Visionary Notebook Project
The Visionary Notebook Project
I noticed throughout our beginning years in youth ministry that much of what we hoped to pass on to youth through church experiences was good for the day, the week, the month, or the school year, but didn’t seem to take hold as much as we hoped. Yes, some students were able to retain and apply these skills for life. For others, though, much got lost in the day to day struggles and busyness of life. How could we get more of the Faith Stones from our Outcome-Based Youth Ministry concept to stick, grow, and develop for the long haul?
I began to realize that youth needed a framework for the discipleship. They needed a place to record experiences, to organize written thoughts, and to store lessons learned on matters of faith. They needed a place to compile written hopes, goals, and dreams for the future.
The Visionary Notebook is a tool we have developed to meet that need.
The Visionary Notebook is a three ring binder that corresponds with the Faith Stones we teach. It is a place for young people to store virtually every handout we give them from middle school through high school. It has tabs to help them keep, organize, and be able to refer back to every SOAP Bible Study sheet, those extensive thankful lists, their written standards to live by, purpose prayers, devotional worksheets, representations of their Faith Webs, etc.
The Visionary Notebook has become much more than just a notebook to store papers. We have found that the Visionary Notebook becomes uniquely personal for each individual as he or she chooses to use it:
More than anything, I consider the Visionary Notebook project to be a journey. It is a creative process which evolves over time as a young person prayerfully considers and discerns God’s call in his or her life.
We give a Visionary Notebook to each young person as he or she begins middle school, and in our ministry we add to the notebook regularly. Each and every month, we have multiple items that we add to or update in the notebooks. We revisit the notebook often.
It is my sincere prayer each student I work with develops a Visionary Notebook that becomes a living, breathing, working tool that integrates life and faith for ongoing lifelong discipleship.
Are your wheels turning yet? Consider this…
Imagine your students having their very own Visionary Notebooks containing everything you have taught them over the last few years. Imagine youth showing up to class or events with a notebook in hand that is bulging at the seams. Imagine teens asking to get together with you to further develop specific sections of their notebooks. Imagine by the time they graduate from high school that youth have outgrown the one inch binder you gave them and their Visionary Notebook library is now made up of three or four notebooks. Imagine adults in their 20s and 30s connecting with you and telling you how they are currently utilizing their notebook in their faith journey.
Yep, we experience the above on a regular basis.
Contact Us to join faithwebbing.com gain access to the Visionary Notebook Project along with the lesson plans and training opportunities for its use.
I noticed throughout our beginning years in youth ministry that much of what we hoped to pass on to youth through church experiences was good for the day, the week, the month, or the school year, but didn’t seem to take hold as much as we hoped. Yes, some students were able to retain and apply these skills for life. For others, though, much got lost in the day to day struggles and busyness of life. How could we get more of the Faith Stones from our Outcome-Based Youth Ministry concept to stick, grow, and develop for the long haul?
I began to realize that youth needed a framework for the discipleship. They needed a place to record experiences, to organize written thoughts, and to store lessons learned on matters of faith. They needed a place to compile written hopes, goals, and dreams for the future.
The Visionary Notebook is a tool we have developed to meet that need.
The Visionary Notebook is a three ring binder that corresponds with the Faith Stones we teach. It is a place for young people to store virtually every handout we give them from middle school through high school. It has tabs to help them keep, organize, and be able to refer back to every SOAP Bible Study sheet, those extensive thankful lists, their written standards to live by, purpose prayers, devotional worksheets, representations of their Faith Webs, etc.
The Visionary Notebook has become much more than just a notebook to store papers. We have found that the Visionary Notebook becomes uniquely personal for each individual as he or she chooses to use it:
- as a diary where youth can place their most intimate thoughts, ideas, and feelings;
- as a scrapbook where youth can store awards, ribbons, certificates of achievement, grade cards, etc.;
- as a place to keep lists, written standards to live by, financial goals, documentation of service experiences and ministry plans; or
- as a prayer manual where youth may pray through goals, hopes, and dreams for life including photos of people who are important to them.
More than anything, I consider the Visionary Notebook project to be a journey. It is a creative process which evolves over time as a young person prayerfully considers and discerns God’s call in his or her life.
We give a Visionary Notebook to each young person as he or she begins middle school, and in our ministry we add to the notebook regularly. Each and every month, we have multiple items that we add to or update in the notebooks. We revisit the notebook often.
It is my sincere prayer each student I work with develops a Visionary Notebook that becomes a living, breathing, working tool that integrates life and faith for ongoing lifelong discipleship.
Are your wheels turning yet? Consider this…
Imagine your students having their very own Visionary Notebooks containing everything you have taught them over the last few years. Imagine youth showing up to class or events with a notebook in hand that is bulging at the seams. Imagine teens asking to get together with you to further develop specific sections of their notebooks. Imagine by the time they graduate from high school that youth have outgrown the one inch binder you gave them and their Visionary Notebook library is now made up of three or four notebooks. Imagine adults in their 20s and 30s connecting with you and telling you how they are currently utilizing their notebook in their faith journey.
Yep, we experience the above on a regular basis.
Contact Us to join faithwebbing.com gain access to the Visionary Notebook Project along with the lesson plans and training opportunities for its use.