Stewardship: Children and Youth
The future of Holy Innocents’ begins now. Our children and youth are the single most important investment we make in our faith. If we do not teach them to follow Christ now, who will?
At present, there are 545 children and youth 18 and under in our parish. Today is the time to provide substantial resources to support them in their life for Christ. With less than $20,000 per year for our entire program from birth to age 18, we must make substantial improvements in how we fund this critical area. Recent personnel changes will enhance this ministry area, but substantial increases in funding are needed to support this ministry. We want a program of support for our children and youth that gives them the building blocks of the faith for a life-long journey with Christ.
When the new building opens next summer, we will gain classrooms in the 
Parish House (adjacent to the Parish Hall) where nurseries were formerly located. These dedicated 5 classrooms will mean less reliance on school space and will be available for weekday as well as weekend programming. In addition, youth spaces will provide multi-purpose as well as breakout spaces. We must provide the resources to use these spaces wisely.
To Embrace Our Faith: Grow Our Gifts for youth and children, we must provide the following resources.
1. Special Program Days 
We should not expect parents to pay for every program that their children or youth attend; we all bear the responsibility of bringing them up to love and serve the Lord. Unfortunately, to bridge the gap between our income and expenses, we often charge for special programs. For example, we charge each child a fee for Vacation Bible School and limit enrollment because of curriculum and costs. We also charge youth fees for most events and are rarely able to provide scholarships.
When our new facilities open and we can accommodate more participants, we want to see special programs as outreach to the community – bringing in families who do not attend church and expanding our reach into the community. Very simply, to grow our church family, we need to provide multiple children and youth opportunities without charge.
2. Teacher training
Our teachers need professional training to deal with the curricula that we use. With several trainings per year, we will not only provide the expertise to give our teachers confidence in what they are doing, we will also provide times for reflection on what our teachers are learning from our children.
3. Curriculum
We currently use and reuse curricula for our classes. The time and resources necessary to re-write and edit the old curriculum is extensive. We need to provide professional, up-to-date curriculum for children and youth – not only for Sunday School but for multiple programs throughout the week.
4. Confirmation
The model of youth confirmation we have used needs more resources to be successful. Because we want confirmation available to every teen, expanding our confirmation program to the 25 or more youth that qualify for it each year, we plan to modify the program we have had over the last several years; that effort will take more money. We will embark upon a re-structured approach for youth, inviting them to a life of prayer, worship, outreach, and formation using mentors and sponsors.
5. Mission Trip Support
We want all teens to participate in meaningful mission trips during the summer and during an 
alternative Spring Break. Our teens travel to areas hard hit by natural disasters or among those who live without basic necessities. Because we do not currently fund these outreach trips, teens and their parents pay for virtually all of the costs associated with their mission trip, totaling hundreds of dollars for each participant. We should, at a minimum, be able to provide scholarship support for some teens so all can participate in active mission.
6. Continuing education
We must provide the best resources for youth formation in Christ. As a part of that focus, we must provide funds to support our youth director in his own continuing education as well as train our teachers and mentors among youth.
TOTAL INCREASES FOR CHILDREN & YOUTH $30,000 to $40,000