Children, Youth and Families in the Diocese of Algoma
We need your help to create the next plan.
At Synod 2025, our churches agreed to revise the Diocese of Algoma’s current youth ministry plan and entrusted the Diocesan Executive Committee with this task.
This is more than an administrative exercise. It is an invitation to listen carefully to the realities of ministry across our Diocese, to learn from what has changed, to recognize where life and hope are already present, and to shape a path forward together.
What is the Current Plan?
What Is the Current Plan?
The Diocese’s current plan provides a framework for child and youth ministry at parish, deanery, and diocesan levels.
Our current Pastoral Plan for Child & Youth Ministry offers vision, goals, and structures to encourage ministry at the Parish, Deanery, and Diocesan levels.
It outlines a system in which the child and youth ministry efforts of congregations are supported at the Deanery level by a youth group (Unit), Coordinator, and paid Facilitator; all of which are supported at the Diocesan level by the Youth Ministry Committee and an annual Youth Synod.
The most recent revision of this plan was in 2011.
That plan reflected the needs and possibilities of its time, and it provided an important framework for ministry in many communities across Algoma.
Why Are We Due for a Revision?
Why Are We Due for a Revision?
Ministry realities have shifted significantly—and continue to change.
The original consultation document names two realities with honesty and clarity.
First, the Deanery and Diocesan support system eroded during the pandemic and has not recovered. This in turn affected parishes, which continue to struggle to rebuild ministry amid financial and volunteer limitations.
Many congregations know this reality well. Energy is precious. Leadership can be hard to find. Time is limited. In some places, even maintaining existing ministries requires creativity and perseverance.
Second, the nature of child and youth ministry is changing.
Family-based, online, ecumenical, and intergenerational models of ministry are replacing or supplementing traditional youth groups and Sunday schools.
These new models have the potential to better integrate faith into everyday life and can be adapted to suit a church’s abilities and resources.
This is an important insight. The question before us is not simply how to restore past structures, but how to recognize the forms of ministry that are emerging now—and how the Diocese can support them well.
How Will the Revision Take Place?
How Will the Revision Take Place?
This work begins with listening—and will unfold in stages across the Diocese.
The work begins by listening to congregations across the Diocese. This survey is the first step in that process and is intended to gather practical insight from those closest to parish life.
What we hear will be reviewed by the Diocesan Executive Committee and will help identify themes, priorities, and possible next steps. It may also help identify people from across the Diocese who could contribute their experience, ideas, and wisdom to the next phase of the work.
From there, a smaller working group will help prepare a draft plan. That work will continue in conversation with diocesan leadership and with youth ministry resource persons from other dioceses, provinces, and the national church. There will also be further opportunities for consultation so that any proposed direction can be tested, refined, and strengthened.
The goal is to bring a revised plan to Diocesan Synod in 2027 for consideration by representatives from our congregations.
What Are We Hoping to Learn?
What Are We Hoping to Learn?
We want to understand both the challenges and the strengths present across the Diocese.
We want to hear honestly about the realities congregations are facing today.
Some communities have active ministries already underway. Others are rebuilding after disruption. Some are experimenting with new approaches, while others may be uncertain where to begin. Every context has something important to teach the wider Diocese.
We hope to better understand the challenges parishes are facing, including leadership capacity, finances, volunteer energy, changing demographics, and uncertainty about what kinds of ministry models are most realistic or fruitful.
We also want to identify strengths already present across Algoma: places where children and youth are participating in worship and service, where families are being engaged well, and where creative models of ministry are already taking root.
Just as importantly, we want to know what support would be most helpful from the Diocese in the years ahead, and what people would like to see included in a renewed plan—or retained from the current one.
Who Should Respond?
Who Should Respond?
We invite a broad cross-section of people from across the Diocese to take part.
We hope to hear from people across the Diocese, including:
- Clergy
- Wardens
- Lay leaders
- Volunteers
- Parents and grandparents
- Youth leaders
- Parish members
- Young people and young adults
If you are in a multi-point parish, you are welcome to respond collaboratively or from the perspective of an individual congregation.