WESTMONT YOUNG ADULT LEADERSHIP LAB CHURCH APPLICATION

Thank you for your interest in joining the Westmont Young Adult Leadership Lab (YALL). This form should be completed by the pastoral representative who will serve on your church team and be the primary contact with Westmont College. Please complete this form by August 31, 2026. We suggest writing your responses on a separate document, then copy/paste to this form when ready to submit.

COVENANT OF PARTICIPATION

The 2026 Westmont Young Adult Leadership Lab cohort will launch in fall 2026 with the first annual gathering, to be held at Westmont College November 13-15, 2026. We ask that each congregation:

Select a team of five church members (including at least one representative from the pastoral team, one lay leader, and two to three young adults ages 23 to 29) to participate in the learning community gatherings and lead the ongoing work of YALL in your congregation. This work will include: 1) Participating in community-building activities (retreats, shared meals, etc.); 2) Facilitating efforts to help the congregation understand the social and spiritual lives of young adults; 3) Designing, launching, and evaluating new models of ministry with young adults.
Participate in two annual Young Adult Leadership Lab Gatherings (fall 2026 and 2027). Gatherings are overnight, Friday through Sunday.
Meet monthly as a team.
Participate in approximately two online workshops per year.
Maintain regular communication with the Westmont YALL directors.
Share projects and learnings with the YALL community and your congregation.

Thanks to the generous support of Lilly Endowment Inc., all Westmont Young Adult Leadership Lab activities are offered free of charge to participating church teams, including travel costs to and from Santa Barbara for our annual gatherings.

CHURCH INFORMATION

Church Name:

Street Address:

City:

State:

Zip/Postal Code:

Country:

Office Email:

Office Phone:

Please format as ###-###-####

Denomination/Tradition

PRIMARY CONTACT INFORMATION

First Name

Last Name

Preferred Email

Preferred Phone (Cell, Home, Office)

Preferred Method of Communication

EmailPhone CallText

Role at church:

CHURCH MINISTRY CONTEXT

Answers to these questions will help us get to know your church and assemble a diverse and productive learning community. We recognize that ministry with young adults is often challenging; please reflect honestly about the assets your congregation brings to that work and the challenges you’re likely to encounter. We ask that you try to limit answers to no more than two paragraphs per question.

1. Describe the demographics of your congregation and your surrounding community. We’d especially appreciate your comments on factors such as race, ethnicity, age, socioeconomic status, and education. Are there demographic changes you’ve noticed within your congregation and in your surrounding community over the past five years?

2. What might your church hope to explore, discover, or gain by participating in the Young Adult Leadership Lab learning community?

3. In what ways does your church currently minister to young adults, formally or informally?

4. What are some key assets that your congregation brings to ministry with young adults? Feel free to be imaginative here, reflecting on people, systems, facilities, geographical locations, ideas, relationships, histories, or any other resources that could be leveraged to engage young adults.

5. What have you learned from young adults about what they are hoping for from your church community?

6. Why do you think your church is ready to engage in innovative ministry with young adults? What are a few key values, characteristics, resources, etc. of your church that contribute to this readiness?

7. Is there anything else about your church you’d like to share with us?

TEAM RECRUITMENT

We ask participating churches to recruit a team of five people who will attend annual retreats and work together throughout the cohort experience. No such group can represent every perspective or priority in a church, but we encourage applicants to be especially thoughtful about the people on their team and the viewpoints and interests they represent. All team members should come to YALL ready to share honestly from their own perspective and to honor the perspectives of others—within their own team and across denominational, theological, political, cultural, and other divisional lines.

1. Please tell us a bit about the pastoral representative for your team and this person’s role in your congregation.

2. How will you recruit for diversity of perspective? If possible, team members should represent diversity across factors including but not limited to age, race, ethnicity, gender, profession, and time with your congregation.

Questions?

HIDDEN FIELDS

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