Thoughts on the UMYFP Christmas Institute
After church service yesterday, I met with about ten youth leaders from the Northwest Quezon City District of the QCPACE of the United Methodist Church (don’t we just love abbreviations?). We talked about the upcoming Christmas Institute. This is the annual Christmas camp for United Methodist youth ages 12-24. It’s a big event for most districts and what’s remarkable about it is that it is a program of youth, by youth and for youth.
Amazingly, as early as now, the youth leaders of NWQCD are thinking about what they will be doing in the Christmas Institute. Let me just present a number of observations about the Christmas Institute over the years that I’ve attended it and looked at it from a distance.
Christmas Institute is life-changing! A lot of youth who attend the Christmas Institute get to meet Christ more deeply and decide to embark on a lifetime adventure with him. Some of these youth become Christians. Some of those who are already Christians decide to take their faith to the next level of commitment. If you talk to a lot of Methodist Pastors and deaconesses, they will point out to the Christmas Institute as the turning point for their decision to enter the ministry.
Christmas Institute brings together youth from all walks of life. This variety of youth coming together can create an awareness of diversity among youth. They suddenly begin to open their eyes to a wider reality of the world as they come in contact with youth who are not from their background. As they learn about social issues and the application of the Methodist faith, they also widen their perspective about the world they live in.
I myself have experienced the power of the Christmas Institute. I have come to know our faith better and such knowledge enabled me to commit and serve with the young people of the church. My continuous presence in the church and in youth ministry is a testimony to how powerful the C.I. is.
The Christmas Institute, however, is becoming stale and routine. As a program, it seems to have reached a plateau. Two pastors already remarked the need to RETHINK the Christmas Institute and harness its full potential in reaching out to young people. They aired a very valid argument. A lot of Methodist youth leaders have borrowed on the program concepts of a previous generation. In most cases, youth leaders have failed to engage the wider body of the church in implementing the program of the C.I.
A lot of youth get fired up during the C.I. but the passion they get does not last long. Why? Because, most of the time, the church does not know how to deal with such passion. More than that, there is no effective means in the local church to harness and utilize the new-found passion of the youth from the C.I. This may be explained by a number of things. For one, there is a lack of strong discipleship program in most churches. The fire in the youth’s heart will then run out of fuel and will fail to burn bright.
On the part of the organizers of Christmas Institute, they fail to engage important stakeholders such as the local churches, the clergy and the lay leaders in the district or annual conference. If they have supportive youth workers, well and good. But most of the time, the youth are left to their own thoughts and devices.
The Christmas Institute is not only about activities and programs. It is about establishing and nurturing meaningful relationships that would contribute to the spiritual growth of these Methodist youth. These relationships are not only between youth themselves. As these youth establish such relationships with pastors, deaconesses, their peers and adult Christians, they will learn to navigate through their life with more wisdom than their limited years would offer.
It’s high time to rethink the Christmas Institute. I say, it has to be relevant to youth but it should also facilitate the connection between and among youth, young adults, pastors, deaconesses, local churches and yes, even parents!
Good day! I am Desiree P. Balla from the SouthEast Quezon City District of United Methodist Church (partner of NorthWest QCD) I am inviting you to our website the “metodistaakoprojectshirt.webs.com” the youth came up with this t-shirt project, to support our church in re-building our church structure because the last typhoon named “ONDOY” really damage our church. I send you an e-mail to please, help our church in promoting our website.. and to support our church financially by buying and promotin our t-shirt for a cause. Thank you for your time in reading my message. Please support us, Thank you and God bless.
we will be posting pictures soon.