News

Youth ministry certificate offered in Menasha

By Joanne Flemming
Compass Correspondent

MENASHA -- Mt. Tabor Retreat Center in Menasha is the new Wisconsin home for the youth ministries certificate program offered through the Center for Ministry Development in Naugatuck, Conn.

The certificate program gives people the knowledge and skills they need to work with youth, ages 11 to 18, in school and parish settings, said Eden Foord, Mt. Tabor director.

The eight courses needed to complete the certificate program will be offered only during the summer - four courses each summer - so the program can be completed in two years, said Rick Curran, Green Bay diocesan director of youth and young adult ministry.

The same courses are taught in some 30 sites across the country through the Center for Ministry Development, Foord said. The center was founded in 1978 as a non-profit organization to provides leadership training, consultation, resources and program services in youth ministry and religious education.

All five Wisconsin dioceses collaborate on the program, Curran said.

Curran and Tony Pichler, diocesan director for lay ministry formation, said the Green Bay Diocese has always sent the largest number of participants to the program at its previous sites in Madison and Stevens Point.

"The proximity of the program makes it more possible for youth ministry leaders from our area to take part in this important training," Pichler said.

And moving to summer courses "makes it more user-friendly for people's personal schedules," Curran said.

Both Katherine Foord and Carrie Aimers, who work with youth retreats at Mt. Tabor, have completed the certificate program. Aimers said it helped her better understand the lives of youth. Katherine Foord said it gave her practical ways to work with young people. And it allowed them to network and exchange ideas with other youth workers, Foord and Aimers said.

Pichler said people enrolled in the diocese's lay ministry formation program can take courses in the youth ministry program and that people in the youth ministries program who want more theological training can receive it in the lay ministry program.

Mt. Tabor is working with St. Norbert College, De Pere, to get undergraduate credits for the courses, Foord said.

Courses to be offered this summer are:

• Principles of Youth Ministry, June 21-22

• Practices of Youth Ministry, June 23-24

• Foundations of Ministry Leadership, Aug. 9-10

• Skills for Christian Leadership, Aug. 11-12.

Course costs are $165 per individual for tuition and books, $300 for a parish or school team of four, $65 per person for food and lodging, and $25 per person for food only.

For more information contact Eden Foord at 522 Second St., Menasha, WI 54952; phone, (920)722-8918; e-mail, edenfoord@sbcglobal.net.