Young Leader Formation Workshop – Be My Neighbor: Community Building as Faith Practice
Where are you from? And how has that formed you?
These are questions that participants in this year’s annual Young Leader Formation Workshop were invited to consider. They benefited not only from what they said, but also from what they heard, both from the leader — Karen Monaghan (Flanders) said “I enjoyed this presentation so much — I would have listened to him so much longer!” — and each other.
Entitled Be My Neighbor: Community Building as Faith Practice, the event’s leader was Dr. Clarence E. Wright, Senior Pastor of the Love Zion Baptist Church, and President and Clemens Professor of Missional Theology at Missio Seminary, both in Philadelphia, PA. He is also the inaugural Fellow in Theology and Ministry at the Fred Rogers Institute of St. Vincent College in partnership with Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, and it was the lens of Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood through which the afternoon’s energies were focused.
The Neighborhood
Dr. Wright began by asking for commonalities between two television fixtures for youth that began in the late 1960’s and early ‘70s: Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood and Sesame Street. Despite the wide age range in the room, the longevity of these two programs meant all were familiar with them. He then raised the importance of place to both programs, that despite their suburban and urban differences, both demonstrated a “neighborhood ethic of care,” how those around us not only tend to us, but also form and shape us. “The neighborhood,” he said, is “a place of individual and communal generations where we find identity, where we learn who we are.”
Dr. Clarence Wright
Thank you to the Flemington Presbyterian Church for hosting this event.
The question, “Where are you from?” may sound simple, but even as some might give a quick reply, for others it is more complicated. Is it where you were born, or where you lived, or even where you live right now? For the children of pastors, like those in the military or academia, they may have grown up in any number of places. But, Dr. Wright notes, we all have a choice in identifying where “home” is for us, and why that place stands apart.
It Matters that Jesus is from Nazareth
After showing what home might have meant for Fred Rogers, the workshop then turned what home might have meant for Jesus. Quoting John 1:14A, “The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood” (The Message), participants were reminded that Jesus is from Nazareth, and that that matters. It speaks to the life he lived and chose to live. Despite all that happened to him in Jerusalem, Jesus was born in Bethlehem and he was formed in Nazareth in Galilee, where he ministered and where all but one of his disciples (Judas) was from. And in Matthew, Mark, and John, it was to his hometown of Galilee that the resurrected Jesus returns.
Citing Howard Thurman’s classic book, Jesus and the Disinherited, Wright notes that Jesus was a Jew, and a poor Jew at that, and “a member of a minority group in the midst of a larger dominant and controlling group.” His community of origin made a difference. Tying that to popular super-hero movies and their origin stories, Wright said, “It is one thing to know who they are, another to learn how they became who they are. This is to hear and respect all the pieces that make up a person.”
With that, small groups were formed for in-depth discussion that proved surprisingly revealing, revolving around five questions:
- Where are you from?
- What values or cultural distinctives embody the place (or places) where your identity was formed?
- Who were some of your neighbors?
- Do you still live in the community you first identified as home?
- What values remain with you today?
In those small groups, made up of old friends and friendly-looking strangers, unexpected connections emerged, based on common places, life experiences, and current interests.
It’s harder to hate someone when you know all of their “whys.” Hearing their stories of trauma, home life, family systems, and how a person’s younger life shapes their adult behavior, it is harder to dismiss them. This is even more true in ministry, “where our job is to sympathize with those origin stories.”
Clockwise from the top: Steve Shussett, Clarence Wright, Karen Monaghan, and Mae Martella
From the left: Steve Gaden, Tracy Rynkowski, and Catherine Morgan
Once participants unpacked their own lives, Dr. Wright once again connected the group to the children and youth ministry that brought everyone together for the afternoon.
With youth, their origin story is still being written, still happening, which means the youth you’re ministering to now, someday may be in a group like this, and these will be their core memories and origin stories. Which means it is important that we have the patience to work with them and hear their stories because these stories contribute to who they are becoming. Youth are at the most important age, because no matter where they go, this is where they are from.
What is This?
