March 2012 News
The Youth Service Fund: Focused on Service
Money Raised: The Youth Service Fund (YSF) of the Upper New York Annual Conference received $868 dollars at its January meeting, and voted to give nearly half of it away. Conference Council on Youth Ministry (CCYM) members had been challenged to raise money for the Youth Service Fund in many ways: one successful way involved mini M&Ms that come in tubes just the right size to fill with quarters!
Money Given: The YSF team voted to give $400 to youth from the Greece UMC for their upcoming Mission Trip to Nicaragua. Other requests will be considered as they are received – the next YSF meeting will be in April during UP!WORD ‘12. To apply for funds, see the Conference Council on Youth Ministries page of the Upper New York website (http://www.unyumc.org/pages/detail/1506) or contact Rev. Becky Laird, revlaird@hotmail.com, 315-468-0293.
Service Planned: The YSF team challenges every youth group planning to attend UP!WORD ’12 in April to bring non-perishable food items that will be donated to a Food Pantry. How creative, and how generous, can your youth group be? Bring canned goods, boxed cereals, pastas, or other packaged goods to the YSF table at UP!WORD ’12 registration!! Join with us and the Upper New York Annual Conference in our mission to feed 1 million people in a year!
The YSF team is proudly working to live the CCYM motto: for youth, by youth!
Want to join CCYM?
Do you believe that youth have a voice in the United Methodist Church? Do you wish your voice could be heard? Then consider joining the Upper New York Conference Council on Youth Ministries (CCYM) this spring! Youth in grades 7 – 12 serve on the CCYM until they graduate, or until they otherwise step down from serving. So every year, there are openings for new youth to join and become part of a great discipleship and personal growth experience! Now is the time to add your name, and your voice, to this team whose entire focus is on connecting youth to God through the church.
Membership: In our UNY Annual Conference, the CCYM is comprised of 4 youth and 1 adult from each of the 12 districts. In addition there are 2 more youth from each of the 5 metropolitan areas: Albany, Binghamton, Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse.
Expectations: CCYM members are expected to participate in leadership training and development opportunities which include a Saturday afternoon session during UP!WORD ’12 (April 21), and CCYM training camp to be held this year at Camp Asbury from June 24 – 28. Additional overnight meetings are held in September and January in the Syracuse area. CCYM members plan and present the Fall Doing and Fall Gathering in November, and UP!WORD in April. In addition, CCYM is responsible for participation in NEJ MOP program, NEJ CYM, and for encouraging youth ministry throughout our conference, especially in the Districts and local churches, and participation in the worldwide Methodist youth events like Global Gathering of Young People, and YOUTH ’15. The opportunities for young Methodists are many and varied!
Join: To become a member, contact the adult leader of your District Council on Youth Ministry, your District Superintendent, or one of the Conference Council adult leaders. A full list of contact information is available on the Conference Council on Youth Ministries page of the Upper New York website. (www.unyumc.org/pages/detail/1033).
CCYM Announces Co-coordinator
The Conference Council on Youth Ministries is delighted to announce the addition of a third adult to its leadership team. Rev. Sharon Rankins-Burd, Pastor of Sauquoit Valley and Cedar Lake United Methodist Churches in the Mohawk District, joins Rev. Ted Anderson and Rev. Tony Hipes as an adult co-coordinator for the CCYM, effective immediately, and through the year ahead. Congratulations to Sharon!
Also in the year ahead the CCYM will be going through some restructuring, including a new process for choosing Conference Coordinators.
Why I Y CCYM
(and why you should join!)
By Anna Malone and Paul Sweet, CCYM co-chairs
Anna says:
Shalom!
My time serving the CCYM has been the most meaningful and incredible time, full of spiritual growth and joy. The CCYM is more than just a youth group; it is a group of youth and adults working together to spread God’s word to our peers. There is something indescribably special about being with people our own age who are passionate about Christ and work together in Christian love, where it’s not about us, but about Him.
That’s my personal experience. But we want YOU to have a change to experience the same thing too. Anybody can be on CCYM – you just have to be active in your youth group. So, if you’re passionate about Jesus and feel called to lead youth, now it the time to get involved. If you’re interested, talk to your pastor and youth leader. Get in touch with your District Youth Coordinator and find out what you need to do to get involved. The first meeting of the 2012-2013 CCYM is April 21st at UP!WORD ’12. Even if you don’t feel called to join CCYM yet, you should still come to UP!WORD – it’s a great change to meet youth from across NY state and meet God in a whole new way. Please prayerfully consider joining CCYM, and I will see you at UP!WORD ’12!
Paul says:
I have found serving on Conference Council on Youth Ministry (CCYM) to be one of the greatest blessings that I have had over the past two and a half years. It really is an honor and a blessing to be entrusted with the planning of events that exist to draw young people (and maybe some of their adult leaders) into a closer relationship with our God and Creator. This is not to mention the wonderful comradery that I have found with the other members of CCYM.
CCYM really is special in the sense that it is a committee, which allows youth to be youth, builds leadership in young people and endeavors to create places where a lot more youth can be youth and learn to be leaders. This is done not only through our events, but also through the promotion of the District Council on Youth Ministry and individual youth groups along with the selection of youth to represent our conference on the Mission of Pace, the North East Jurisdiction Council on Youth Ministry, as observers at Jurisdictional Conference. CCYM also selects youth to serve on select boards and committees such as Division on Ministry to Young People.
It really is nothing less than a miracle that the CCYM can gather as a body at all in order to so the work that we are charged with. The nature of our society these days has left the young people of this country with extremely rigid schedules, as we try to get as much out of our high school experience as possible. Add this to the fact that CCYM is made up of 60 youth from almost every corner of the state and most of these people do not have their driver’s licenses yet. Given all of these factors it is nothing less than an act of God that allows us to assemble so we may try to do God’s work.
