The Care & Create Cohort

The Care Retreat & Create Cohort is a six-month, cohort-based experience for youth ministry leaders navigating the emotional, spiritual, and vocational demands of ministry with young people. Designed as a space for restoration and reimagining, the program centers trauma-informed pastoral care as essential to faithful, sustainable, and life-giving leadership.

Why This Program?

Hosted by the Institute for Youth Ministry through the Foundations Project, The Care Retreat & Create Cohort is a sacred, two-part journey designed for youth ministry leaders seeking space to pause, restore, and reimagine faithful ministry alongside young people.

The journey begins with a three-day renewal retreat in Princeton, New Jersey. This retreat provides intentional space for rest, spiritual grounding, and holistic care practices in community with peers who understand the unique joys and challenges of youth ministry. Through guided reflection, embodied practices, and shared conversation, participants are invited to slow down, reconnect with their sense of calling, and attend to their own needs with honesty and care. 

Following the retreat, participants engage in a six-month cohort experience designed to support continued discernment, growth, and innovation. Through monthly virtual gatherings, facilitated conversations, curated theological resources, and guided reflection, leaders deepen self-awareness and strengthen vocational clarity. The cohort creates a sustained learning community where participants reflect together on their contexts, share wisdom, and explore new ways of responding faithfully to the evolving needs of young people. 

As part of the cohort, participants engage in care-supported ministry pop-up projects within their local contexts. These projects provide space to translate reflection into practice by developing initiatives that emerge from the cohort experience and respond to the specific realities of congregations and communities. Through this integration of care and creativity, leaders cultivate practices that support the flourishing of young people and nurture more sustainable rhythms of ministry. 

The Care Retreat & Create Cohort offers youth ministry leaders a sacred pause to reconnect with themselves, one another, and God’s ongoing work in their lives and ministries. Through care-centered formation and communal discernment, the program supports leaders as they seek to serve young people with greater presence, authenticity, and hope. 

For questions or assistance, please email contact Angellica Sweat, IYM Program Coordinator at angellica.sweat@ptsem.edu