Young Lions: Christian Rites of Passage for African American Young Men

by Chris McNair (published by Abingdon Press, 2001)

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Summary:

This is a well-developed and easy to use mentoring program for African American men to mentor young African American males in the Christian faith.  You can read about how this curriculum was used with strong results at Park Avenue United Methodist Church in Minneapolis in a 1998 article by Pam Melskog in PRISM.

In addition to spiritual development, this curriculum covers all issues of personal development, including hygiene, sexual principles, and emotional issues related to being a black male and to growing up in various family situations. It is well-organized and practical with a standard format for each meeting that includes:

• Opening activity
• Libation/Prayer
• African-American Heroes
• Achievement Activity
• Craft or Game
• Storytelling
• God Time

One full section is dedicated to recruiting and training male adult mentors. In addition to the mentor training and group meeting sessions, the curriculum also contains tips for getting started, reproducible pages for participants, t-shirt design, and web-based support.  The author clearly communicates the need for such a program, the purpose and goals of the program, and it successes thus far.

Why does FASTEN recommend this resource?

This mentoring program is suitable for churches or organizations that have a strong core of African-American male leadership and who can recruit more community members to positively influence their youth.  Because of the relational nature and high accountability of the program, it has great potential for lasting change in the young African-American male population.