The Telos Project works with a young adult team to build ministry specific to the unique realities and needs of their parish.

While we do not work on a regional model, we highly encourage participation of young adults in other offerings such as regional or national events!

While we cannot find young adults for your parish, we can help you to think creatively about how to engage young adults when they do come through your door.

Contact us to be connected to one of our coaches who will get a more complete picture of your community and help you to think creatively around this situation.

A key part of the Telos Project curriculum is to create good rhythms and practices that can be handed down from one leader to the next so you are prepared for transitions when they arise.

This is one of the realities of this phase of life. Young adults are transient! So we respond in kind.

Additionally, by participating in the Telos Project and training up young adult leaders, you are benefiting the Orthodox world at large. You’ll be equipping young adults to own their faith and make an impact on the Church no matter where their lives take them, including for the time in which your parish is on their path.

We leave this determination up to the priest’s discretion; we do not have a policy against including catechumens on your leadership team.

We have had catechumens on teams in the past, and it has worked well. Sometimes catechumens can be the most energized and involved!
That said, if possible, we do recommend that the team should not be comprised only of catechumens.

The Telos Project is a program of the CrossRoad Institute (CRI).

CRI is an independent 501c3 advised by a wonderful group of clergy and pastoral advisors from across Orthodox jurisdictions. For the parishes that partner with the Telos Project, we expect the work of the young adults to be shepherded by the priest. We simply come alongside and inspire the young adults to want to get involved and love your parish as a place for their ongoing spiritual growth. We’d be happy to have you review our curriculum to understand it more.

While we hope to have the priest involved in the spiritual guidance of the young adults, partnering with the Telos Project should not be an added burden for the priest.

Ministry designed with the support of the Telos Project is designed by young adults for young adults, with the young adults themselves taking on the administrative tasks. Priests are not asked to attend any meetings they do not wish to be a part of, but will have regular check-in calls with the assigned coach in order to be kept up to date through the 18-month curriculum.
Additionally, it should not take away any bandwidth from the parish as a whole. Rather, we hope for the young adults to give back to the community that supports them and the whole parish to be committed to loving its young adults well.

Young adult leaders will commit to one coaching call and one peer learning call each month, both typically lasting roughly one hour each. Beyond these scheduled calls, teams should plan to meet regularly to discuss, strategize, and implement initiatives (typically 3-8 hours per month depending on the initiatives chosen).

Our coaches are trained in helping your young adults work through these common stumbling blocks.

We are very aware that this is a reality of parishes and one we have worked with before. We are constantly learning how to help bridge this gap. In addition to team coaching, our parishes work in small group cohorts with 2-3 other teams so they can brainstorm challenges (like this one!) with one another on a month to month basis.

Nothing!

The Telos Project invests in your parish and young adult leadership team through coaching, educational resources, and formative experiences (roughly equating to a $12,500 investment funded by a grant from the Lilly Endowment). Our hope is that this will result in the long-term benefit and growth of your parish.

We ask that, in return, your parish provide a modest budget that your young adults can determine how to spend in order to support their work of engaging their peers. Every parish is different, so we do not dictate a particular amount; however, we suggest a minimum starting budget be between $1,000-$3,000 depending on the size of the parish.

All of our coaches have strong coaching/leadership skills from their professional backgrounds and they receive Telos-specific training related to coaching in the parish ministry field upon onboarding.

Additionally, our coaches participate in ongoing training and development that has been shaped with the assistance of “Ministry Architects” and one of our board members who has extensive experience in the field. We meet as a team regularly and continue to nurture and develop their coaching skills and work through the challenges our parishes face.