Curious to learn about DMYP? Here is a glimpse into our mission and ministry:
What is it? What is DMYP’s purpose?
DMYP is the Division on Ministries with Young People. Our purpose is to empower young people as world-changing disciples of Jesus Christ, to nurture faith development, and to equip young leaders. This looks like developing young leaders, challenging the UMC to more fully embrace, confirm, and celebrate Gods’ call in the lives of young people, advocating for issues and concerns of young people in the church and global community, empowering young people to work as agents of peace, justice, and mercy, and building a network of support and resources for young people across the globe. We are in a season of reimagining our make-up and clarifying our purpose as the UMC evolves and the world changes.
Who makes up DMYP’s membership?
- 12 youth: One youth, 12-18, from each Jurisdiction (16 or younger at the time of election) and one youth, 12-24, from each Central Conference.
- 12 young adults: One Young Adult, 18-30, from each Jurisdiction in the United States and one young adult, 25-35, from each Central Conference.
- 12 youth/young adult workers: One adult who works with young people from each Jurisdiction and Central Conference.
- 1 member of GBOD
- Up to 5 additional members to provide inclusiveness and balance.
- A representative from each UM general board sits on DMYP with voice but no vote
Where does DMYP Meet?
At the start of our extended quadrennium, we met at varying locations including Nashville, Tennessee, USA, Johannesburg, South Africa, and Epworth by the Sea, St. Simon’s Island, Georgia, USA. But since the pandemic we’ve only met virtually in “Zoomland.”
What are DMYP Meetings like?
First and foremost, our meetings always include intentional relationship building, through shared meals, play, art, dance, worship, communion, and spiritual practices. We laugh, cry, lament, pray, and hope together. We are co-learners. Every time we gather, we teach one another sacred practices from our communities. We’ve learned how youth pass the peace in Estonia, table blessings from the Philippines, songs from Sierra Leone, dances from Denmark, and benedictions from youth in Montana.
Our meetings are mostly filled with dialogue. We discuss difficult issues that affect the United Methodist Church and our young people worldwide. For example, we reflect upon issues pertaining to education, AIDS, human sexuality, race, ethnicity, and tribalism, modern day slavery, our failure to care for creation, and the future of the UMC. We don’t always agree on everything and communicating well among our diverse languages and lived experiences is always a learning experience. If you came to one of our meetings you would discover that early on in the quadrennium, we developed creative gestures to help us to patiently and lovingly communicate better together. We always seek to put our love for God and the sacred worth of each other at the forefront of our work.
During our extended quadrennium, our work has looked like: creating liturgy and legislation to be brought to General Conference based on the hopes, prayers, laments, and concerns of youth raised at the Global Young People’s Convocation, reviewing and recommending grants to be used by young people around the globe, and listening deeply to the current state of our individual contexts such as from Miracle about the impact of AIDs on young girls’ education in her community in Malawi and from Yulia ministering in Ukraine as the war began. We petitioned for younger voices to be included in the Commission on the Way forward, and met with representatives from the Commission for dialogue in Johannesburg, South Africa.
We have spent much of our time and energy since the pandemic reimagining the make-up, structure, and purpose of DMYP going forward and creating related legislation to be brought to General Conference. This season has not been without its challenges. Keeping everyone in communication in itself has been a feat. On top of the global transitions, our members have navigated significant personal transition over the past seven years, unique to our board’s nature as comprised of young people. Some who started on DMYP in middle school are now in college. Many who started as a youth have now graduated and are in seminary or ordained, serving the local church or as a global missionary. It’s been a challenge to sustain our team’s level of energy and commitment since the pandemic and meeting virtually. We’ve seen how our own board needs to evolve to be more adaptive and agile, so to evolve with the church and world.
Looking backward and forward:
I could write a whole series of reflections on what I’ve learned and experienced while serving on DMYP. In many ways, DMYP has strengthened my commitment to the United Methodist Church. I cannot overstate how DMYP has the potential to provide an invaluable and unique opportunity for youth and young adults to cultivate global relationships, global leadership, and global voice and vision.
As I look back, I remember our quadrennium’s first meeting in Nashville, TN, USA in 2016. It had been a long week, full of long days, deep listening, heavy topics, intentional discernment, learning how to communicate well together, discovering our roles and responsibilities, and meeting new people from all over the world. Toward the end of the week, our leaders arranged for our group to participate in Nashvillian line-dancing lessons. I laughed until I cried as I danced to country music alongside my friend Azer from the Philippines, Maria from Germany, Miracle from Malawi, and Natan from South Africa while a young Nashvillian on the stage demonstrated each dance move for us. On that fellowship hall turned dance floor, we didn’t use translators because it was all embodied movement. We had to listen to the music. We were dependent on following our leader and had to pay attention to the movement those dancing with us. Yes, we had all danced to our own music, in our own contexts, but very few of us had ever experienced true country line-dancing. Each song brought a new rhythm and new choreography. It required a willingness to adapt and learn new steps. Did we find ourselves bumping into each other and stumbling over one another’s toes? Yes. But, over the course of the night, taking it one step at a time, we formed into a body of movement in rhythm with the music. Perhaps there’s a metaphor in there for us, in this divine dance, as we all learn what it means to be one body moving with the one Spirit.