We empower young people as world-changing disciples of Jesus Christ, to nurture faith development, and to equip young leaders by:

developing youth and young adult spiritual leaders of local congregations to transform lives by making disciples of Jesus Christ;

challenging The United Methodist Church, and the larger family of Christianity, to embrace, confirm, and celebrate God’s call on the lives of young people;

cultivating and nurturing life-giving ministries where influence and worth are not limited by age or experience;

advocating for the issues and concerns of young people in the church and the global community;

empowering young people to work as agents of peace, justice, and mercy; and

building a network of support and providing resources that connect the diverse experiences of youth and young adults in local ministries and communities around the globe.

The Young People’s Connectional Network (YPCN) guides the work of Young People’s Ministries staff.

The YPCN is organized according to the paragraphs numbered 1200 in The United Methodist Book of Discipline. This diverse and international group of youth, young adults, and adult workers with those age groups get to work alongside representatives from General Agencies of the UMC and UMC Bishops to accomplish self-generated goals over the course of a four-year term.

A brief history

The UMC’s General Conference that took place in 2024 created the Young People’s Connectional Network (YPCN), based upon recommendations from its predecessor, the Division on Ministries with Young People (DMYP). The YPCN remains the UMC’s denominational representative body for young people for the denomination. With representatives from every region of the church, the YPCN gets to set its own goals and areas of focus for how it will accomplish its responsibilities outlined in the Book of Discipline.

Global Young People's Convocation

We organize the quadrennial, global gathering for young United Methodist leaders, the Global Young People’s Convocation. This event gathers together the global United Methodist family to learn from and about each other. We undertake leadership training, increase cultural understanding, exchange ministry ideas, and form legislation and statements to advocate and increase the ability of young people to act as change agents in the UMC. This event has a rich history dating back to 2006.

The Youth Event

We organize the quadrennial event for United Methodist youth in the United States. This event is open to all young people, regardless of faith tradition, or no faith at all. Thousands of youth and their leaders/chaperones gather for several days of worship, fellowship, discipleship, concerts, and more. Youth do need to attend with chaperones and the event often costs about the same as a week at camp. YOUTH 2023 was in Daytona, Florida and we will be excited to share information about the next event, YOUTH 2027, as soon as it becomes available.

Resources

We also create a variety of resources and ongoing support for those in leadership of youth and young adult ministries in the UMC. We remain present on social media and work throughout the denomination to support young people at every organizational level of the UMC.

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