The second half of the program was entitled “Invited to the Cookout: Food, Communion, and Remembrance,” connecting Communion and common meals. Observing that while the Body of Christ may disagree on the details and theology of the Lord’s Supper, the majority of Christians agree on its importance as a lasting connection to Jesus, and so have some form of Communion in common.
Referring to Luke 22:19, “…and he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, ‘this is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me” (New International Version), Dr. Wright asked, “What is this? Be in community and share a meal? Welcome all to the Table? Breaking and giving? What is this?”
Circling once again back to ministry with children, youth, and young adults, participants were reminded that
Communion is the center for the Christian life, and so that bag of chips and a soda is an opportunity for fellowship, to teach values and community — and they will remember…Sitting with drinks and snacks, being together and remembering is an act of communion, to remember Jesus and one another’s story.
With this, participants were invited to consider a second set of questions, taking these theological concepts and grounding them in personal experience:
- What food has significance to your family and culture?
- Who cooked it best?
- What is the recipe?
- What memories are connected to this food?
Before putting “Food, Communion, and Remembrance” into practice by having dinner together, the workshop itself closed, fittingly, with worship, led by Resource Staff/Stated Clerk Steve Shussett, who staffs the Young Leader Formation Team. The liturgy was taken from the Presbyterian Youth Triennium, about which participants had learned through Triennium Adult Leaders Mae Martella and Steve Gaden (both of Morris Plains Presbyterian Church), with Triennium-related music provided by Amy Clarkson, Moderator of the Young Leader Formation Team, and her husband, Rev. Tim Clarkson (Union Hill/Succasunna).
Rooted in 1 Timothy 4:12 (The Message), “Teach believers with your life: by word, by demeanor, by love, by faith, by integrity,” the focus of Shussett’s message was the Bible as a living Word and not a historical artifact, coming to life in “The Second Greatest Story Ever Told,” which, he said, is every individual’s personal story. “Yes, the Bible is written down, its words anchored in ancient texts. But they are not merely words of history — Scripture is God’s story and our story. Living and active, a story being written today and every day, not just for those of us hearing this, but for all of us, everywhere.”
Communion at Triennium (top) and communing together
With that he offered another set of provocative questions, from by Gretchen E. Ziegenhals in her article “What stories should we tell?”
- What stories should we tell? What are the core values we convey when we tell them?
- How do we avoid telling just the easy stories? How do we honor the neglected and uncomfortable ones?
- Are our stories of fear or of hope? Do we root our stories in our faith or in our doubts?
- What stories do our institutions tell our young people? Are they stories that encourage and sustain?
- Are they stories of sacrifice, thriving and hope?
- In what ways might hopeful stories help attract and form that elusive generation of young people who are not interested in the church?
- How do we choose which story will define us?
- How do we choose a story that promises “a new start” versus “more of the same”?
Thank you to the Flemington Presbyterian Church and their staff for hosting this event, and to all of the leaders and participants. This was the third annual Young Leader Formation Workshop, and folks have learned to circle the Sunday before Labor Day weekend on their calendars.
Karen Monaghan wrote, “Loved the speaker and the communion with fellow youth advisors; I look forward to this gathering with fellow Christians each year.”
Pencil in August 30, 2026 for the next Young Leader Formation Workshop, and watch the Young Leader Formation webpage for recaps and upcoming events!
An annual highlight of the Young Leader Formation Workshop is sharing tips and ideas with other children and youth ministry leaders. In addition to all of the questions throughout this article, Steve Gaden provided one of the biggest raves of the day with an icebreaker to remember!
Q&A Beach Ball
Take a medium-sized beach ball and blow it up. Then on each panel, write one thought-provoking question. Toss the ball around your group, with the person catching it having to answer the question on whichever panel their thumb is on. (Two thumbs and two panels – they get to choose!)
These are the questions Steve had us answer at the workshop, but feel free to find or choose your own!
- Do you eat or drink soup?
- If animals could talk, which would be the most sarcastic?
- Do you think that life exists on other planets?
- What is your favorite corny joke?
- If you could master any skill, what would it be?
- Which superpower would you never want to have?
