July eNews
Next month kicks off several African training conferences See Full Article Below
"Absolute power corrupts absolutely" - Lord Acton See Full Article Below
The Voorhis on Reaching Youth in the Philippines See Full Article Below
Partnership Highlight: Opportunities Now See Full Article Below
Next Generation Africa: Drew McClary On August 12th Miguel Faundez (YH; Director of Training) and myself will travel to Zambia, Zimbabwe, and South Africa as part of YouthHOPE's 2015 schedule of Youth Ministry Leadership Training Conferences. Every year our partners at the Central Church of Africa Presbyterian hold a national youth conference in which 2,000 youth attend. This year we will be holding a pre-conference leadership training with between 60-100 youth workers coming to attend the national conference. This is an amazing chance not only to train these leaders but also to participate and witness one of the largest Christian youth gatherings in Zambia. In Zimbabwe, we will be holding a YMLT organized by the Apostolic Church of Pentecost of Zimbabwe and are expecting around 50 participants.
Our trip to South Africa will be to scope out possible venues in Johannesburg for our Global Youth Ministry Summit in the works for the spring of 2016. We are excited as we plan this time for strategic leaders to come together in collaborating on creative ways to empower youth in communities throughout Africa.
If you would like to support these trainings or one like it in countries all over the world, check out our website for more information on giving.
Reaching Philippino Youth: David Voorhis Filipino’s face many unique challenges in life from education, work, religion, and family situations. The education system is extremely crowded and expensive. For students who are lucky enough or wealthy enough to finish undergraduate school they find themselves facing another challenge, being marketable in the Philippines. With unfair requirements, low wages, and limited job security Filipinos find international work to be the best option for their family. Which leads to children growing up in single parent homes or with relatives. These Filipinos might get a chance to return home but, to find a job they have to be under a specific age or look attractive. Which then forces them back into the cycle of international work. On top of this the church (Roman Catholic) sees no real need for the development any “modern” style outreach program for youth. We believe that God is calling us to work in a capacity of trying to curve if not all together dissolving some of these issues. We are developing a way in which we can empower Filipino's who are hungry for a place to call their own to connect with Jesus. And to be able to lead and empower others to do the same. We also believe in doing mission through
business in order to provide a place for workers to get a job. Finally we are not looking to take the “American” way of doing thing there. We want to work inside the systems there in a coaching kind of manner. So that Filipinos can say “We did it!"
Good Intentions and Sound Economics: Jesse Frame Just a few weeks ago, two YouthHOPE teammates and another from the NMSI office had the opportunity to attend Acton University in Grand Rapids, MI. Acton University is a unique, four-day exploration of the intellectual foundations of a free society. Guided by a distinguished, international faculty, it was an opportunity to deepen our knowledge and integrate philosophy, Christian theology, and sound economics into our missions and development work around the world. We were challenged to always place the dignity of the people we work with, as made in God’s image, at the forefront of our activities, to look at the larger systems and policies that affect the poor, and to be entrepreneurial in our
approach to building God’s Kingdom. It was a great experience and we recommend this conference to anyone who wants to explore how their Christian faith can work itself out in the areas of poverty alleviation, business and entrepreneurship, government and economics, and more. Check it out at university.acton.org.
Updates from YouthHOPE Partners Opportunities Now a youth entreprenuerial training program in Yangon, Myanmar
Opportunities Now has rented two new offices in different parts of the country and they will open in the next two months. They are starting with one program in each of the offices. Early next year the youth program should go online with both. ON will be starting with a for profit program (success) in Bago. ON will start with the Startup Program (youth entrepreneurship) in Thandwe. Additionally, after they see how these work out and get the bugs out they will hopefully try to expand to Chin State next year and also look at Shan state. They have positive leads in both places.