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The Catholic YM Blog has been referred to as "the 411 of Catholic Youth Ministry." Your blogger is D. Scott Miller, director of the Division of Youth and Young Adult Ministry for the Archdiocese of Baltimore... Read more...
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It’s funny, but I am often considered a technology native because of the website and my collaborations with ReBuildMyChurch… but I often feel like a tecjnology immigrant who often shows up to the table a little late.
If you have not checked out Google+ yet, please take this as an encouragement to do exactly that. The hangout function allows you to meet without the mileage. This will not replace the value of face-to-face meetings, BUT can bolster contact over time.
I have been watching the Youth Cartel’s coaching program from afar, and wondering how that model could work locally. I’m still noodling it, but will be intentional about understanding google+ hangouts with the stratagy of making it a component of such an effort. And, if you are about supporting others in ministry, you might consider the same.
thanks for the mention, scott. yeah, my regular coaching cohorts (10 youth workers, meeting for 2 days, every other month) meet in real space, face to face. and one of my concerns about trying an only version was my skepticism about whether or not we could experience anything close to community in google hangouts (particularly since it’s not a supplement to real world relationships, but the entire context for the relationships). so when i started beta-testing two online group (one of them had their second meeting yesterday, and the other has its second meeting tomorrow), i made a handful of significant changes to try to minimize the limitations and maximize what the G+ hangout option could be. for one, i limited the groups to 5 participants (plus me). i just didn’t think we could establish community with 10 or 11 people who didn’t previously know each other in an online space. it would be too easy for people to ‘hide’. i’ve also kept the meetings to 3 hours, with a couple 5-minute breaks. we supplement that with a closed facebook group for asynchronis sharing and updates and requests, plus some 1:1 phone calls. seems to be working really well. it’s NOT the same thing as the face to face cohorts; but it’s a good thing.
btw: i’ve had multiple catholic youth workers in the youth ministry coaching program, including armando cervantes, the director of youth ministries for the orange county (CA) diocese. they would all attest to the value. i’d be happy to connect any catholic youth workers who might be interested with one of the catholic grads.
Comment by marko — Wednesday, January 23, 2013 @ 11:51 am
that should be “one of my concerns about trying an online version…”
Comment by marko — Wednesday, January 23, 2013 @ 11:53 am