Children’s, youth ministry shifts online
"We typically average around 70 kids at our VBS in the summertime … and we have 80 children participating in our virtual VBS this year," says Yvonne Kern, children’s pastor at St. James Anglican Church in Calgary. Photo: Hananeko Studio/Shutterstock

"Since mid-March, churches have been grappling with how to connect when in-person meetings are no longer possible. This year, as spring turned to summer, children’s and youth ministry programs that would typically provide camps, gatherings and other activities faced the same predicament: how to adapt an in-person ministry to an online format?

"Several Anglican organizations have released youth-centred resources online during the pandemic. The World Council of Churches (of which the Anglican Church of Canada is a member) put out a toolkit for congregations wanting to engage with youth mental health. The Primate’s World Relief and Development Fund (PWRDF) released a day camp program developed using stories from PWRDF partners around the world. The Anglican Foundation of Canada shared online Dear God: Prayers for Young Children in book form and as a set of videos.

"For local ministries, summer 2020 was a time for getting creative."

Read Joelle Kidd's article at anglicanjournal.com