The following article is from the May/June 2008 issue of Encompass. Encompass is a free, monthly publication produced by the American Anglican Council.  If you would like to receive Encompass click here  and join the AAC. There are no membership fees or dues required for AAC membership. 

Young Anglicans Project helps rewrite the book on discipleship

By Ralinda B. Gregor, Executive Editor

The Rev. Dr. Jack Gabig has a passion for reaching the younger generation, but contrary to what you might expect, he’s not focused on evangelism. “Evangelism is only an introduction to a discipled life,” said Gabig, the director of the Young Anglicans Project, a new stand-alone ministry that began as part of the Anglican Communion Network (ACN). Aimed at ministering to Anglicans from birth to age 30, the Young Anglicans Project is involved in many facets of discipling young people to help them develop strong faith and love for Jesus.

Gabig, an adjunct faculty member at both Trinity and Nashotah House seminaries, has more than 23 years of experience in children, youth and young adult ministries in the U.S. and U.K. He sees the family as the center of all that the ministry does to build up the next generation of orthodox Anglicans in the U.S., both inside and outside of the Episcopal Church. “We believe that the most effective and biblical means of cultivating discipleship in young people is through families (Deut. 6:4-8) and that the support of families in their ministry should be one of the top priorities of the Church,” he said. “The ACN has invested heavily in launching the Young Anglicans Project. We pray that Anglicans of many jurisdictions will join with us in supporting this important ministry,” said Canon Daryl Fenton, chief operating officer of the Network. The Project is helping to build a foundation for teaching biblical Anglicanism worldwide through its work in offering an American response to the Anglican Catechism in Outline (ACIO) developed by the Global South Anglican Theological Formation and Education Task Force, a committee of scholars appointed by the Global South Primates.

The ACIO provides a common theological framework for the catechism, the essentials of the faith which are taught to new believers to help them become faithful disciples of Jesus. The ACIO also looks at different ways Anglicans have addressed the catechetical process in an effort to help churches and provinces determine how best to disciple their members. The catechism of the 1662 prayer book is the starting point for answering “What does it mean to be a Christian?” and “What does it mean to be an Anglican?”

Gabig will gather bishops, theologians, clergy and youth and children’s ministers from Anglican jurisdictions throughout the U.S. to address these questions at a Cradle to Grave Discipleship Symposium. It will be held at Trinity School for Ministry, Ambridge, Penn., on June 10-12, and registration information is available at www.young-anglicans.org.

Gabig noted that some people are saying they would like to see a whole new catechism because the current question and answer format is not particularly helpful for teaching the faith. Another pressing need for Anglicans in the U.S. is a complete change in the orientation of the catechism from anthropological to theological. The catechism in the 1979 Book of Common Prayer is presented as what we say about God rather than focusing on how God has revealed himself to us, he explained. “We need to do this right with scripture as the plumb line,” Gabig said.

In addition to addressing the catechism, the Young Anglicans Project is busy developing curriculum for Christian education.

“I probably get two to four calls a week from people asking for curriculum,” Gabig said. “We’ve done a lot of work in the past year and there are several things in draft form.” He pointed to some excellent work done by the Falls Church on first communion training, the Diocese of Pittsburgh on confirmation, and the Diocese of South Carolina on helping churches train parents to model and teach their faith to their children.

The Young Anglicans Project is trying to raise money to form teams to write age appropriate curriculum and produce multimedia teaching materials. Compounding the difficulty of the task is the need to address a variety of approaches to biblical Anglicanism that range from Anglo-Catholic to evangelical as well as charismatic emphasis.

The Rev. Jack Gabig

In the meantime, the Young Anglicans Project web site serves a vital role as a source of free resources to address a wide range of teaching needs. About 150 youth and children’s ministry practitioners are on board and actively sharing what has worked well for them. Everything from a home-based backyard vacation Bible school program called Bible Bits to short term missions training to youth group teaching activities are posted on the site for anyone to use.

The material is not categorized yet, but it has all been reviewed before being posted, Gabig said. Users can tailor their search to different ages: children, youth, campus or young adult ministry.

Closely aligned with this effort to disciple young people is a new method to train and equip the people who disciple them. The Anglican Academy offers online training to lay persons in Children and Youth Ministry as well as Evangelism and Discipleship and Church Planting. A Missions track is currently being developed by the Anglican Global Mission Partners, a network of missionary agencies and churches. The level of instruction is not as difficult as seminary level work, but it provides excellent training to prepare lay persons for ministry, Gabig said.

The courses are administered and graded by instructors at Ridley Hall theological training college, Cambridge, England, and online forums allow students to “chat” with instructors and other students. Courses are inexpensive, ranging from $60 a course to $520 for all 10 courses required to earn a Bishops Certificate in a specific track. Depending on how much time a student wants to devote to studies, Gabig estimates that a person can complete the coursework for a Bishop’s Certificate in three months to two years.

The Young Anglicans Project also hosts several networking and training events for children and youth ministry workers. Last year’s annual conference addressed family ministry and this year the catechism will be the primary focus. Summits held every six months are another opportunity for training, networking and community building among the Project members. Frequent regional training events tailored to the needs of the participants are led by seven experienced members of the Young Anglicans Project.

“We’d love for more children and youth ministry practitioners to join us,” Gabig said. “Our goal is to be a resource for all churches committed to orthodox biblical Anglicanism, no matter what ecclesial jurisdiction they minister in.”

For more information or to contact Gabig, go to www.young-anglicans.org and www.anglican-academy.org.