Supporter Action Steps

With Yourself

Even changes you make on your own time can make a difference down the road in supporting young people in their calling.

Get clear about your own call

Maybe you don’t feel like you ever experienced a call to an action or a career.  Maybe you felt a call but didn’t follow it – by choice or by force.  Getting clear on your own experience can help you talk to your child about theirs.  These resources can help.

Consider signing up for a Mentor training or Culture of Call training

These online Timothy Circle trainings were specifically designed to inspire ideas, build skills and boost confidence to help you either mentor a young person in their faith and calling or increase the way your congregation nurtures calling in others.  Each is a relaxed 3-week online course on the Christian learning platform BeADisciple.com and is available for $45.

With Young People at Church

You can have a big impact on the faith development of young people in your church.  Help them hear God’s voice and follow God’s call with a few small actions you can take this week.

Tell the young people in your life what strengths you see in them

They might not know what’s unique about themselves. Your comments could help them recognize the skills and abilities God has given them.

Encourage young people to attend camps and events

Encourage them to attend AND to share in their excitement about their experiences after they return!

Start a conversation with a young person about mentoring

Ask young people whether they have a mentor — especially someone they would consider a mentor in their faith.  If they don’t have one, offer to help them find a mentor, and then follow through on making a connection.  (Bonus: invite that adult to complete the Timothy Circle Mentor Training to help them feel confident and supported in this new role.)

Make sure young people know about the Timothy Circle and what it offers

Encourage young people to complete the Timothy Circle online Trail Guide (they’ll need to sign up for a free account) to help them explore their call and form a network of support.

Listen to young people at your church

Do they feel that it is easy to be included in the life and leadership of the church? What makes it easy or hard for them to do so?  Share their thoughts with your pastor or a relevant committee and commit to helping them brainstorm and act on ways to improve in this area.

Help graduating seniors connect to campus ministries

Find out where graduating high school seniors are heading in the fall, and encourage them to participate in campus ministries at their college or university.  Make connections between those young people and the campus ministers at the schools they’ll be attending — send them each others’ names and emails.

Share your own stories of calling

Tell others about your sense of ‘call’ and share it with a teen or young adult.  How can they know what a call from God looks and feels like unless they hear how other people have experienced a call from God?

At Church

You can be a powerful voice to encourage your church to nurture Calling.

Observe your church

Does your church promote Christian summer camps?  Does your church provide scholarships and transportation to students to make it easier for them to attend? Make sure your church talks about camp regularly during the worship service, and is subscribed for the local camp(s) catalogs and posters, etc.

Are youth active in your worship service as ushers, greeters, scripture readers, and musicians? If not, work with your pastor and worship committee to make a plan for including them.

Support the parents and guardians of teen and young adults

Encourage parents and guardians to have conversations about faith and call with their teens and young adults. The Timothy Circle has an ever-growing library of resources to help them.

Recruit Call Champions

You don’t have to have all the answers yourself!  Encourage people in your church to complete the Timothy Circle Culture of the Call course.  Especially consider youth workers, youth and young adult Sunday school teachers, and members of the education council.  You might even encourage a committee or individual to sponsor their $45 course fee.

Get to know the trained Timothy Circle Mentors in your church (or recruit adults to be trained)

Are there any trained Timothy Circle mentors in your church?  Get to know them so you can help them make mentoring connections with teens and young adults.

Are there no adults who feel comfortable mentoring a young person in their faith and calling?  Encourage a few likely candidates to register for the online Timothy Circle Mentor training to give them the skills and confidence they need.

Create a small-group fellowship or support group for parents of teens and young adults

Parental faith involvement is the #1 predictor of faith involvement in young people.  Help keep parents supported and connected to your church by creating a small group for parents of teens in your church, so parents can better support each other.

Celebrate outside involvement and experiences

Include “sending off” moments during worship for people (especially young people) who are about to go on trips, mission trips, to camps, etc.  Don’t forget those who are starting or finishing theological education like seminary or other Christian coursework.  Celebrate that they are doing something to further their commitment to following Christ.

Have young people returning from mission trips, camps, conferences, etc. tell the church about their experience.  Celebrate as a church that they attended, and show interest in their faith growth.

Psst!  This also includes celebrating people who complete the Timothy Circle Mentor training or Culture of Call trainings.

Special tip for youth workers and Sunday School leaders —

Let parents know the kinds of things you’re covering in youth group and Sunday School and empower parents to have conversations about those topics with their children.  Maybe that means sending emails with topics or discussion prompts.

Supporting Church Leaders

Tips especially for laypeople.  Come alongside the people leading your church to help them support calling in young people.

Encourage your pastor and youth workers to incorporate Calling into their sermons or youth group time

We want to make this as easy for them as possible.  Resources that can help can be found in our Shared Resources section.

Advocate to have times for adults to share their experience of calling

Find times for adults to share about ways they have been called by God, and for youth to share what God is doing in their lives — especially after mission trips, camp, and retreats.

Help support the youth group

Ask your youth director or education committee if there is anything you can do to help support them, whether by providing a meal, helping recruit volunteers to be youth sponsors or Sunday school teachers, or helping connect with mission work opportunities or speakers.

Volunteer to be a youth sponsor

Give young people the gift of your time.  Youth need steady exposure to adults who care about their faith life and their call journey.  Plus, you’ll be showing your youth coordinator that you walk the walk when it comes to supporting young people.

Reaching Out in Your Community

The Church is more than just your congregation.  Be a part of broadening your congregation’s connection to other ministries that can support your work with young people.

Strengthen connections to your local campus ministry

Work with your church leadership to have an area campus minister come and speak at your church about what campus ministry looks like and does for students.  Especially invite campus ministers or representatives from the schools in your area that are associated with your denomination.

Strengthen connections to your area Christian camps

Have a representative from a Christian camp in your area (especially from your denomination) come and speak at your church about the difference camping makes in the lives of young people.  Be sure to ask if there are any ways your church can support them, even if just through prayer or helping make connections to services they need.

Notice and talk about the strengths you see in others

Tell the young people in your life (your young adult, their friends, other young people in your church or community) the strengths you see in them. They might not know what’s unique about themselves. Your comments could help them recognize the skills and abilities God has given them.

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