Journey to Adulthood (J2A)

J2A is a downloadable resource offered to churches and schools on an annual membership basis. There are three two-year segments included in the program:

Rite-13: The first two years (Grades 6-7 or 7-8) celebrate the individuality of each young teen and their creative potential, while exploring Biblical stories of God and God's people. The Rite-13 liturgy (Celebration of Manhood and Womanhood) is the community expression of this and serves as a rite of passage from childhood towards adulthood.

J2A: The next segment (Grades 8-9 or 9-10) helps teens create and understand the importance of Christian community as they develop critical thinking and other skills they will need in adulthood.  The end of J2A is marked with a spiritual pilgrimage that is often a life-changing experience for the group.

YAC: This mentor-based program helps older teens (11th and 12th graders) discern and carry out a ministry within their church or in the larger community. Vocation and development of a personal credo are also emphasized. A final rite of passage sends them out into the world as ambassadors of Christ.

Download an overview and sample pages to learn more...

A J2A membership includes six years of program materials downloadable from the website, program additions, access to other J2A congregations through online forums and more!

Become a member!

Congregations become J2A members and are billed annually for their membership fee. We recommend congregations use a discernment process as they decide whether or not to use this program. We ask that congregations make a commitment to use the program for three years because we know that it takes most congregation that long before the program is established and working well. The temptation is to quit after the first year or so presents challenges -- so the request for a three year commitment is to ensure that you get to the point where you can see how J2A really works. We can count on congregations "getting it" about the middle of the third year. After that, most congregation use J2A successfully for many years. However, we do not want to minimize the effort needed to get the program started especially since it asks for a much higherinvestment from the congregation than just hiring or recruiting a single youth leader.

NEW: The Center for Youth Ministry 

J2A is included in the new Center for Youth Ministry membership that also gives you access to three other youth ministry programs four confirmation programs and a host of other resources. Judicatory memberships or sponsorships for dioceses, synods, etc. also are available -- they allow a judictory to pay a flat fee for access to all materials for all of their congregations or provide their congregations with a 25% discount on their membership.