Missouri Conference Office of Next Generation Ministries www.moumethodist.org
Friends,
It has been an exciting year in the NextGen Ministries world! Here are some highlights from 2023.
We started off the year by spending time in all five districts during the NextGen Listening Sessions. Through that we heard that local churches and leaders wanted training on Generations Z and Alpha, resources to help them do ministry in their context, and opportunities to connect with others working with the next generation. This not only helped us shape our immediate programming but has also helped us create some longer-term plans.
In an effort to provide resources to the local church, we launched our NextGen Curriculum Discounts program in June. This provides curriculum resources from Sparkhouse, Cokesbury, Grow and Orange at a discounted rate. So far, we’ve had 46 churches take advantage of this opportunity to strengthen their programming!
This year we hosted our first-ever UNITE youth event for middle and high school students at Central Methodist University. It was a week of deep connection, hope for the future and heart change for those who attended. After UNITE, we got reports of baptisms, new members, and consistent church attendance from those who went to UNITE! While we anticipated eventually reaching capacity for 2024, we didn’t expect to do so within a week of publicly opening registration! We're thrilled for the 716 folks from across the state that will gather with us at CMU again in July 2024.
Last month we hosted Mark Matlock from Barna and Rev. Melissa Gepford from the Great Plains Conference of The United Methodist Church to learn more about Generations Z and Alpha. We had over 100 registrations and a wide variety of volunteers, leaders, staff, pastors and our Conference Cabinet in attendance. We’re so grateful for the connection and interest in learning more about the generations we are serving.
Additionally, outside of our new endeavors, we continued to grow our existing programs:
We launched our first class of NextGen Leaders Academy that included eight kid's ministry leaders and eight youth ministry leaders. They went through six months of training and cohorts. We are looking towards another full round of NGLA that will launch in January 2024.
We granted over $220,000 to 13 college ministries this fall. Five of those are new ministries launching this year.
During the summer, we hosted 13 interns. Three of these interns discerned a call to ministry, and the others deepened their call in ministry to the world.
As we look towards 2024, we’ll be living into three priorities our NextGen Conference Team named this fall:
Increase awareness about the next generation population in Missouri.
Retain next generation population and leaders.
Create sustainable systems of resources and communication for local churches.
We’re excited to develop content and programming related to these goals in the coming months.
All of this has been possible because of you! Thank you for trusting us. Thank you for offering your hopes and dreams for how we can serve you. Thank you for showing up. Thank you for calling and giving us a chance to help you and help your church be the best it can be as you serve these generations we are raising up. Thank you for continually showing up in your setting. We’re grateful for you and all you do!
There are a lot of things we’re looking forward to in 2024, but as always, we’re here for you. If there’s anything we can do to help you, please reach out!
The Missouri Conference NextGen Ministries Team
Rev. Mona Candea, Associate Director of NextGen Ministries
Josh Schaller, Children’s and Camping Ministry Coordinator
Rev. Angel Garcia, Youth and College-age Ministry Coordinator
Tina Twenter, Safe Gatherings Administrator and Camping Registrar
Jenny Gragg, Executive Assistant
P.S. We’re starting a new email newsletter in 2024. Subscribe to NextGen Connect [link removed] at this link.
P.P.S. From now until Jan. 15, NextGen Camping Ministries is offering a discounted rate for its overnight camping experiences. This will be the lowest price available for 2024 summer camp dates. [link removed] Learn more→
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Next Generation Ministries
Missouri Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church
3601 Amron Court, Columbia, MO 65202 | Phone 573-441-1770
www.moumethodist.org | www.nextgenumc.org
Facebook and Instagram: @nextgenumc
