wfn.org | Shared Mission Focus on Young People

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"UNITED METHODIST DAILY NEWS 97" by SUSAN PEEK on April 15, 1997 at 14:24
Eastern, about DAILY NEWS RELEASES FROM UNITED METHODIST NEWS SERVICE (303
notes).

Note 303 by UMNS on Sept. 8, 1997 at 16:28 Eastern (7537 characters).

Produced by United Methodist News Service, official news agency of
the United Methodist Church, with offices in Nashville, Tenn., New
York, and Washington.

CONTACT: Linda Green                              491(10-71B){303}
         Nashville, Tenn. (615) 742-5470             Sept. 8, 1997

Shared mission focus explores partnerships
with other church initiatives to benefit young people

     NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS)--A 19-member team charged by the 1996
General Conference to help the church listen and respond to the
needs of young people is looking for allies throughout the
denomination.
     At their meeting here Sept 5-7, members of the "Shared
Mission Focus Team on Young People" conversed with representatives
of six other churchwide mission initiatives in hopes of developing
partnerships to address concerns related to young people.
     Presiding over the team's meetings were co-chairpersons Jeff
Quick of Bryan, Texas, and the Rev. Lillian Smith of Nashville.
     The four-year, $3 million initiative calls on the church to
reorder its priorities and concentrate on the needs of people aged
12 through 30 and enable them to become full participants in the
denomination's life and work. The team also is asked to help the
church affirm and celebrate the contributions of persons in this
age group today.
      The team talked with Mississippi Bishop Jack Meadors,
spokesman for the Bishop's Initiative on Children & Poverty; Linda
Byrd, director of Communities of Shalom; the Rev. Kinmoth
Jefferson, consultant to Criminal Justice & Mercy Ministries;
Andris Salter, coordinator of Strengthening the Black Church for
the 21st Century; Ann Saunkeah, director of the Native American
Comprehensive Plan; and Melissa Davis, a co-director for the
Program on Substance Abuse and Related Violence.
     The team also received information from the National Plan for
Hispanic Ministries and heard Susan Hay, United Methodist Board of
Discipleship staff member, share plans for the first five-day Lay
Academy in June 14-19, 1998.  The academy for young people from
high school juniors to college sophomores is intended to
strengthen the spiritual lives of the participants.
     Quick said pulling together the churchwide initiatives for
conversation was the first step toward helping the church reorder
its priorities and to prevent competition or duplication.
     Jefferson applauded efforts to have the emphases of the
church work cooperatively to serve young people. A retired
minister under contract with the United Methodist Board of Global
Ministries in New York City, he assists the church as it seeks to
offer ministries of restorative justice and mercy to prisoners,
crime victims and their families around the world. 
     When the initiatives of the church have an opportunity to
interrelate, Jefferson said "a new burst of energy and a new
efficiency and effectiveness in resourcing" will emerge to enhance
each ministry. 
     Observing that links among United Methodists boards and
agencies and young people around the globe are occurring, Linda
Bales, in her report as director of the Shared Mission Focus on
Young People, highlighted events that have championed young people
and how young people responded. "I have a feeling that many young
people are counting on this initiative to bring new life to the
United Methodist Church," she said.
     A common issue for all the initiatives which emerged here was
how to develop global outreach and partnerships while remaining
sensitive to realities and contexts of other countries.
     Celso Marcelino Manuel of Angola, Africa; Elizabeth Tullhage
of Sweden; and Evelyn May Diaz of the Philippines represent
Central Conferences outside the United States. Inability to obtain
a U.S. visa has prevented Diaz from attending team meetings.
     Manuel warned his colleagues that strategies developed to
address to spiritual, economic and social needs of young people in
the United States will likely be different than those needed in
his country. 
     He further emphasized his inabililty to represent all Central
Conferences, even those on his own continent.  "Each country has
its own reality," Manuel said. "In Africa, the youth are
frustrated and I do not know how we can transfer our (the team's)
programs to Africa," he said. 
     Paraphrasing the proverb, "Give a man a fish and he will eat
for a day; teach him to fish and he eats for a lifetime," Manuel
said, "In Africa we are given too many fish." He urged the team
members and representatives of the other initiatives to avoid
offering solutions "but teach the young people how to fix the
problems they face."
     The team is organized with three ministry group charged with
various responsibilities to move the church toward a vision and
commitment to young people. 
     One such vision, through its training and grants ministry
team, is to allocate money to local churches to design and
implement innovative strategies for addressing youth and young
adult issues.
     The grants team has established two categories of funding for
ministries with young people: pilot projects and mini-grants.
     Purpose of the pilot project grants is to help fund new staff
in local churches or United States annual conferences "to
implement innovative, creative, risk-taking initiatives in
response to the joys and pains of young people," said Pat Callbeck
Harper, chairwoman of the training and grants ministry team. 
     She said that a minimum of 10 churches and 10 annual
conferences in the United States and Central Conferences will each
receive up to $30,000 per year for up to three years for staff
positions. The deadline for U.S. United Methodist churches and
annual conferences to apply for these pilot grants is Nov. 15;
deadline for Central Conferences is Dec. 31.
     Mini-grants from $2,500 to $5,000 will enable local churches
to design ways of listening, discerning and responding to the joys
and pains of young people, Harper said.
     These one-time grants may be given to local United Methodist
churches, annual conferences in both the United States and Central
Conferences, cooperative parishes, ecumenical shared ministries
and United Methodist organizations working with local churches.
These grants will be distributed in the United States and Central
Conferences through a "competitive" grant-making process. Deadline
for applications is April 15, 1998.
     When the Shared Mission Focus on Young People was mandated by
the 1996 General Conference, the enabling legislation set up a
$100,000 fund for the purpose of strengthening theological
education in the area of ministries with young people.
     The team is exploring a possible consultation with assistance
from the United Methodist Board of Higher Education and Ministry
and the Association of United Methodist Theological Schools.  The
consultation would bring together representatives of the 13 United
Methodist seminaries, youth and young adults with resource people
who are on the "cutting edge' of youth and young adult ministries. 
Among other topics, the consultation would explore perceived
deficiencies pastors have  dealing with and leading young people.
     In other actions, the team continued plans for a series of
worldwide forums and requested the leadership team to write the
U.S.House of Representataives protesting the recently-approved
"Violent Juvenile Offenders Act of 1997" which will place youth in
prison with adults.
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