Youth 2015 Go On

Thousands of youth, grades six through 12, and their adult leaders will gather June 24-28 at the World Center Marriott in Orlando, Florida, for YOUTH 2015 (Y15). The quadrennial youth event has taken place since the 1980s as the national gathering for United Methodist youth and their leaders.

Y15 will be a launch pad exposing United Methodist youth to the Wesleyan means of grace as spiritual disciplines. During the event, youth will practice those actions so they may return home to transform their personal lives and public communities. After Y15, the Young People’s Ministries office at Discipleship Ministries will track and collect stories, fully expecting that six months after the event, at least 1,000 youth still will engage with a spiritual discipline introduced at the event

The worship artists on stage will include Phil Wickham, The City Harmonic, KB, Tedashii, Trace Bundy, the Wayne Kerr Band and Propaganda. Y15 also features a diverse speaker lineup of United Methodist leaders, including the Rev. Cedrick Bridgeforth, North District superintendent, California-Pacific Conference; the Rev. Telley Gadson, St. Mark United Methodist Church, Taylors, South Carolina; the Rev. Mike Slaughter, Ginghamsburg United Methodist Church, Tipp City, Ohio; Taylor Ogden Thomas, United Methodist Church of the Resurrection, Leawood, Kansas; and the Rev. Samuel Yun, Los Altos (California) United Methodist Church. Seventy workshops, small groups and service opportunities round out the schedule.

Many United Methodist agencies will be on hand, offering direct connection to resources and programs available for young people. Several bishops will help with the massive Communion service and remembrances of baptism that will take place Thursday and Saturday.

The theme for Y15 is “GO ON.” The seeds for that theme are Hebrews 6:1-3 and John Wesley’s sermons on Christian perfection. Hebrews 6:1-3 calls us to go on to maturity in faith. Instead of continuing to lay foundations of faith, it is time to “go on, and build up.”

Likewise, John Wesley’s Sermon No. 40, “Christian Perfection,” invites Methodists to go on toward maturity in faith, while Wesley’s “Sermon on the Mount, Discourse 4, Paragraph 5” describes Christianity as an “active, patient religion.”

“Christian perfection, therefore, does not imply (as some men seem to have imagined) an exemption either from ignorance or mistake, or infirmities or temptations. Indeed, it is only another term for holiness. They are two names for the same thing. Thus every one that is perfect is holy, and every one that is holy is, in the Scripture sense, perfect. Yet we may, lastly, observe, that neither in this respect is there any absolute perfection on earth. There is no perfection of degrees, as it is termed; none which does not admit of a continual increase. So that how much soever any man hath attained, or in how high a degree soever he is perfect, he hath still need to ‘grow in grace,’ [2 Peter 3:18] and daily to advance in the knowledge and love of God his Saviour” [Philippians 1:9].

A beautiful tension occurs between active and patient parts of the United Methodist understanding of faith, especially when participating in the Wesleyan means of grace. Y15 will identify those means of grace as specific “works of piety and mercy.” It will highlight 20 specific ways to experience grace actively and patiently. Doing the means of grace will not prevent making mistakes, but they will help Christians grow in grace and “GO ON,” advancing in knowledge and love of God.

Chris Wilterdink is director of program development, Young People’s Ministries, Discipleship Ministries.

Find up-to-date information and follow-up details at youth2015.com.