Before You Start
Part of Heeding the Call
Review all the Faith in Action activities and decide if you will include any in your regular workshops or as additional events outside of workshop time. In particular, review Workshop 5, The Call for Courage, and decide if the group will participate in the long-term Faith in Action, Allies. If so, study subsequent Faith in Actions and the Oppression Continuum. Be prepared to offer suggestions for completing each phase of the continuum. Solicit assistance from additional members of the congregation and the families of youth, as much of the work for this ongoing activity will happen outside of regular meeting times.
Do not be afraid to be creative. If more than one youth chooses to work as an ally to the same marginalized community, find ways for them to work together. Seek out experiences that can fulfill the steps for youth working as allies for different groups. For example, if there is a lecture on the relationship between homelessness and mental illness, youth working as allies with homeless people can attend as well as youth working as allies with people who are differently-abled.
Decide whether you will use a paper copy of the Justicemakers Guide (Option 1) or an electronic copy (Option 2).
Option 1: In this option, youth keep a paper copy of the Justicemakers Guide. The first pages of the guide are distributed as a Handout in Workshop 1. Subsequent pages are included in Workshops 2, 4, 5, and 8. With this option, youth will need to bring their Justicemakers Guide to every meeting. Keep extra copies of pages on hand in case participants lose pages or new participants join the group.
Option 2: In this option, youth keep the guide electronically. You will need to copy Handout 1 from Workshop 1 on CDs (or other electronic device) or email it to youth. Future pages can be emailed or uploaded onto a website where youth can copy and paste them into the copy they are keeping. Make sure there is a system in place to notify participants when a new guide page is ready.
If you are not sure that every participant has access to a computer, do not exclusively use Option 2. Check with families ahead of time about computer availability or give youth both options.
If using Option 2, check to see if your meeting space has the capacity for you to display portions of the guide on a large monitor or on a screen with a projector. If not, you will need to make paper copies of certain pages of the Justicemakers Guide for Workshops 1, 2, 4, 5, and 8.