Included in this Resource List is our own Diocesan Faith Formation Library, as well as resources we have collected from across the internet. This list is not meant to be exhaustive, but to serve as a starting point for congregational leaders. If you would like a resource included or curated, please reach out to Heather Campbell, Diocesan Youth Minister.
Administrative
Event Planning & Management Parent Folder – Resources created by & for our diocese
- Event Planning resources
- Major Event Notebook Template from Ministry Architects
- Sample Event registration forms (including copyable Google Forms)
- Example Parent Packet for Overnight Events
- Event Evaluation Survey (from Ministry Architects)
- Post-Event Youth Reflection Survey (copyable Google Form)
- Single-Event Medical Release Form & Permission Slip
- How to Plan Your Entire Year in One Day (YMU Course)
- Themed Activity & Events templates and ideas
- Graduation Sunday Ideas
- Fundraiser Ideas
- Service & Outreach
Forms – Medical, Releases, Waivers, New Student Card Parent Folder – Resources created by & for our diocese
- Medical Release Form – both paper and Google Forms that you can replicate
- Medication Check-In Forms
- New Student Cards
- Special Needs Parent Questionnaire
- Student Request Card – for prayer requests, invite you to a game, etc.
How-To’s: Resources & Information Parent Folder – Resources created by & for our diocese
Volunteers Parent Folder – Resources created by & for our diocese
- Recruiting
- Retaining
- Raising Up
Any of the items that we use at Diocesan Events — games, crafts, etc. are in a physical library for congregational use.
Click here to view the list of items. Email Heather to borrow.
Curriculums
Confirm Not Conform
Confirm not Conform Episcopal retains a strong Anglican ethos, deeply exploring Scripture, Tradition, and Reason.
Confirmation Collaborative
A study done by Virginia Theological Seminary thatsought to provide Christian leaders with examples of good practiceand strategies that are effective in helping young Christians grow as disciples of Jesus Christ.
Journey to Adulthood
Journey to Adulthood is an online, downloadable youth ministry program of spiritual formation for 6th-12th grades. Fully revised and updated, it is centered on inclusive, relational ministry and uses Bible study, prayer, rites of passage, and outreach ministries. Creative, developmentally appropriate lessons are arranged within three categories of Self, Society, and Spirituality.
Dollar Store Children Sermons
These lesson plans follow the lectionary and are written by a pastor in the ELCA.
Episcopal Lesson Plans That Work
These lesson plans are written by experienced church teachers using practical approaches to respond to the needs of volunteer teachers. They are designed to follow the Revised Common Lectionary and published by The Episcopal Church.
Grow Curriculum
Very loosely based on this lectionary, this ecumenical year-long curriculum includes everything you need for a youth meeting, even including annual events. You can also level up your membership to include a strategy for developing leaders and partnering with parents. Grow partners with a variety of authors from all kinds of different backgrounds. Each year, they include more and more progressive voices; so if you checked it out years ago and didn’t like it, request a free sample of their current curriculum to see if it’s a good fit!
The Bible Project videos
All of our videos are short visual explanations that show how the Bible is a unified story that leads to Jesus.
Building Faith Curriculum Center
Part of Life Long Learning from the Virginia Theological Seminary
Diversity Course
Diversity is one of a series of modules developed for Older Youth who are in senior high school. The curriculum is basedon the promises made in the Baptismal Covenant found in The Book of Common Prayer.
How2Charist
Digitally instructed Eucharist
Episcopal Nuts and Bolts
D365
A daily devotion written for youth and adults. The devotion follows a five-step format–Pause, Listen, Think, Pray, Go.
Six Smooth Stones
A simple book introducing spiritual practices and their benefit.
10 Things Christians should know about the Episcopal Church
Core beliefs of the church, including the Book of Common Prayer, Baptismal Covenant, Creeds, and Sacraments
The Episcopal Christian Educators Handbook – Builds upon the success of The Episcopal Handbook, this handbook taps into and expands on the most accessed pages of the Building Faith website and its online resource room.
https://www.episcopalchurch.org/ministries/youth-ministries/
How our youth are invited to participate in the Episcopal church at the global level.
Forma
A collaborative site with resources gleaned from youth workers across the Episcopal church.
Examples of forms and tools
Updated in 2018, these policies are a statement for the Episcopal Church, setting forth expectations for its leaders in their relationships with children and youth. The purpose of these model policies is to foster the highest standards of behavior in ministry settings.
Resources for Youth Leaders
Books for Parents
- And Then They Stopped Talking to Me: Making Sense of Middle School
- Faithful Families Series
- Right Click: Parenting Your Teenager In A Digital Media World
- Sticky Faith: Everyday Ideas to Build Lasting Faith in Your Kids
Books for Teenagers
- 3 Big Questions that Shape Your Future
- Beyond the Spiral: Why You Shouldn’t Believe Everything Anxiety Tells You
General Leadership
- The 4 Disciplines of Execution: Revised and Updated: Achieving Your Wildly Important Goals
- Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts.
