NEWS

YOUTH 2011 Website Offers Glimpse of 2011 National Youth Gathering

A website kicking off Youth 2011, next year’s national youth gathering for The UMC, offers information and links about the quadrennial event sponsored by Young People’s Ministries, a division of The General Board of Discipleship (GBOD).  For the first time, the four-day conference in July 2011 will be held twice on opposite sides of the country to better serve the denomination. The event theme is “More Than,” and the youth participants will be shown that with the presence of God they can be “more than” just ordinary. 

“Youth 2011 will bring together thousands of UM youth and their leaders from across the country in Sacramento and West Lafayette, Indiana, to explore how God works through us to be and do ‘More Than’ we could ever be on our own,” said Rev. Mike Ratliff, associate general secretary of Young People’s Ministries. 

Youth 2011, designed for students in junior high/middle school and high school, will be held at Purdue University in West Lafayette on July 13–17 and at the Sacramento Convention Center in Sacramento on July 27–31. 

“The launch of www.youth2011.org provides a gateway to this event for youth and their leaders.  Informational and interactive, it will become the hub of involvement before, during and after the Youth 2011 event,” Ratliff said.  The multimedia-infused website features photos, video and a blog page with video updates and articles for youth and youth workers.  It is linked into social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and the media sites Flickr and YouTube.  The site’s Volunteer Page includes information about opportunities to help at Youth 2011, including leadership roles for breakout sessions and affinity groups.  In addition, volunteers can sign up to be part of the Veteran Youth Workers Care Team, a group of pastors and veteran youth workers who will volunteer time to meet with other youth workers to listen to their situations and offer advice and encouragement, and to be servant team members who will take on active roles at the events, from setting up chairs to serving communion.