Youth development includes all parts of a child’s growth – emotional, intellectual and spiritual. Within faith communities, there are many opportunities to develop positive assets that youth will need as adults, including values, leadership skills and service to community. These assets can be emphasized in every class, activity, relationship and worship service.

Alaska Homilies to Help Kids Succeed was born in a faith community in Anchorage, where it was put to use for over 50 weeks as part of regular services. The publication was written for use by faith communities of all kinds. The format was selected to enable each Developmental Asset to be described in a homily, or brief sermon. For each asset, this publication contains a page of ideas that individuals and groups can use to help foster Developmental Assets. The suggestions are just that - ideas on which to build. Feel free to adapt the material in this publication to your individual faith community.

Order your copy here, or contact Laurie at (907) 586-1486 or alaskaice@aasb.org

This book is also available for downloading free of charge by clicking on one of the links below. These links represent two versions of the exact same book, the only difference between them is the strength of the graphics and size of the electronic file.

Download a web strength (1.7 MB) version of Alaska Homilies to Help Kids Succeed (recommended for dial-up users).

Download the full-strength (17 MB) version of Alaska Homilies to Help Kids Succeed (this may take a few minutes, and is not recommended for dial-up users).