15th Anniversary: A New Era – Moving Toward Online Education
2018 will be a year full of thanksgiving and growth for Presence. As we approach the time to celebrate our 15th year anniversary, we continue to carry out our mission to serve our community in the areas of family, faith, life, and career. To share the needs of this era and our ministry development with you, we will be hosting two thanksgiving fundraisers, one in Northern California on February 25 at the Milpitas Community Center and another one in Southern California on September 16 at the Quiet Cannon Montebello. We cordially invite you to mark your calendars and join us for a night of sharing our joy and future vision.
In recent years, I have had opportunities to serve in several cities and have encountered many families in crisis. These families experience tremendous stress, such as unresolved conflict and cultural differences between parents and children, different forms of broken relationships, depression and suicidal thoughts among youth, and mental illnesses. Although we seek to provide training that is practical and relevant to people’s needs, I have found that there are many people in great need.
Over the years, we have received many training and service requests from brothers and sisters in different parts of the world. In an effort to meet their needs, we have launched the “Presence Life Planning Curriculum” – a series of educational courses with diverse training materials – for the purpose of equipping individuals in their personal growth (please see our 2017 Fall Newsletter for detailed description). Presence will also launch online education classes, which may include the “Presence Life Planning Curriculum,” to provide people with learning opportunities regardless of their geographical locations.
Presence has spent many years studying how to enhance intergenerational relationships. We have hosted multiple intergenerational mentorship training workshops in Southern California, including an interview with Gil Tam’s family, youth pastors, and American-born youth. We have received positive feedback from attendees. Unfortunately, due to the lack of time and manpower, we are unable to repeat these workshops. Therefore, with the goal of benefiting more people, we will incorporate these training materials and interviews into our first online education course: “Healthy Dialogue among Parents, Youth and Youth Workers.” We believe our youth will be greatly blessed as parents and youth workers commit to working together. We have designed our course with the focus on the interactions among these parties. “Healthy Dialogue” is divided into four classes:
- Healthy Dialogue with Parents and Youth (Tips for Parents) (Available on 2/13)
- Healthy Dialogue with Parents and Youth (Tips for Youth) (Available on 2/13)
- Healthy Dialogue with Parents and Youth Workers (Tips for Parents) (Available on 4/17)
- Healthy Dialogue with Parents and Youth Workers (Tips for Youth Workers) (Available on 4/17)
This online course explores the different causes of communication problems among parents, youth, and youth workers (including cultural and generational gaps and differences in stages of life), encourages parents to guide their children via the intergenerational mentorship model, and provides learners with communication skills and examples of healthy dialogue. The aim is to help all parties learn empathy, respect, and negotiation skills based on the example of Jesus Christ. The course also includes short video clips produced by Presence along with discussion questions for individual or group study.
In December 2017, I presented some of the “Healthy Dialogue” materials in a workshop at the Chinese Mission Convention West Conference, and the response was very positive. This online course will be initially conducted in English, and we will roll out the Chinese course in the future. To register for this course, please visit PresenceQuoteint.org.
As Presence enters our 15th Anniversary, we need more ministry partners to join our team to further develop online education. We need help with filming, making cartoons, conducting interviews, and so on to make our courses more concrete, authentic, and influential. We thank you for your care and prayer support, and we ask that you continue to support Presence financially so that, despite difficulties, we may fulfill the mission of God in this new era!
In Christ,
Agnes Ip, PhD, LMFT
Founder and CEO of Presence
Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist
Doctor of Philosophy in Clinical Psychology