616 North Highland Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15206

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What We are Learning
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From Research

During the summer of 2002, SYI administration instituted a pilot research protocol in accordance with Lilly funding requirements conducted Helen Blier, Ph.D. The purpose of the research was twofold: 1. to investigate the success of SYI in its primary mission to cultivate among youth the skills and faith for claiming a sense of Christian vocation and 2. to begin to create a database of youth voices around issues of faith and vocation for use by interested researchers both at PTS and in the wider church/academic community.

The impact of the project on participants, the seminary and the church at large is considerable, as demonstrated by the research completed by Helen Blier, Ph.D. Dr. Blier's research identified that for the most part the students were not developmentally capable of "exploring" call. However, the great value of SYI is found in the intentional engagement and formation of those skills and awarenesses that are critical to the process of discerning call: religious language and imagery to name the world and their place in it, theological literacy, spiritual and reflective practices, significant relationships of nurture and challenge, encounters with diversity and the stretching of comfort zones, and the "demystifying" of seminary study and ministerial work. As such, SYI is an investment in the future of these students, helping to lay the foundations for a discernment that will probably not happen for several years and staking a claim to it. It is eminently clear that these youth have nowhere else providing this sort of opportunity

The project provides current seminary students a valuable practicum in youth ministry, mentoring, and leadership. This enables PTS to produce graduates informed by the practical and pastoral experience of having worked with a critical church population. For a number of the faculty, the project has elicited changes in their perception of the relationship of the seminary to the church. Foremost, the new hope articulated by faculty members a year ago about students they would have in future classes has come to fruition. Members of the faculty have commented time and again on the value of these insightful students, who are eager to learn and who possess a familiarity with theological discourse and practices.

Additionally, the ongoing success of SYI as a youth program and "feeder system" for seminary students enhances PTS reputation for supporting and revitalizing the church at large. With a body of alums representing over half the states in the U.S., SYI enables youth to "evangelize" and identify their experience at PTS as instrumental to their zeal for ministry and capacities for leadership. This raises the profile of the school beyond the immediate region and marks it as an institution actively concerned about the faith life of youth and the future of ministry.

The church benefits in numerous ways from the work done by SYI. The Institute intends to cultivate theologically literate and committed ministers and lay participants in the church, people able to articulate and live out of a sense of Christian vocation, reflecting their faith in whatever they do. The future of the church is bolstered by the sustained commitment of these youth and is further enriched when some discern a call to minister in the church. This, in turn revitalizes the church with a critical age cohort, one most frequently caught between programming emphases. Conversations with recent scholars reveal a deep hunger among youth for programs like this which respond to their need for faithful questioning and critical reflection. This project offers such an opportunity and in doing so, intends to affirm the voice and leadership capacities of youth. SYI also creates opportunities for intentional mentoring relationships between the youth who attend and the church leaders who nominate and promise to support them. This increases the likelihood of securing the ongoing and active participation of youth when they enter young adulthood, the time at which they are most likely to discontinue their church affiliation. Finally, with its far-reaching network of alums, SYI provides an opportunity to cultivate connections among churches across the PCUSA by cultivating connections among their youth, as well as the future ministers who serve as counselors and staff at the Institute