youth, you can create a program,” she said. “It’s often hard for one church to get critical mass with enough kids.”
Reaching out, answering questions The idea for Ripple grew out of Nancy Wright’s desire to keep Ascension’s youth close to the church. “Youth are critically important to churches,” said Wright, pastor of the 200-member congregation. “Some youth leave the church after confirmation. I don’t know how to reach out to them, but someone like Rachel is the person to do that.” Wright’s experiences growing up in a youth group in Colorado confirmed her interest in starting an ecumeni- cal youth ministry at Ascension. “I knew in my bones and heart it was the right thing to do,” she said. “As a youth, I was asking huge questions about growing up.” Stampul gets a lot of questions too. “Our young people are going through the most turbulent years of their lives—figuring out who they are aside from their parents, going through faith crises,” she said. “For young people who came up through Sunday school, they were taught one level of Christianity. Now, as teens, social morals come up. They hear things in the media and ask, ‘How can the church say this?’ or ‘How can the church be rejecting what I know, who I am?’ “Questions are all over the place. That’s one of the beauties of youth ministry. Kids talk to me about immense frustrations with their families, all the way to the other side of the spectrum like what is a ‘just war,’ and everything in between.”
Biblical interpretations are also a hot topic. “We read about miracles in the Bible and they wonder how to understand them,” Stampul said. “They’re willing to ask anything. They wear their questions on their sleeves and are intense about it. They have no reason to be pretentious about their faith.”
Many of the questions Stampul gets deal with balanc- ing science and religion, often asking if a choice has to be made between the two. “We have to help our children understand the two
together,” she said. “We can’t dumb it down. They don’t have the full life experiences, but now is the time to begin those conversations.”
For more information
Want to know more? Visit Ripple’s website at
www.ripplevt.ning.com. Contact Rachel Stampul at rachelstampul@
gmail.com or Nancy Wright at
pastornancy@alcvt.org.
May 2011 31
To listen, lead and minister A typical Ripple bimonthly Tuesday night gathering consists of about 15 to 20 teens in sixth to twelfth grade meeting around a theme chosen by a youth peer minister. Stampul has taught peer ministers to listen, lead and min- ister so others can deepen their faith. “Peer ministers are great,” she said, “because it’s bet- ter for them to relate to each other than to me. At 32, I’m more than twice their age.”
‘They’re willing to ask anything. They wear their questions on their sleeves and are intense about it. They have no reason to be pretentious
Meetings usually begin with ice-breaking games, fol- lowed by the designated peer minister’s presentation, a talk by Stampul and small-group discussions. Themes have included self-confidence, coping with transitions, world homelessness and environmental justice. Topics are chosen to reflect creating peace with the individual, family, relationships, the community and the world. The group also participates in hands-on service projects like CROP Walk and Habitat for Humanity. Ripple’s core focus is to create peace in the world and peacemakers. “Make it ripple,” reads its mission statement. “We never quite know how one small action, inspired by love to bring about peace might ripple out and change the world.”
Stampul grew up as a Presbyterian about their faith.’
preacher’s kid, attended a Lutheran preschool and Baptist middle school, participated in a Roman Catholic youth group and studied at a Methodist seminary. And she is now seeking ordination in the UCC. It’s no wonder she enjoys the interfaith aspect of Ripple. “I love being across the denominations,” she said. “I would like to see the church step up and bring youth ministry to the forefront,” she added. “I’d like to see the church start more groups now; we’re almost too late.” Stampul hopes Ripple can be a model. For other con- gregations looking to start a program, she advises: “First … make youth ministry a priority. That requires backing up the thought with a checkbook. We often will say we value this, but we don’t put any money there. It needs to be a priority.”
She sums it up this way: “It’s imperative to create the next generation of peacemakers through our churches. Not only does the church need it in order to continue, but the world needs it.”
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