Happy 2020! I have rearranged items in this month’s newsletter, as there are several high-priority items that I would LOVE your help with! Headlines at the top, with the regular sections of other items near the bottom.

For those of you with mid-winter events, camps, retreats, and meetings my prayers are with you. The pre-General Conference briefing is in Nashville this week, and I would covet your prayers as I’m there to support the Division on Ministries with Young People’s legislative proposals, and learn about each of the plans and major legislative pieces up for discussion in May at General Conference. I would specifically ask you to pray for all young delegates to General Conference, and specifically for Maggie Taylor, Jani Djamba, Venus Mae Gatdula, Bethany Amey, Alejandra Salemi, Brennan Hurley, & Senesie Rogers as they work on legislation and the Young People’s Address.

BIG DEAL STUFF! 👇👇👇👇

October 5-8, 2020, National Gathering of Annual Conference Leaders of Youth and Young Adult Ministry. Chris Lynch and the SEJ are hosting in Charleston, South Carolina and planning our 2020 gathering. Put these dates on your calendar now and plan to attend!!! There is no support quite like peer support! Travel in on the 5^th, travel out on the 8^th. They plan to have detailed information by March and the ability to register in place by summer.

Need your input on a standards for Staff Position Recommendations Related to Youth Ministry Updates to the EPWORTH DOCUMENT https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jBObU2XbWaPPMPPsyhAS94gqZ9BEu3NlNYetCPyCbeA/edit?usp=sharing Working to turn this document into an advocacy and informational piece for youth workers and church leaders. Review and add comments or language to this document by February 14. I will work to get those comments and language edited together in February and collect signatures in February or March. I want to have this available to share before annual conference season, it will be a useful advocacy and language tool with our combined experience and positional power behind it! THANK YOU TO THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE ALREADY LEFT FEEDBACK AND COMMENTS.

Youth & Young Adult “Free Agent” Representation Pool for General Agency Board of Director Positions https://umcdiscipleship.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=756434a4416d9bc710b1f7cfe&id=97adfdfc24&e=84203888df Every four years, one way that Young People’s Ministries can help advocate and amplify the voice of young people in the UMC is to provide a list of youth and young adults who are willing to serve as members of the Boards of Directors for each Board or General Agency of the church. If selected, a person would serve one quadrennium (four years). Think of this as a “free agent pool” of young people that the church can use to ensure young voices are at the table! Please share this link to interested youth and young adults. Completed interest forms are due by June 25, 2020.

General Conference 2020 & The Protocol We are working to build a collection of resources to discuss GC 2020, church splits, etc. at http://youthworkercollective.com First of several posts here. https://umcdiscipleship.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=756434a4416d9bc710b1f7cfe&id=3e8aeb638f&e=84203888df Remember, anyone who has completed Confirmation and joined as a professing member has the right to voice, vote, and be present in church conferences. Interested to help create tips for youth ministry leaders to engage their youth and make their voices heard? Let me know!

WESLEY WEEK in Taizé, France for 18-30 year-olds August 2-9, 2020. More info here https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/calendar/event/wesley-week-gathering-for-young-adults-in-taize-france/

• Around $130 for registration and lodging for the week! (Super cheap, and you’d camp in a tent/barrack…but what a deal!) You can register and book your own travel if you want to coordinate your own on-the-ground transportation in France.
• Young People’s Ministries will organize a bus from Lyon to Taizé on August 2-9. This will be free, for the first 55 people to RSVP. Easiest possible way you can get to Taizé and our way of supporting the event. Would need to be at the Lyon airport at 1:30pm August 2 (bus departs at 4 for a 90-minute drive to Taizé). On August 9, departure flight can be no earlier than 4pm (bus will drop off at the Lyon airport at 2pm)
• August 2-9 would include the regular worship and prayer experiences at Taizé as well as living in intentional community along with other young adults. Wesley Week additions to the normal program include workshops on Wesleyan Spiritual Practices, guided by Methodists from around the globe. This is a chance to mingle with all sorts of folks from the Methodist family, and have young people connect with each other!

Folks at Family Ministry Tools have a “Lent in the Box” series of worship resources available for purchase. https://familyministrytools.com Discipleship Ministries continues to produce youth and children’s supplements to lectionary-based worship notes at https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning and the Lent editions will be coming out soon. If you are interested to write (or know folks who would be interested in writing!) these worship lessons, let me know. I’ll add you to our pool of writers. (This is a paid writing gig! Not huge money, but then again, what in the church ever is?)

EVENTS

• Jan. 23-24, Pre-General Conference Briefing https://www.resourceumc.org/en/content/united-methodist-news-hosts-pre-general-conference-briefing Hosted by GCFA in Nashville, TN, this gathering will help inform and prepare those planning to attend General Conference in May of 2020.
• March 8-13, Division on Ministries with Young People Executive Table Gathering. (Only members of the current DMYP Executive Table will join this meeting. We are reviewing legislation related to young people at General Conference, and making recommendations for the transition into the next quadrennium of leadership.
• May 5-15, General Conference 2020. Hosting the Young Delegates Lounge and coordinating the Young People’s Address taking place on May 6. The Young Delegates Lounge is open to all delegates 35 and under, and is a safe space to decompress, process, and connect with others. If you have a young delegate or young person from your Annual Conference traveling to General Conference as part of your delegation, please guide them to https://www.facebook.com/groups/2566471863580149/ to socialize, find support, and get additional prep resources before they travel to Minnesota.
• August 2-9, 2020: Wesley Week in Taizé, France. More details in the “Opportunities” section at the bottom. Plus, a printable brochure is attached!
• October 5-8, 2020, National Gathering of Annual Conference Leaders of Youth and Young Adult Ministry. Thank you to Chris Lynch and the SEJ for hosting in Charleston, South Carolina and planning our 2020 gathering. Put these dates on your calendar now and plan to attend!!! There is no support quite like peer support!
• Got an upcoming event or training that you’d like me to highlight? Email cwilterdink@umcdiscipleship.org

TRENDS

• 3 Identities of Generation Z: The Inventor, The Artist, & The Entrepeneur
  • https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/3-identities-generation-z-era-inventor-corey-seemiller-phd/
  • https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/3-identities-generation-z-era-artist-corey-seemiller-phd/
  • https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/3-identities-generation-z-era-entrepreneur-corey-seemiller-phd/
• How to Address the Mental Health Crisis in Generation Z  https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/think-act-be/201912/how-address-the-mental-health-crisis-in-generation-z  
• 15 Key Traits: Millennials and Leadership https://www.thinkburlap.com/blog/2016/4/19/millennials-and-leadership-15-key-traits-part-2

RESOURCES

• Lectionary-Based Discussion Resources Year A – One year’s worth of Faith & Justice lessons designed for youth from the General Board of Church and Society! https://bit.ly/2tmfpTA GBCS has plans to release 2 more additional years’ worth of lessons for Lectionary B & C in the coming years. All lessons are written by United Methodist connected pastors and ministry leaders. Look for names you may know!

• We sent our second monthly Young People’s Ministries Newsletter earlier this month, using a new content management platform. If you didn’t see it, please let me know and I will add you to that list. 

Peace,

Chris Wilterdink
Director, Young People’s Ministries
UMC Discipleship Ministries
cwilterdink@umcdiscipleship.org