Children, Youth & Young Adults

Children & Youth – from Sharon Hull

First Third’s Ministry Forum (Children, Youth and Young Adults)

We would like your input on Regional Council Children, Youth and Young Adult events. If you are a Child, Youth, Young Adult or a leader in Ministry for this group please consider joining our forum. We will meet online 2 to 4 times a year to discuss Regional Council events for First Third’s Ministry (Child to Age 30). Please email Sharon Hull @ shull@united-church.ca if you are interested in being a part of the Forum or if you have any questions.

Camps

Quin-Mo Lac – Registration is open for 2026- please check the camp website https://quin-mo-lac.org/

Opportunities for Youth and Young Adults

National – 2026 Indigenous-Racialized Young Scholars Program: We are looking for 4-6 youth/young people, ages 18 – 26, who are Indigenous or Racialized and are interested in participating in a 10-week research program rooted in leadership, creativity, and community engagement.

This program offers a supportive space for youth to explore and celebrate their identities while examining issues that impact their communities. Participants will choose a research topic that is meaningful to them, write an essay, and present their findings in a creative form (i.e. painting, short film, dance, or poetry). Through this experience, youth will build research and leadership skills while contributing to the ongoing work of the United Church of Canada to be a more just, diverse, intercultural, courageous, and faithful community.

The research findings and creative projects will be shared with communities of faith (CoFs) through brief presentations led by the youth participants from September to December. As part of the research experience, participants must be available to travel to Norway House, Manitoba for 4 – 5 days, providing an opportunity for deeper learning, relationship-building, and community engagement. Dates will be provided closer to the program’s start date.

Program Details:

• 10 weeks of research
• Orientation: May 11th & 12th
• Program begins: May 13th – July 15th
• Presentation dates with CoFs: TBD in the fall
• Weekly individual and group check-ins over Zoom
• Location: Scholars will work remotely on their projects with supervision from Program Facilitator
• Honorarium of $23/hour, 15 hours per week (begins during orientation)

If you are interested in being part of this meaningful research journey, we warmly encourage you to apply using the link below. We look forward to learning with and from you. **Applications close on April 27th. ** https://forms.office.com/r/jReSqHUXHy

 

Gibimishkaadimin is a journey of reconciliation, engaging Indigenous and Non-Indigenous youth from across Canada, in collaborative and experiential learning through an Indigenous lens. Gibimishkaadimin is an Indigenous word representing “paddling together by boat”. This program of reconciliation is a youth leadership opportunity, seeking to provide youth with the opportunity to develop relationships with each other and with the land on a canoe trip in Lake Temagami.
Specific details are provided on the web site: TRIP DETAILS | home which also includes the application. Application deadline is April 30.

 

National Indigenous Spiritual Gatherings Youth Forum: An invitation for Indigenous youth (aged 15-25) who want to attend the National Indigenous Spiritual Gathering from July 15-19, 2026 at Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario. William Miller, Youth Leadership Program Support, Indigenous Ministries and Justice, United Church of Canada, will be leading the Indigenous “Youth/Young Adult Forum” for the Gathering, which will be a week of exploring Indigenous cultures and an opportunity to help envision a path forward for us as young Indigenous people within the Church. Please click HERE to register. More information to come. Deadline for registration is May 8th, 2026.