NEWS USA/Canada NYI: Looking Back, Moving Forward The past decade for USA/Canada NYI included many peaks and valleys, leading to a variety of challenges and opportunities. Overall, USA/Canada NYI saw a steady and significant slide in youth membership and attendance from 2010-2019, mirroring a similar pattern within the church and nearly every other denomination in North America. Despite this decline, we remain deeply hopeful. God is at work in the lives of young people across our region! There is much to highlight and celebrate as we look back while we faithfully push forward to turn the tide and ride new waves of momentum into the future. In 2013, two significant shifts occurred as the USA/Canada NYI office embedded within the regional office for increased organizational alignment and effectiveness. We also adopted Global NYI’s three core strategies of Evangelism, Discipleship, and Leadership Development (aka BE . . . DO . . . GO . . .) in order to focus on our mission of making Christlike disciples in the nations among the next generation. Evangelism Our focus on evangelism led us to renew attention on campus ministry, recognizing the campus as a strategic place to reach students and develop ministry among them. Campus Mission, a network of Nazarene churches and ministries focused on reaching college students, was rekindled. We also reaffirmed our involvement with Campus Alliance, a nationwide movement of churches and Christian organizations with the shared goal of adopting every middle and high school in America for a prayer, care, and share strategy by 2030. Together, nearly half of the 60,000-plus schools have already been adopted! We also connected with Encuentro Missions to encourage cross-cultural experiences. While the USA/Canada NYI office does not officially
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coordinate these opportunities, we do lock arms and support the collaboration they bring among several regions. Through the decade, thousands of students have participated with Encuentro groups in building projects, VBS programs, sports camps, and community worship services as we see countless lives transformed through Nazarene churches in places like Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, and Guatemala. Discipleship Our focus on discipleship is marked by several strong ministry programs and weekly gatherings through the local church such as youth group, Sunday school, and other small groups. We are thankful for The Foundry Publishing and its ongoing commitment to provide quality, relevant curriculum and resources for discipling youth. Youth Bible quizzing also continues to be an impactful ministry for many local churches and districts by immersing students in Scripture and building a strong community of faith amid the fun competition. Large events such as district camps and retreats, field events on our Nazarene campuses, and regional events have provided additional layers of discipleship opportunities for students. Nazarene Youth Conference (NYC) continues to be the largest movement of our young people with a total of more than 22,000 Nazarene youth and leaders gathering in Louisville (NYC 2011: “World Unbroken” and NYC 2015: “Thy Kingdom Come”) and Phoenix (NYC 2019: “Love God, Love Others”) for the purpose of worship, discipleship, and community service. During these three epic events, countless lives were impacted as participants offered 85,000 hours of community service throughout the host cities. They distributed over 15,000 “Bundles of Hope” diaper bags and “Packed with Love” backpacks to families and students in need and initiated provision of over 300,000 meals plus over 10,000 hygiene kits for crisis care efforts on the region and
