Help UM youth to see where YSF money goes

01-06-2012

Help UM youth to see where YSF money goes

By Michael Ratliff
Special Contributor

As a seventh grader, I sat in the sanctuary with the rest of my 10-member youth group at Waresboro (Ga.) Methodist Church and filled out the commitment card to give $1 to the Methodist Youth Fund. I’m not sure I knew the details, but I did know it was a way I could participate in mission giving to projects that would benefit youth through the Methodist Church.

My commitment to give was very personal and very direct. I understand my counterparts in the EUB (Evangelical United Brethren) tradition were given the same opportunity with the Youth Fund.

The Youth Service Fund (YSF) was created a year later, in 1968, when the two funds merged with the formation of the United Methodist Church. The fund provided an avenue for youth of the new denomination to directly support mission initiatives created by youth, for youth. And since then, the fund has always been contributed to by youth, administered by youth, and supported youth-led, youth-serving projects.

A number of years later, as an adult member of the Conference Youth Department in the Florida Conference, I served alongside the youth co-chairs of a conference committee promoting the YSF and making decisions about support of projects with the 70 percent of contributions that remain in the annual conference. By that time, youth groups had moved from personal pledges to fundraisers supporting YSF. Some worked with national YSF vendors to sell Christmas wrap and candles, with a percentage going to Youth Service Fund. In the process, youth who gave to the fund were becoming disconnected from the youth whose lives were changed by the effort.

Today, I serve in Young People’s Ministries at the United Methodist General Board of Discipleship, where responsibility for administration and promotion of YSF is an integral part of what we do. The majority of funds for YSF are raised at conference events and are often attached to a contest to see what grade can raise the most money, or the expectation of a youth or adult leader doing something crazy to entertain those present. Though these methods are great fun—and raise significant money—they often also continue the disconnect between raising funds and the intended purpose of YSF.

This year in Cameroon, Uganda, Kenya, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Russia and in various parts of the U.S., thousands of young people will get a second chance (or a first chance) to experience a new level of sustainable food security, build mentoring relationships with adults, learn about Christ, and find ways to take first steps out of poverty—all because of YSF. You can learn about current and past projects at globalyoungpeople.org/grants-scholarship/youth-service-fund.

Since 1977, youth of the United Methodist Church have contributed $14.6 million to YSF! Youth of our denomination and beyond have been involved in changing our world through their gifts, involvement and commitment to share their faith in tangible ways. This amazing work has been made possible because hundreds of thousands of youth gave what they could, and the combined effort is more than any youth, youth group or conference group could do on their own.

But the challenge today is to reconnect youth with the ministry that happens as a result of their personal giving.

If you grew up in a Methodist, EUB or United Methodist church, chances are you contributed to one of the funds mentioned above. And while not everyone gets to bounce their way to the top of a mountain in Zimbabwe to visit a poultry project, consecrate French-language Bibles in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, or visit young women in a juvenile detention center in the United States, Young People’s Ministries is working on more ways for today’s youth to give and actually connect with the ministries that result from that giving.

Research says that young people want to make a difference in their world. The exciting news is that the United Methodist Church has provided that opportunity throughout our entire existence. Join me in celebrating what we’ve accomplished and in challenging our church’s youth to do even more in the future.

The Rev. Ratliff is associate general secretary of young people’s ministries at the General Board of Discipleship in Nashville, Tenn. This commentary originally appeared in the Dec. 16 issue of the United Methodist Reporter (umportal.org); reproduced with permission.