Story and photos submitted by Andy Millman
Young People's Ministry Developer and Mission & Ministry Projects Coordinator
Despite uncooperative weather over the last weekend of January, the Rocky Mountain Conference Young People’s Ministries hosted its annual Youth Leadership Conference (YLC) at First United Methodist Church in Glenwood Springs for about 115 youth and youth workers. For the first time in recent memory, the event drew a diverse group of youth from all three states that make up the conference, which tied in to the annual conference themes of “New People, Young People, Diverse People” and “Ministry on the Margins”.
YLC 2016 was a time for our conference youth to lead, learn, and fellowship together with people from across the United Methodist connection. Over the course of the weekend, young leaders from the RMC listened to Keynote presentations and participated in workshops lead by representatives from the General Board of Global Ministries and the General Board of Church and Society. These sessions focused on diversifying the church, engaging with one’s neighbors – particularly those of different backgrounds – and becoming young leaders in one’s community.
In addition to all of this, Conference Council on Youth Ministry (CCYM) officers lead the annual Young People’s Ministry legislative session at the event. Through a process of holy conferencing, delegates from each church in attendance were able to elect Anthony Nelson from Park Hill UMC as the 2016-17 President of CCYM as well as District Representatives from each district in the RMC. The legislative session ended with a youth-led discussion about a petition submitted to reaffirm an official statement of inclusion towards LGBTQ youth in all aspects of RMC Young People’s Ministries. The motion was adopted by a vote of 50-4 with 2 abstentions.*
Young People’s Ministries and CCYM would like to extend a special thank you to First UMC Glenwood Springs for hosting our young leaders over the weekend, and to all of the youth workers and young leaders who made the event a success.
*For more information about Young People’s Ministries, District Representatives, or the petition that was adopted, please email
youngpeople@rmcumc.com.
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