Youth Missions
We believe that one of the greatest ways to grow one's faith is to actively engage with the world and help to bring about God's kingdom in the world today. The youth at Asbury do that through being actively involved in mission. Throughout their daily lives, we encourage youth to be aware of where God is at work in the world, and join in that work. The youth have been active with various local mission opportunities by helping out with Habitat for Humanity, participating in the 30 Hour Famine and serving food at Glide UMC in San Francisco.
The youth also participate in mission trips. Sierra Service Project (SSP) is a non-profit organization providing life-changing experiences through acts of service repairing Native American homes. The youth of Asbury UMC have been very active in this specific mission trip, and we most recently sent 10 youth and 4 adults to the Sierra Service Project in Walker River, Nevada in the summer of 2009. Fundraisers are held throughout the year to cover all costs of those attending with Asbury's group. The photo below is the group from the 2009 summer who went to Shurz, NV.
Youth Missions Update
There are some very exciting things happening with youth missions at Asbury and I just wanted to update you on some of the new things we’re doing.
First - we are starting a Middle School mission trip, and have a mission team of 10 (8 youth, 2 leaders) who will be heading to San Francisco to do some urban missions with the Center for Student Missions (CSM). It’s going to be a really great trip; I’ve worked with CSM before in Seattle and am impressed with their mission programs. The youth will be exposed to all sorts of different mission opportunities in San Francisco and Oakland and I’m sure that they’re going to come back excited about more mission opportunities in the future. Middle school youth will be on this trip June 27 – July 1, 2010.
Second - we have a great mission team of 24 people (20 youth and 4 leaders) going to this summer’s Sierra Service Project (SSP) in Klamath, CA to work with the Yurok Tribe. SSP has been a trip that has been very transformative in the lives of many of Asbury’s youth and adults, and we are looking forward to serving on this trip next summer. High school youth will be on this trip from August 1-7, 2010.
The Youth Council has been discussing things related to youth missions for a few months, and we are excited about some new possibilities and opportunities for Asbury’s youth. Some of you may have heard there were some changes made to the SSP trip. The Youth Council decided that our high school youth should go to SSP in 2010, but that in 2011, we would partner with a new mission organization and give our high school youth the opportunity to experience a different type of mission trip. It is my goal to provide our youth with a diversity of experiences in which they can encounter & serve God and others in the world. The decision the Youth Council made was not to stop doing SSP, but to simply allow for a new experience for our youth in 2011. The Youth Council feels very strongly about trying to provide the best missions experience for our youth and I know that together we will be able to do that.
Finally - one last “housekeeping” announcement to share with you. Asbury has been an extremely avid and faithful supporter of youth missions - specifically SSP. Now that we are beginning to offer some additional opportunities for youth, in addition to SSP, if you feel called to donate money or contribute to our fundraising efforts, please simply make your checks payable to Asbury UMC and write “Youth Mission Fund” in the Memo line. In the past, since the only youth mission effort has been SSP, people were accustomed to giving money strictly for SSP. However, since we are adding new opportunities, we now want to move toward using the “Youth Mission Fund” instead of the SSP account.
Thanks so much for all your prayers and support for our youth in their mission endeavors.
Peace,
Adam Walker Cleaveland
Minister for Youth & Young Adults