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22 years and 3 weeks ago today I walked into the doors of Cambrian Park United Methodist Church for my first official day as the Youth Pastor of the "combined youth group". Three United Methodist churches pooled their parents, churches, teens and finances and decided they would hire one Youth Pastor to start a Youth Ministry for those teens.
22 years later we are still in ministry together.
If I listed the ways the ministry has grown, changed, failed, thrived and morphed, you might stop reading. In short, we have been flexible with the change in what church and adolescent social and emotional development looks like over two decades and adjusted programming and plans to hopefully meet the needs of whatever teens come through our doors. We have over 1,000 alumni of the JYM many of whom would say the Joint Youth Ministry fundamentally changed their spiritual and emotional life. Their time in the JYM was rooted in Love- The love of God and the love of a welcoming community of leaders and mentors.
One thing that happened, that wasn't exactly predicted in those initial years was how enormous an outreach ministry the JYM would become. While we still currently have students attending the JYM who are connected through their involvement in our churches, 75% of our active students in the Joint Youth Ministry don't attend our church services for worship or are members.
What an incredible gift Almaden Hills, Cambrian Park and Willow Glen United Methodist churches have given our community- to invest in teenagers for the long haul, regardless of where they come from, how they do or don't worship and what their theology is. That's meeting the needs of teens and families in their community. Their faithful commitment to teenagers is a holy thing.
While we will get into the financial nitty gritty in later emails the very most basic details are these.
Almaden Hills, Cambrian Park and Willow Glen UMC committed to paying for the Youth Ministry Staff salary through their tithing and church budgets for many years. Over the years as more staff was hired, cost of living increased and other changes happened, the JYM "fund" has contributed to those salaries as well.
We also have an operating budget because this ministry to teens and the community is something that takes a significant financial commitment. The JYM operating budget pays for all things that happen in the JYM and is fully funded by donations.
If you are connected to our churches you may know that Almaden Hills UMC and Cambrian Park UMC have joined together into one worship community. While all three church bodies will continue to support the Youth Ministry staff salaries this upcoming year, that will be changing in 2026. The JYM fund will also contribute significantly more to those payrolls as well this upcoming year and beyond.
We have never, ever turned a student or family away (that we know of) who doesn't have the financial means to participate in an event, trip or any part of the JYM. We never want that to be the case. I will not be a Youth Pastor of a program that turns families away because of finances.
For the first "official" time ever the Joint Youth Ministry is asking for monthly donors, or one time donations. Regardless of your participation in monthly giving, your student is always welcome. Always.
But we ask that you- JYM families, alumni, alumni families, friends, supporters and anyone who reads this email, consider being a monthly giver. If you are a monthly giver, of $10, $25, $50, $100 etc, any size and amount, it will help us to know what we can count on- what programs we can commit to, what service projects we can extend ourselves in ministry to, what events we can say yes to.
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