Conversation between Allison Connelly Vetter serving as Director of Children, Youth, and Families Ministries at First Universalist Church of Minneapolis and Rev. Tandi Rogers. Allison explores the impact of the pandemic on youth and responsive shifts in programming for middle school and high school youth. Allison discusses her congregation’s journey towards balancing more structured Sunday morning programming with more spacious non-Sunday-morning programs in the hopes of creating church as a “low-stakes, values-based, third-space” for kids and youth. This is a large congregation with 1051 adult members and 312 enrolled children and youth.

The video contains some adult language primarily expressing how hard the pandemic was for teens. We did not want to censor or edit the language speakers used.

This video and others were recorded for a 2024 LREDA Fall Con workshop. The full resources can be accessed by LREDA members through the LREDA portal.