wfn.org | Pilot projects representatives share reflections with young people's

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team 

Feb. 26, 1999	Contact: Linda Green*(615)742-5470*Nashville, Tenn.
10-32-71B{110}

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. (UMNS) - Because of a grant from a United Methodist
initiative on young people,  the youth ministry at La Trinidad United
Methodist Church in San Antonio no longer feels like the skipped third
stanza of a four stanza hymn.

That was the testimony of Alex Gonzales,  director of a youth ministry at
the Hispanic congregation.  "It was not until the  project received money
from the churchwide Shared Mission Focus on Young People that we were deemed
worthy," said Gonzales, as he described how the  project has benefited youth
in the church and community

Gonzales was one of 27 representatives giving progress reports from pilot
projects that have received more than $1.3 million in grants to help move
the United Methodist Church toward a vision and commitment to young people
and to make young people full participants in the denomination's life and
work.  Their presentations were made during a Feb. 18-21 meeting of the
directors for the churchwide Shared Mission Focus on Young People, an
initiative created by the denomination's General Conference in 1996. 

The four-year initiative was authorized as a response to the church's effort
to make young people, aged 12-30, a priority, enhance resources for them in
the denomination and celebrate their achievements. The 19-member
international team leading the $3 million initiative is comprised of young
people from United States, Africa, the Philippines and Sweden. The emphasis
is supported by a Focus 2000 Mission Initiatives Fund,  established by the
1996 General Conference to cover the cost of new churchwide programs. 

The pilot project grants were 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. Eight annual conferences and 10 churches in
the United States and eight central conferences  received money to design
and implement projects for addressing youth and young-adult issues.

The program at La Trinidad grew out of gatherings for young people from a
local Christian athletics fellowship, area churches and a high school,
Gonzales said. Resource people from local churches and the community go to
the high school during lunch periods to talk about topics chosen by the
youth.  The impact of this program has assisted in increasing the membership
at La Trinidad, he said.

"Receiving the grant has transformed our church tremendously and has
acknowledged the youth program that has existed for at 35 years," Gonzales
said. "The grant has also given new vision to the entire church as we focus
on youth outside the church. There is new enthusiasm and a deeper sense of
commitment from the entire congregation." 

He said the Shared Mission Focus has enhanced the life of United Methodist
churches and projects across the country. "The  La Trinidad project has
given new hope to a church that needed a new direction, a new focus, a new
priority." 

The transformation of lives became evident as representatives from countries
outside the United States shared how project money had been used.   Many of
the central conference pilot projects, located in areas undergoing civil
strife,  were created to assist young people dealing with the struggles
created by war. 

"Youth or young people at all ages directly suffer the consequences of war,"
said Celso Manuel, a team member from Luando, Angola.  He said war
represents a "black plague" in the lives of young people because many know
that remaining in the country means death at any time.  

But, in the midst of the war, Manuel said the creation of the New Jerusalem
Project "brought hope and told young people that everything is not lost."
The spiritual and educational project focuses on young people ages 12 to 25
who have been displaced during the war. 

Manuel is one of the numerous young people leaving the country because of
the war. He will be itinerating in New England, visiting churches and
talking to youth and young adult groups, while awaiting for the opportunity
to attend college outside Angola. "If I go back to Angola, it will be
difficult to get out again," he said. "I may have to go into the army."

Jenny Tippens, director of a camping ministry for youth and adults in Post
Falls, Idaho, said the Shared Mission Focus had been a "Godsend" for her
program which emphasizes youth mission opportunities.

"It has provided an opportunity for a few special people to truly display
their God-given talents and help youth and youth ministry become a little
more evident in the conference and the entire denomination," she said.
Tippens is director of the Pacific Northwest Cross Connection.

According to Michele White Amerson, director of the Bridge Over Troubled
Water Project at  St. Lo United Methodist Church, Houston,  the pilot
project has impacted the congregation by bringing unchurched youth and their
families to church.

The Bridge project works with primarily African-American youth and young
adults on issues such as drug prevention, relationships, survival skills and
careers.

"A sense of pride has been felt in the St. Lo congregation for being one of
only a few congregations to receive a grant from the Shared Mission Focus on
Young People," Amerson said. "This project is bringing new life to the
congregation and a desire to reach out to the surrounding community."

She said the grant has supported her calling to perform outreach ministry to
young people and has enabled her to use her talents as a counselor and
social service administrator.

As the youth continue to participate in church life, the La Trinidad
congregation is beginning to see them as "givers" and not "takers," as
"missioners" and "not objects of mission," Gonzales said.  Because of the
school project, the community has come to the realization that "the church
is at the center of our neighborhood. We are an open door to many of their
needs."

When the congregation received notice that it's youth ministry project was
being funded by the national church,  Gonzales said people from the
community and the Rio Grande Annual Conference came forward to support
youth-related projects. A family gave $20,000 to support youth ministry and
another gave $5,000 for scholarships for students interested in careers in
Christian music. Southwestern University, Georgetown, Texas, will grant
$300,000 in scholarships for students in the Rio Grande Conference for the
1999-2000 academic year, he reported.

Team members  discussed how ministries for young people would continue to be
implemented if the initiative should be discontinued.

"Our church's decision in 1996 was a long-term investment in the life of
young people to become what God needs young people to be as we move toward
the 21st Century," said the Rev. Julius Nelson Jr., director of youth and
young adult ministries, Liberia Annual Conference. 

He said that decision by the General Conference to implement the Shared
Mission Focus on Young People "gave new life for ensuring that our church
has begun the building of a bridge between the past, present and future." He
strongly believes that the United Methodist Church should move one step
forward to continue its emphasis on young people. The investment, Nelson
said, must be a collaborative and cooperative joint effort by all
denominational agencies.

Annual conference projects represented at the gathering were:	
*	East Ohio, Compassionate Communities Project;
*	Iowa, World Wide Web youth initiative;
*	Central Pennsylvania, Salt 'n Light ministry;
*	New Jersey Area,  Ananias Peer-to-Peer Mentoring Project;
*	Red Bird Missionary Conference, youth ministry revitalization
project;
*	Oklahoma, Criminal Justice and Mercy Ministries program;
*	Yellowstone, recruitment and training program for young leaders.
Local church projects shared with the group included: 
*	Broadway United Methodist, South Bend, Ind., School of the Spirit
Program;
*	Oakdale United Methodist, Grand Rapids, Mich.,  The KO (Kick-Open)
Program;
*	Chinese United Methodist and Chinese Methodist Center Corp., New
York, a project addressing issues of despair, loneliness and low self-esteem
of Chinese American youth living in Chinatown and other neighborhoods;
*	Fairmont Cooperative Parish, Fairmont, W.Va., ecumenical JOURNEY
ministry;
*	Sunflower Parish, Winfield, Kan., recruitment of volunteers to work
with children and youth;
*	Hobson United Methodist, Nashville, Tenn., YESS (Youth Empowered for
Service, Survival, Self-esteem);
*	New Life Community United Methodist, Jacksonville, Fla., Look Up and
Live;
*	Vietnamese United Methodist Youth Fellowship, Riverside, Calif.,
linking the young people of  the 15 Vietnamese United Methodist
congregations across the country.
Central Conference projects shared with the group were:
*	Germany North Annual Conference,  Kirche in Container, a meeting
point for 30 young people aged 13-23;
*	Estonia Annual Conference, the Agape Learning Center, a meeting
place where Russian and Estonian youth come together;
*	Northwest Philippines Annual Conference, The United Methodist Action
for Youth, an advocacy and organizing project for youth in the city of
Cagayan de Oro in the southern part of the Philippines;
*	Southwest Philippines Annual Conference, Disciplining Young People
for the Struggle of the Poor, a nurturing and developing program to help
United Methodist youth  respond to social and political issues;
*	West Angola Annual Conference, The New Jerusalem Project, a focus on
young people between the age of 12-15 who have been affected and displaced
by continuing war;
*	Mozambique Annual Conference, The New Leadership Project, a program
seeking to bring new life and hope to young people who dropped out of normal
like to enter the military during 16 years of war;
*	East Africa Annual Conference, Youth Carpentry Workshop, offers job
training skills that prepare young people for the future;
*	Liberia Annual Conference, Promoting Reconciliation Among Youth, a
community development project assisting Liberian young people looking for
ways to restore peace from a 7-year war;
*	Sierra Leone Annual Conference, The United Methodist Vocational
Institute, a project serving 12-30 year olds by providing vocational
training to equip them with basic skills and provide opportunities for
self-sufficiency.

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