- Inspiring children and young people to live out their faith and BE the light of the world
- Empowering children and young people to do this by creating training opportunities and showing them ways to shine
- Challenging any preconceptions (if there are any - I'm not assuming that there are) that children and young people need to wait til they're older to be full-on disciples of Jesus
- Facilitating/developing a community of strength and support among Christian young people (through actual meetings and social networking)
- Encouraging and challenging children and young people to take part in mission
I think it will be a good idea to share with the big wide world what's going on with me :)
Last weekend I went to 3Generate, which is the annual Methodist church Children's and Youth Assembly. On the Saturday evening of this weekend I was very pleased, excited and humbled to be elected as the Youth President of the Methodist Church 2012/13. I will start in this role in September 2012 and will serve for 1 academic year.
I was having a cup of tea and some pumpkin pie with my mum earlier and she said how she could see the long journey winding towards where I am at the minute. Having grown up in Anglican churches I had very little connection to the Methodist church for most of my life. I met Ben while we were both at a pentecostal church in Blackpool, I moved back to Weymouth. A youthwork job vacancy arose in the Portland Methodist Circuit, which Ben went for and got. We got married, I moved to Portland, and became a part of Easton Methodist church on Sunday 25th June 2011. On Sept 1st 2011 I started working part time for the One Program, part of the Youth Participation Strategy of the Methodist Church. On October 6th I applied for the role of Youth President. And last Saturday was elected! So you can trace back the steps towards getting here.
I don't know where I stand on the subject of predestination, free will and the extent to which God determines the events in our lives, but I can definitely testify that over the last 6 years of my life I have had a strong sense of God's purposes for my life and his presence with me while I have walked through each day. Very rarely does God tell me what to do when making specific decisions, but He has definitely told me HOW to live. He has shown me His heart, what He cares about. I believe that my life's work is to bring the Kingdom - wherever I am. I love this verse and it comes to my mind often:
Psalm 16.9
A man can plan his path,
But the Lord shows him which way to go
I am convinced that any of the 5 candidates who ran for Youth President could have done an excellent job. I don't think that God 'chose me' for the job, because he had called each of us to go for it. I believe he gave free will to each of the young people who voted, and placed the responsibility in their hands. He let them choose. He has given us free will - he lets us choose. God chose me to be his child, his follower. I choose to accept him as my saviour, and I will follow him all my life. And from September 2012 - August 2013, I will do it as the Youth President of the Methodist Church, and I will do my utmost to be worthy of the role I have been appointed to. I definitely feel a weight of responsibility on my shoulders as so many young people placed their trust in me by voting for me, and this is going to motivate me to do the best that I can for God, and for them.
I also know that God works all things together for the good of those who love him. Whatever choices we, or others make, God can and wants to work it together for good. My prayer at the minute is for the 4 other Youth President candidates, believing that God is with them and will work through them and for them in their lives in the coming years.
This has ended up rather reflective, and it wasn't meant to be! My intention was to simply update people on what I'm going to be doing in the future. But the above is what I've been thinking about, and out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks! (luke 6)
So, what will I be doing? Well, that's a very good questions to ask! I could email you the job description! But I think perhaps the most helpful thing to do is to direct you here: http://www.methodistyouthpres.blogspot.com/. This is a blog which has been written by the past 4 Youth Presidents, right up to the current Youth Pres Sam Taylor.
As far as I know the role depends quite a lot depending on the gifts and passions of the individual Youth President. I think will become clearer over the next 8 months what specifically I'll be doing, but some things I am hoping to get involved in are:
