Youth Ministry Academy

Each month, the Youth Ministry Academy blog will feature a guest column written by one of NYI’s seven global regions.  The Guest Column will feature opinions on each month’s topic at the Academy.  The inaugural Guest Column, on the topic of Global Ministry, comes to us from NYI Director Gary Hartke

By: Gary Hartke

In June 2009, 713 NYI delegates gathered for the 22^nd Global NYI Convention. This was an historic event as delegates participated in the convention from 8 locations around the world including: South Africa, Germany, India, Philippines, Ecuador, Trinidad, Dominican Republic, and the United States of America. Throughout these days delegates participated via video conferencing technology in general sessions, regional caucuses, and partner region meetings. This was another “first” for NYI. Expanding the convention worldwide was another step in the NYI journey of being and becoming a global ministry.

Today NYI is working in over 150 countries of the world, in 13,706 local churches, 433 districts, 47 fields, and 7 regions. We are a worldwide family. Yes, we are divided by borders, languages, cultures and customs; however, we share a common belief in God and desire to journey together with other young believers that we may never meet here on earth.

How is NYI being and becoming a global ministry? Here are ten ways:

• We share a common statement of mission, “to make Christlike disciples in the nations.” This statement of mission has been adopted as the quadrennial theme for NYI with the four subthemes of “called, to be like Christ, loving others, in our world.”

• We have a common constitution or set of bylaws known as the “Charter and Ministry Plans.” It has been designed with a Charter that states our theme verse, Mission, Vision, Values, Guiding Principles, and Ministry Framework. Also included is standard local, district, regional, and global Ministry Plans. These plans are designed with flexibility in mind to respond to the unique needs around the world. For example, the age focus of NYI has been an area of debate for decades. What works for one world area does not for another. So, the ministry plans have been designed so that the local, district, or region could modify the age group setting to fit needs.

• We share three core strategies. Evangelism, Discipleship, and Leadership Development. These basic strategies should form the foundation of NYI ministry in every aspect of our ministry.

• We have common offering project through “Jesus For A New Generation.” Through this mission offering project local churches, district NYI, field NYI, and regional NYI can give and receive funds to support youth ministry needs.

• We have a website, www.nyitoday.org, which has been built with a translation feature that minimizes the language barriers and gives more youth leaders access to helpful information.

• We have a partner region structure that encourages relationship development and prayer support. The partner regions for 2009 to 2013 are:

Asia Pacific/Northwest USA
Eurasia/Southwest USA
Africa/East USA/ East Central USA
Mexico & Central America/North Central USA/Southeast USA
Caribbean/South Central USA/Canada
South America/Central USA

• We have a “Third Wave Conference” leadership conference with young emerging leaders from each Field of the world. The first event was held in Quito Ecuador in January 2004 with 163 leaders from 44 countries of the world. A second event was held in Johannesburg, South Africa with 225 leaders from 55 countries of the world. The next event will be held in January 2011 in Bangkok, Thailand.

• We have a Global NYI Council with representation from every region of the world. This council meets to shape the program and policy for NYI.

• A portion of the budget provided to the NYI office in the Global Ministry Center is allocated to each region on an annual basis.

• We have an NYI office in the Global Ministry Center that serves our churches and leaders worldwide. The NYI staff works to support the needs of youth ministry around the world.

NYI is a global ministry – and you are a part. Thanks for being faithful to leading in your area of ministry.

What do you think? How is your youth ministry participating on a global scale? What more can you do?  Let us know in the comments section below!

Tags: Gary Hartke, Global Ministry, Guest Column

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 1st, 2009 at 12:00 am and is filed under Blogging, Global Church, Theology, Youth Ministry. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.