Tuesday, August 28, 2018

Young People's Ministry

GYPC’18 Equipped me for GC’20

By Alexander Clark, First UMC, Mechanicsburg

While attending the Global Young People’s Convocation (GYPC) 2018, held July 18-22 in Johannesburg, South Africa, as a voting member of the Northeastern Jurisdiction Delegation, I was able to experience and learn a lot. Most of what I learned came by interacting with the diverse people that make up the body of the United Methodist Church, people from Germany, to Russia, to Sierra Leone, as well as the many countries in between and around the globe.

NEJ delegation to the Global Young People's Convention
I learned that patience can be hard and run thin easily. Especially when answering and listening to the many questions, often repeated ones, that are asked over the course of hours amending and voting on several pieces of legislation. However, out of those hours, I gained a better understanding of my brothers and sisters in Christ. I realized that most of the voting delegates didn’t disagree with the concept of what we were trying to create in our various statements and legislation. Instead, people were merely concerned about specific wording and phrasing of sentences. Taking a step back, I was able to breathe in, and remind myself every member of the GYPC attending was there to fulfill the same goal as me, to be “making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world”. For me that was my goal, to hold fast to no matter what our issue or conversation, I was helping to make disciples at the end of the day.

As the final day of legislation voting ended at GYPC’18, I remember having a distinct feeling of incompletion with the work that we had passed on to General Conference 2020. I felt that there was more that I could do to follow up and support our statements and legislation. When talking with our adult mentors I was struck with the understanding that the “more” was to follow the work of GYPC’18 to GC’20. That attending the largest governing body as a young adult, I could give first-hand testimony to the pieces we submitted and be a part of the process as it grows.

Something that has also grown and started tugging on my heart upon attending GYPC was that I had more to do as a young adult in the growth of our church. I want to attend General Conference 2020 because being a part of the process that establishes what the church does now, effects my peers and myself the rest of our lives. We simply just need to say we as a younger generation are interested in helping grow and create disciples of Jesus Christ. By attending General Conference 2020 as a voting delegate, I hope to open the door wider and set an example for youth and young adults, that anyone of any age can contribute to the growth of the UMC. When you look at the makeup of the General Conference in years past you will find a slim number of young adults attending. While that is fine, the support for younger generations to take up leadership roles would be a magnificent example of empowering youth to transform the world.

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Foundations Youth Leader Training 

By Audrey Wilder, Director of Young People's Ministry

Over the weekend of August 17, at Mt. Asbury Camp and Retreat Center, 27 youth workers from all seven districts gathered to grow their spiritual leadership skills for ministry with young people. Sixteen of the 48 hours spent together was in intensive learning with “big deal leaders in youth ministry,” as one attendee observed. The group brought with it a variety of experience: three attendees having just finished college and embarking on their first year on church staff, seasoned part and full-time staff members, and first and longtime volunteers. One of the trainers observed, “I love the collegiality of your group. I think it’s awesome that I can’t tell who in this room are best friends.” Possibly the most valuable part of the weekend was the collaboration and investment in the community of youth workers from across the Conference. 


Relationship development was crucial for the retention of the “firehose” of information that was sprayed at attendees. The trainers were apologetic that they were squeezing a 4-day course (at Perkins in Dallas) into 2 days with us. Sessions ranged from the parallels between the history of youth ministry and ice cream in the US, discipleship development and its connection to coffee, and curriculum selection and its similarity to eggs (there’s no doubt when you get a bad one.) It was a traditional UM gathering with great food from the Mt. Asbury kitchen and food analogies to keep us rooted in the training! The attendees also received templates and training on developing discipleship plans, curriculum plans, and both trip and program budgeting tools. 

Trainers encouraged the participants to go home and wrestle with the material that they had been given and find those two or three things that would provide them leverage for growing disciples in their own community. Everyone left having met someone new, learning something new, and confirmed in the truth that ministry with youth can be challenging, but when you are surrounded by the community of faith, nothing is overwhelming. 

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Young People’s Ministry is working on creative options for helping young people and their youth groups to make it to 
Youth 2019, July 10-14, 2019. 
Watch for updates in the coming months. 
For more information about the event, 
visit www.Youth2019.com. 


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Nearby Youth Events

St. Paul’s UMC, Red Lion, PA 
Family Impact Conference 
September 22, 2018

Greater New Jersey Conference
IGNITE Conference
September 28-30, 2018
Wildwood, NJ 

Peninsula-Delaware Conference
Youth Rally 2019
January 4-6, 2019
Ocean City, MD

Western Pennsylvania Conference
SPARK
January 11-13, 2019
Sheraton at Station Square, 
Pittsburgh, PA 

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YSF Applications

The Young People’s Ministry Council will continue to accept Youth Service Fund Applications until October 31, 2018. Applications can be found on the Young People’s Ministry website at www.igniteyoungpeople.org. 
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