CYIA is Coming!

Many instructors of teachers are called upon to train summer missionaries in CYIA™ programs. Here in the states, CYIA training varies in length and content. Some use the CYIA manual presented by the USA Ministries department in training the teens for summer ministry. Others use TCE™ Level 1. Those of you in other countries probably have a variety of training approaches as well.

This summer’s series in the states, The Wordless Book Visualized, presents a number of challenges for those who use TCE Level 1. There are actually four different types of lessons in this series: topical, Gospel account, evangelistic narrative and spiritual growth. Since TCE Level 1 is designed to be used with evangelistic narrative passages, you will need to help the students understand how to teach the three other types of lessons.

Our TCE Program Director, Lynne Herlein, has put together some helps that can be included in the Bible lesson teaching sessions to clarify how to handle each type of lesson in this series. These notes are designed to supplement either the CYIA manual or TCE Level 1 notes. Worksheets are also provided to give you helpful information. All of the notes are in several documents (both in Microsoft Word and PDF files) on the CEF download site. You can access these documents by clicking Here.

We realize that those of you outside of the states may be on a different cycle of summer lessons. You may want to access this material anyway and keep it on file for future use. If you have questions regarding these notes or how to incorporate them into the training at CYIA, contact lynne.herlein@cefonline.com.

CYIA training is a wonderful opportunity to disciple Christian teens and help them develop skills, not only for summer ministry, but for a lifetime of ministry to children! Just to encourage your heart, check out this wonderful testimony from a club hostess about how God used some teens last summer to bless a neighborhood in a 5-Day Club at Ft. Hood:

“The four young men that taught our 5-Day Club were excellent! They worked so well together. They took cues from each other and transitioned from one part to the next without a hitch; their enthusiasm was contagious! It was so evident that they thoroughly enjoyed teaching all parts of the 5-Day Club; even the singing! Because they were guys, they really kept the kids’ attention. I had mostly boys in our club, so they thought it was really cool to have guys teaching. The kids really felt loved, and felt like they could be themselves, just like the leaders. Thank you for all the time and training you’ve invested in these young men. They were a blessing to our whole neighborhood."

May God richly bless all of you who will be working in CYIA training programs around the world this summer!