Audio by artist matthew_watts

This workshop will lay out a strategy that shows the church how to establish a comprehensive mentoring initiative that will focus on mentoring youth in schools, juvenile courts and incarceration facilities, foster care and children and youth athletic programs. The mentoring relationships will serve as the bridge to share the Gospel with youth and their families.

Research suggests that a youth’s bond with school, access to caring adults, and involvement in structured after-school activities are developmental assets that help reduce at-risk behaviors. This workshop presents the HOPE-TALKS mentoring model that focuses on developing youth leadership skills using both peer-to-peer and youth-adult interactions, and the TALKS Mentoring Curriculum which has used ‘Talks My Father/Mother Never Had With Me” in schools since 1995.