THE YOUNG CLERGY INITIATIVE
The Young Clergy Initiative is a $7 million fund created by General Conference in 2012 and renewed in 2016 charged with increasing the number of young clergy within jurisdictional conferences of The United Methodist Church by encouraging opportunities that leverage for denominational change on systemic and cultural levels through various conversations, events, experiments, resources, and training.
The YCI invites grant requests that assist young people to listen for, discern, and respond well to God’s call to ordained ministry.
Discernment Journal
Listen. Discern. Respond. is a journal from the Young Clergy Initiative offers over 80 unique, thought provoking exercises will help you sketch, pray, color, sing, scribble, study, ponder, observe, question, dream, and uncover what your purpose might be.
Called Curriculum
Called is a curriculum resource from the Young Clergy Initiative that helps your community explore how to LISTEN for God’s voice, DISCERN what you’ve heard, and RESPOND faithfully at any age.
There shall be a Young Clergy Initiative
…which provides support to increase the number of young clergy among the jurisdictional conferences. This begins a three-quadrennium effort to enable The United Methodist Church to focus efforts on encouraging young adults who wish to respond to the call to ordained ministry to receive a strong theological education in the United Methodist tradition in preparation for ordination. This initiative is in addition to the funds that the church already has budgeted for discernment, recruitment, nurturing, education, and support of young clergy leaders.
The agencies, in collaboration with Boards of Ordained Ministry, seminaries, bishops, and cabinets will determine the most effective use of the Young Clergy Initiative Fund in response to the need for young clergy leaders to reach their own generation and those younger generations. With measured success, it is hoped that the next General Conference will increase this investment.
GBHEM will administer this designated fund.
General Conference 2012, 2016