wfn.org | Agency provides 13 grants for young people's ministries

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

April 30, 2002 News media contact: Linda Green7(615)742-54707Nashville,
Tenn.     10-31-71B{193)

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) -- Thirteen projects addressing concerns of young
people will receive grants through programs related to the United Methodist
Board of Higher Education and Ministry.

The diverse projects include a teen center in Houston and a program
addressing the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Liberian refugee camps. They will be
funded by the Board of Higher Education's portion of the denomination's
Shared Mission Focus on Young People initiative.

"It is hoped that the ministries that result from the grants will help
United Methodist ministries impact young people and provide examples to the
denomination," said the Rev. Lillian Smith, a director in the board's campus
ministry section and liaison for the Shared Mission Focus on Young People.

A team of higher education and ministry staff and members of the Shared
Mission Focus coordinating committee made the selections after reviewing 82
applications. The Shared Mission Focus was formed to reorder the priorities
of the United Methodist Church related to the issues and concerns of youth,
and young adults. 

Each project had to meet criteria determined by Shared Mission Focus and
guidelines set by the Board of Higher Education and Ministry. To meet the
board's criteria, the program had to show it was preparing a new generation
of Christian leaders; providing young people with opportunities for ministry
discernment; and helping young people "connect knowledge and vital piety"-
words from Charles Wesley that provide the cornerstone for United
Methodism's involvement in higher education.

"The team is excited that the grant recipients represent the diversity of
the denomination ethnically, jurisdictionally, globally and in ministry
sites," Smith said.

Each of the denomination's 14 program agencies will receive $125,000 from
the Shared Mission Focus through 2004 to distribute to United
Methodist-related ministries that relate to youth and young adults.

Projects receiving funds through the Board of Higher Education and Ministry
are:
7	New Visions Summer Companies, Northeast Jurisdiction, $15,000. Two
teams of college students will participate in training, live in the
community and minister daily in neighborhoods served by Saving Stations of
the Baltimore-Washington Annual Conference. Saving Stations are tent
ministries in inner-city areas that experience high crime, addiction, and
unemployment rates.
7	Residential community for vocational discernment, Wesley Foundation,
University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, $15,000. This project is designed
to create a vocation house that brings students together in an immersion
experience focused on God's movement in their lives.
7	Jacob's Well, Cornerstone United Methodist Church, Houston, $12,500.
This teen center seeks to increase its ministry with youth outside the
congregation. It will cultivate youth leadership and provide a safe place
for young people to share and grow in faith.
7	Jericho Road/Uptown Thursday Night, Wesley Foundation, Eastern
Kentucky University, $12,500. This ministry is designed to counter the
social culture of alcohol at the school. The student-led ministry reaches
out to young people who frequent the bars and helps first-year students
avoid developing a bar habit.
7	Servant Leader Ministry Project, Center for Religious Life and
Service, Claflin University, Orangeburg, S.C., $12,500. Training and using
students as leaders, the ministry project will work with at-risk youth,
attempting to change negative behavior through fellowship, mentoring and
internships.
7	Agape Christian Centre, Estonia, $10,000. An educational
after-school program, the center creates opportunities for children and
young people ages 2 to 18 to study and spend their free time in a safe
Christian environment.
7	Milledgeville Wesley Foundation, Milledgeville, Ga., $9,350. This
project will develop new leadership with the Wesley Foundation. Student
leaders will be trained and equipped to lead cell groups and disciple
others.
7	Young Adult Leadership Development Centers, California-Nevada Board
of Higher Education and Campus Ministry, $8,000. The centers are designed to
help young adults deepen their commitment to the United Methodist Church,
consider ministry as a career, become agents of transformation in church and
society, develop partnerships with local churches and engage campus ministry
centers in the mission of the annual conference.
7	Moses Ministry, Cincinnati, $7,500. Two congregations in Cincinnati
are partnering to provide ministry to youth and children through college
tours, spiritual retreats, Bible studies and mission projects. The project
also will receive  $7,500 from the United Methodist Board of Church and
Society.
7	Liberian Refugees Drug HIV/AIDS Prevention, Liberia, $7,500. The
program uses sex education, drug prevention and spiritual formation to
address the HIV/AIDS epidemic and the spread of drug use by young people at
a Liberian refugee camp.
7	United Methodist Action for Youth, Philippines, Northwest Mindanao,
$7,500. Young people will travel to various areas to teach in communities.
They will serve as community organizers for the livelihood and spiritual
components of the project.
7	A Community Place, United Campus Ministry, University of Southern
California, Los Angeles, $4,000. This small social service agency is
dedicated to educating students, staff, and faculty in responding to people
seeking handouts. Students are also developing and providing resources to
those in need.
7	Call Quest, McMurry University, Abilene, Texas, $3,650. This event
will help high school juniors and seniors from the Northwest Texas/New
Mexico area hear and respond to God's call to ministry.

More information is available from Smith at Campus Ministry Section, United
Methodist Board of Higher Education and Ministry, P.O. Box 340007,
Nashville, TN 37203-0007; phone: (615) 340-7561; e-mail: lsmith@gbhem.org.
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