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Grants available for youth, young adult ministries

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  at GBGM 		United Methodists involved in cutting-edge ministries with youth and young adults may obtain grants of up to $15,000 from the denomination's four program agencies.

The grants are available under the auspices of the Shared Mission Focus on Young People, a global initiative of the denomination. They are designed to enable creative, life-transforming ministries with young people, said the Rev. Drew Dyson, the executive director.

The grants are being offered through the United Methodist boards of Church and Society, Global Ministries, Higher Education and Ministry, and Discipleship. Working collaboratively with general boards and agencies, annual and central conferences, and local churches, the initiative seeks to "set flame" to a movement throughout the church that transforms how United Methodists think and do ministry with and for young people, Dyson said.

The money would assist local churches, annual conferences in the United States and central conferences abroad, cooperative parishes, ecumenical shared ministries, campus ministries, youth serving agencies, and United Methodist organizations working with churches in programs for youth and young adults.

Ministries may receive grants of up to $15,000 per year for up to three years, Dyson said. Projects may be funded once or for the full three-year cycle. In the past, the focus financially supported 27 pilot projects and 12 mini-grant projects throughout the United States and in the church's central conferences around the world.

The Shared Mission Focus on Young People began in 1996, as a result of General Conference legislation challenging the church to "reorder its priorities to better respond to the joys and pains of young people." During the first four years, a coordinating team worked to increase awareness of young people's needs.

The 2000 General Conference reaffirmed the program and continued its mandate. The focus, which had been accountable to the churchwide General Council on Ministries, was restructured and moved to the Board of Discipleship in Nashville.

The board elected a team that includes 23 international members, ranging from teen-agers to older adults, and includes resource people from each of the church's boards and agencies. The team's 2001-2004 focus is to "develop a comprehensive/coordinated approach dedicated to enhancing the church's ministry with young people," Dyson said.

The team has established basic funding criteria, with additional guidelines set by each of the participating churchwide agencies. Grants will be awarded through the administrative processes of each board.

The deadline for applications for the first funding cycle is Jan. 15. For more information, contact the office of the Shared Mission Focus on Young People at (877) 899-2780, Ext. 1780, or by e-mail at smfyp@gbod.org.

Source: United Methodist News Service
October 16, 2001
General Board of Global Ministries
United Methodist Church
475 Riverside Drive - New York, New York 10115
1-800-UMC-GBGM