wfn.org | Initiative Focuses On Young People

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"UNITED METHODIST DAILY NEWS 97" by SUSAN PEEK on April 15, 1997 at 14:24
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Note 547 by UMNS on Jan. 15, 1998 at 17:47 Eastern (4725 characters).

CONTACT: Linda Green				20(10-21-71B){547}
	    Nashville, Tenn. (615) 742-5470	Jan. 15, 1998

Churchwide youth initiative awards United Methodist annual 
conferences and local churches more than $1 million

by United Methodist News Service

	NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The team charged with moving the United Methodist Church
toward a vision and commitment to young people has awarded more than $1.3
million in grants to help reach that goal.
Eight annual conferences and 10 churches in the United States have received
the money from the training and grant-making group, which is part of the
Shared Mission Focus on Young People Team. The funds will be used to design
and implement plans for addressing youth and young-adult issues.
The Shared Mission Focus on Young People is a four-year, $3 million initiative
mandated by the 1996 General Conference. It calls on the United Methodist
Church to reorder its priorities and concentrate on the needs of people ages
12 through 30. The goal is to make young people full participants in the
denomination's life and work. 
	According to Linda Bales, executive director of the initiative, 162 proposals
were received, including 29 proposals representing 32 annual conferences. The
funds allocated in the United States represent 75 percent of the total dollars
the team will disburse, she said. Grants will be given for the Central
Conferences -– those conferences outside the United States -- in February.
	As a part of its work, the grants team established two categories of funding
for ministries with young people: pilot projects and mini-grants. 
	The pilot project grants are designed to help fund new staff positions in
local churches in the United States and in annual conferences in both the
United States and Central Conferences to create programs that respond to young
adult issues and concerns. 
	One-time mini-grants of $2,500 to $5,000 will assist local churches, annual
conferences in and outside the United States, cooperative parishes, ecumenical
shared ministries and United Methodist organizations working with local
churches in programming for young people.
The proposal deadline for mini-grant applications is April 15. Forms can be
obtained by calling the Shared Mission Focus on Young People Office at (937)
227-9400. The initiative is based at the United Methodist Council on
Ministries in Dayton, Ohio.
	The "energy and passion around this process has been dynamic, intense, and
spirit-led," Bales said. The response to the grant requests yielded numerous
creative initiatives focusing on young people, she said.
"Our only regret is that the funding level, although significant, was limited
in amount."

	Annual Conferences recipients are:	
· East Ohio, for its Compassionate Communities Project;
· Iowa, for its initiative to meet youth and young adults on the World Wide
Web;
· Central Pennsylvania, for its The Salt 'n Light Ministry;
· New Jersey Area, for its Ananias Peer-to-Peer Mentoring project;
· Red Bird Missionary Conference (covering Appalachia), for its youth ministry
revitalization project;
· Oklahoma, for its Criminal Justice and Mercy Ministries program;
· Pacific Northwest, for the Pacific Northwest Cross Connection;
· Yellowstone, for its three-year project to recruit, train and enable leaders
14 to 30 years of age to share a sense of transformation and healing.

	Local church recipients are:
· Broadway United Methodist, South Bend, Ind., for its School of the Spirit
program;
· Oakdale United Methodist, Grand Rapids, Mich., for The KO (Kick-Open)
program;
· Chinese United Methodist and Chinese Methodist Center Corp., New York, N.Y.,
for a pilot project to address issues of despair, loneliness and low
self-esteem in 13- to 18-year-old Chinese American youth living in Chinatown
and other neighborhoods;
· Fairmont Cooperative Parish, Fairmont, W.Va., for its ecumenical JOURNEY
ministry;
· LaTrinidad United Methodist, San Antonio, Texas, for its partnership program
to affirm and celebrate the contributions of youth and young adults in the
community;
· St. Lo United Methodist Church, Houston, for its Bridge Over Troubled Water
project;
· Sunflower Parish, Winfield, Kan., for a youth task force that will assist a
staff person in recruiting volunteers to work with children and youth;
· Hobson United Methodist, Nashville, Tenn., for its YESS (Youth Empowered for
Service, Survival, Self-esteem) program;
· New Life Community United Methodist, Jacksonville, Fla., for its Look Up and
Live initiative;
· Vietnamese United Methodist Youth Fellowship, Riverside, Calif., for its
effort to link the young people within the 15 Vietnamese United Methodist
congregations across the country.
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