and several signed up. They also introduced us to their neighbours, their friends and, soon after, our group was formed. It certainly was not easy, but the support, the experience and the sharing all contributed to starting the group. Ten junior youth in particular were more interested and it is with them that we held our first gathering. We visited the parents to explain the nature of the programme in greater details and to establish a relationship of trust.

Following another junior youth meeting, and after discussing service projects, the group decided to clean up the garbage from the park and in the streets of the neighbourhood, which was a real need. During the project, we could see their joy in doing something that was making a real difference and we could see friendships forming and relationships of trust being created with the animators and among the junior youth. They did this with magnanimity and with mutual support.

Later, we decided that it would be good to gather all the parents to share with them directly our experience with the programme and with service projects. When the parents came, after introductions, we read and discussed two passages from Ruhi book 5, regarding the transforming [power of the] junior youth period while the junior youth were finishing to put icing on a cake they had baked earlier in a spirit of service. An animated, united and enlightening discussion followed. Some said that we had come at a critical moment for the junior youth and that this programme was what they needed. The group continued with a song and a short presentation of future projects. To wrap things up, we had carefully selected two clips from the film Frontiers of Learning to show how global the programme is.

Our relationships with the junior youth, who are really incredible and who have the burning desire to learn and contribute to the advancement of the community, are becoming closer every day. We are currently preparing a service project and are studying Breezes of Confirmation. It is not always easy, there are always challenges, but the purity and radiant personality of the youth are what motivates us. We now have the junior youth group and the classes for children and both are continually growing, but all this was made possible by the support from our community and from our close friends Élodie et Nathanaël.

–Talia Hatcher and Sophie Kingunza [translated from French]