- Fierce Conversations: Achieving Success at Work and in Life One Conversation at a Time
- The Leadership Challenge: How to Make Extraordinary Things Happen in Organizations
General Youth Ministry
- Faith Beyond Youth Group: Five Ways to Form Character and Cultivate Lifelong Discipleship
- Growing Young: Six Essential Strategies to Help Young People Discover and Love Your Church
- Leading a Special Needs Ministry
- Ministry by Teenagers: Developing Leaders from Within
- Revisiting Relational Youth Ministry: From a Strategy of Influence to a Theology of Incarnation
- Speaking to Teenagers: How to Think About, Create, and Deliver Effective Messages
- Sustainable Youth Ministry: Why Most Youth Ministry Doesn’t Last and What Your Church Can Do About It
Mental Health & The Brain
- The Anxious Teen: Ministry with Stressed and Fearful Students
- Boosting Mental Toughness for Teenagers: Reduce Stress, Tackle Social Anxiety, Conquer Fear, and Build Social Confidence
- Brainstorm: The Power and Purpose of the Teenage Brain
- A Parent’s Guide to Understanding Teenage Brains: Why They Act the Way They Do
- The Teenage Brain: Understanding Anxiety and Depression in Teenagers: A Guide for Parents, Counselors and Teens
- Seen: Despair and Anxiety in Kids and Teenagers and the Power of Connection
Organizational Leadership
- Do More Better: A Practical Guide to Productivity
- How to Keep House While Drowning: A Gentle Approach to Cleaning and Organizing
- Organizing Solutions for People with ADHD, 3rd Edition: Tips and Tools to Help You Take Charge of Your Life and Get Organized
Sex & Sexuality
- A Brief guide to Ministry with LGBTQIA Youth
- Queerfully and Wonderfully Made: A Guide for LGBTQ+ Christian Teens (for youth) Provides answers to the most pressing questions about sexuality, gender, mental health, safe sex, and more. We recommend parents preview the youth addition before giving to a teenager, as the book may have varying reactions to it.
- Welcoming and Affirming: A Guide to Supporting and Working with LGBTQ+ Christian Youth (for adults)
Soul Care for Youth Leaders
- Bonhoeffer as Youth Worker: A Theological Vision for Discipleship and Life Together
- Celebration of Discipline
- Contemplative Youth Ministry
- Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership
Working with Volunteers
- 30 Icebreakers for Youth Groups
- 30 Youth Group Games & Activities
- Download Youth Ministry – Great for powerpoint games
- IndyDio Group Games – Human Bingo, Icebreaker Questions, Speed-Friending, 2024 Fall Retreat Games, and more!
- The Source 4 YM – Great website where you can filter size of group, length of game, prep time, location, and supplies needed. You can even choose your grossness level.
Youth Ministry Podcasts
The best Youth Ministry podcasts from thousands of podcasts on the web and ranked by traffic, social media followers & freshness.
- 2025-2026 Workshops
- Leading the Leaders: Recruiting, Retaining, and Raising up Leaders
- Programming with a Purpose
- Growing Young
- Leading Up
- Intergenerational Ministry
- Neurodiversity
- Trauma-Informed Ministry
- Dismantling Racism
Topical Lessons & Resources
Becoming Beloved Community Labyrinth
The Episcopal Church’s work toward racial reconciliation, healing and justice is guided by the long-term commitment to Becoming Beloved Community. We organize our ministries around the four quadrants of the labyrinth. Each quadrant represents a commitment that is vital to lasting change within us, our churches, our communities and society at large.
Dismantling Racism: A Youth Curriculum (Part of the Absalom Jones Center for Racial Healing)
Beloved Arise Youth Alliance
A youth-led network committed to making the world a safer, more loving place for LGBTQ+ youth of faith. The Alliance is open to youth and young adults (ages 14-24) and is free to join!
The Naming Project
The Naming Project is a Christian ministry that walks with youth wherever they are on their own faith journey. Youth from around the country attend our summer camp, and we communicate with youth, parents, pastors, youth workers, and others who care for LGBTQ youth.
Reconciling Works
A Lutheran organization focused on teaching how to be inclusive.
Transepiscopal
TransEpiscopal is a group of transgender, nonbinary, and allied Episcopalians dedicated to fostering the full embrace of trans and nonbinary people, and our loved ones within the Episcopal Church and to inspiring faith-based advocacy for trans and nonbinary justice in the wider world. This includes a list of resources for families, youth, and parishes.
Becoming Beloved Community
Christian formation resources including curriculum, films, and books
Climate Justice for Youth and Young Adults
As disciples of Jesus Christ, we seek truth and practice faith. “The curriculum assumes that young adults are familiar with the basic facts about climate change: it is real, it is human-caused, it is a long-range consequence of the industrial revolution (when society began to burn fossil fuels), the impacts are serious and those impacts unjustly fall on the poorest and most vulnerable. If you are not sure that everyone is familiar with these facts, include review of them in your opening sessions.”
Episcopal Curriculum for Youth
Youth will be able to plan a study of peace and justice issues that relate to their lives.
Liturgy & Worship – Parent Folder of resources created by & for the diocese
- 2024 Fall Retreat Worship & Craftivism Stations
- Advent Resources
- Christmas Resources
- Back-to-School Prayers & Backpack Blessings
- Choose-Your-Own-Adventure Morning & Evening Prayer (from 2023 Mission Trip)
- Instructed Eucharist
- Prayers of the People Activity
- Prayer Stations
- Anglican Prayer Beads
- Making at At-Home Altar
Church Publishing
Church Publishing produces an expansive portfolio that includes official worship materials and resources for The Episcopal Church, such as hymnals and prayer books as well as books on a range of topics that support clergy and lay employees of the church.
Episcopal Health Foundation
A list of resources available to the Episcopal Church in regard to mental health needs.
Mental Health First Aid
Mental Health First Aid is a course that teaches you how to identify, understand and respond to signs of mental illnesses and substance use disorders. The training gives you the skills you need to reach out and provide initial help and support to someone who may be developing a mental health or substance use problem or experiencing a crisis.
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration
Federal resources regarding mental health.
Teen Wellness Compass
Curriculum for kids, youth, and adults on mental health and wholeness.
