24 November 2010
Sam Taylor elected Methodist Youth President
The Methodist Youth Assembly has elected Sam Taylor as the
Church's new Youth President for 2011-2012.
"I am delighted to have been elected as Youth President designate
and I am greatly looking forward to starting the role in
September," said Sam, following his election at the Youth Assembly
last weekend.
Sam, aged 17, is currently studying for his A-Levels and lives in
Wellingborough in Northamptonshire. He attends Great Park Street
Methodist Church in Nene Valley circuit in the Northampton
District. This year he is working as a One Programme Participant
(OPP) in a youth project linked to the church, Infuse Youth Cafe.
The One Programme gives young people the opportunity to work for a
year in their local churches and Districts in creative projects
that help to show Jesus to others. "At Infuse, I am running a Cell
Group which has seen some amazing growth in young people's faith
over the last month or so," said Sam. "I run an event called
Worship@Infuse which has been running for nearly two years and has
developed enormously in that time. I also look after the Youth
Committee, making sure that they are the ones that drive the
project forward."
From September 2011, Sam will work part time for one year to serve
the young people of the Methodist Church in Britain, making their
voices heard and helping them to get more involved in every aspect
of Church life. The Youth President is a paid post as part of the
Children and Youth Team of the Methodist Church in Britain. Sam
said, "I want to focus on empowering young people to be more
involved in church life - it has to come from young people if we
are going to get more young people coming into the Church. Young
people need God in their lives and they need other young people to
help them to find God. So the church needs young people at the
centre of this, to make sure it is happening, and that the people
that need God most are being reached out to."
Sam will succeed current Youth President Christy-Anna Errington.
"I'm really pleased Sam will be taking over from me next
September," said Christy-Anna. "So far in my year of office I have
been focusing on building relationships within the Methodist Church
and with outside organisations to find ways of working together
more effectively. The resolutions from this year's Youth Assembly
have also been very useful in helping me to decide what to focus on
for the rest of the year."
This year's Methodist Youth Assembly took place at the PGL
Liddington Centre near Swindon from 19 to 21 November. Around 200
young Methodists gathered to make key decisions affecting the life
of the Church, with education, sports ministry, and peace in Israel
and Palestine on the agenda.
You can find out more about the Youth Assembly at the Generous
website (http://methodist.generous.org.uk/)
or on the Youth President's Blog (http://www.methodistyouthpres.blogspot.com//).