SALTeens (Sharing Abundant Life as Teens)

SALTeens Sunday @ 6 2002-2003 Calendar

September      	Peer Pressure
		Fruit Feast		
                Anger
		See You At The Pole
October		Death
		Tailgate Party
		Honesty
November	Choices
		Heritage Dinner	
		Koosh Questions
December	Eternal vs. Temporary
		Bigger or Better for Toys for Tots
		Christmas Party
                Youth Convention and Knott's New Year's Eve
January		Conformity
                Taste of the Islands
                Civil Disobedience
February	Dating
                Valentine Party
                Lust
March		Decisions
                Taste of Ireland
                Depression
		Seed Packet Pass-Out
April		Emotions
                Food Bank Scavenger Hunt
                Goals
May		Greed
                Taste of the West Family BBQ
                Happiness
June		Justice
                Grad/Promo Party
                Leadership
		Cookie Dough Fund Raiser
July		Loneliness
                Taste of America
                Maturity
		DCLA 
August		Perseverance
		Beach Camp
		Phoniness
		Popsicle Pass-out

		
Week 4 every month URGENCY ROOM

SALTeens Programs--- Squads ---SALT MINES

SALTeens is committed to allowing God to work in and through us to make a positive difference in the lives of the young people in our community. We believe our commitment makes a positive difference from other programs in how we make a positive difference in youth's lives. SALTeens' most significant difference is that faith and spirituality are integral to all that we do. In our cooperation with other programs, we are uncompromising with that difference because we are uncompromising about providing holistic ministry to youth.

Students are spiritually/religiously involved at one of five levels:

Community - Youth who are within the geographical sphere of influence of the group, yet who are not influenced by the group at present and who may not even know the group exists. Making contact with these youth involves meeting them on their turf and reaching them through the members of the group who are at school with them.

Crowd- Youth who attend when the group is doing something they like, usually something they consider fun or entertaining. They make no pretense of any spiritual commitment and simply want to have a good time.

Congregation - Youth within the group who are willing to submit themselves to spiritual growth through participating regularly in faith group meetings and activities. Willingness to submit to growth is not the same as commitment to growth. Youth at this level are not seeking spiritual growth on their own initiative.

Committed - Youth who take the initiative to grow through spiritual disciplines. As they begin to pro-actively participate in their spiritual development they need instruction and tools to help them grow.

Core - Youth willing to take the initiative in reproducing this process in the lives of their friends. They are ready to develop and exercise leadership skills in ministering to their peers, and should be motivated, equipped and mobilized to reach out to youth inside and outside the group.

The purpose of SALTeens is to minister to all youth, at all levels by: targeting students who are seeking answers to spiritual questions, reaching fun-seeking, non-interested, secular students and exposing them to abundant living in positive ways, nurturing students to maturity by building relationships in an environment of love, trust and acceptance; and training students to use their lives, talents, abilities, and God-given gifts to serve their community and share the abundant life they're living with their friends.

We do this by offering students recreational, relational, and service activities in which to develop positive self-esteem, healthy relationships, and service oriented life goals within a faith-based program. Programming, simply put, is arriving at a supportable plan that allows our faith to be in front of students and their faith to be challenged. Programming doesn't replace relationships. Relationships are our goal - programming is the means.

SALTeens programs are available without discrimination on any basis to all teen-aged young people. Membership or participation in other faith community programs is invited but not required.

Many of the young people to whom we minister are not able to participate in SALTeens as fully as they would like due to financial considerations. Any individual or organization seeking to make a contribution in order to help us make a difference in the lives of young people may do so by contacting the SALTeens director. Contributions will be gratefully acknowledged in writing when they are received.

Individuals can also support and encourage a young person as he/she participates in SALTeens activities by becoming Secret Service Agents. Secret Service Agents serve incognito for a period of 4 months and, with other Secret Service Agents, plan and host a party at the end of their service where they are revealed so that the young people they secretly served may show their appreciation. To be a Secret Service Agent, contact the local SALTeens coordinator.

There are a multitude of opportunities for adults to work directly with SALTeens through any of its programs. If you want to make a difference in the lives of the young people of our community, request and turn in an application through the leaders of a SALTeens group.

Squads Every school Wednesday evening from 4-8 for senior high school students. Tutoring and homework help, supper and snacks, Parmenas Partnerships, Miner groups, discussions, recreation, mentoring, XPRS Arts workshops and more.

If a youth appeared before the authorities in some ancient societies because of a perceived transgression, being sent to the salt mines was a possibility. A different kind of SALT MINES, a subsidiary ministry of SALTeens, are a possibility for today's youth experiencing inordinate difficulty growing toward adulthood. The SALT MINES offer the following services to such minors (Miners):

Mentoring - Miners partner with a trained mentor who meets regularly with them to assist growth in perspective and life skills.

Intervention - Mentors and SALTeens staff intervene with social, educational, religious, and judicial systems to ensure that problems are averted before they become too big to handle.

Networking - Mentors and SALTeens staff act as the hub in coordinating a network of supportive services for Miners and their families.

Education - Mentors and SALTeens staff educate Miners and their families in informal and formal settings so that they can learn the skills needed to work together for a successful transition to adulthood.

To access these services, the youth and his/her parent(s)/guardian(s) must sign a contract to abide by all the conditions they and SALTeens staff agree to. This does not guarantee the absolution of other actions which might be undertaken by the judicial, educational, child protective or other governmental systems. However, SALTeens staff will appear before officials to intervene in behalf of youth who, along with their parent(s)/guardian(s), sign such a contract. If at any time the youth or his/her parent(s)/guardian(s) fails to abide by any condition of the contract they signed with SALTeens, the contract will be renegotiated and the officials with whom SALTeens originally intervened will be immediately notified of the failure to abide with the original contract. Should the youth or his/her parent(s)/guardian(s) fail to abide by any condition of the renegotiated contract, all SALTeens services will be terminated and appropriate officials notified of such termination.

Sound tough? We've found that when the going gets tough the tough get going. If you think you're tough enough for the SALT MINES, give us a call.