Welcome to Methodist Church in srilanka

The vision of the Youth Task Force of the Methodist Church Sri Lanka is to win the youth of the nation for Christ Jesus and to build up disciples who would go out into the world and be witnesses of Christ. It is also our objective to increase the youth participation in Church activities and to empower them to take up leadership.

One of the main problems that the youth face in present days is unemployment, due to a high competition that prevails in finding the jobs, and lack of opportunities and facilities for self employment and small scale business. The rural area youth are the most vulnerable group as far as the unemployment is concerned, due to lack of knowledge in English language, computer literacy and information technology etc. the rural area youth are not much noticed when it comes to unemployment.The other important factor is that the graduates who pass out from the universities do not find jobs in accordance to their qualifications.

Even while in the Universities the political influences, formation of different movements are also some of the major issues that are faced by university students.

In urban areas there are many openings for fun and entertainment which are misleading the younger generations some times. Addictions to various habits such as use of Internet, addiction to drugs, alcohol, tobacco etc.

However the youth in the church are not exempted from the above problems but they are also exposed to different problems such as lack of Christian teaching specific to youth, lack of encouragement, difficulty in sharing their problems and obtaining the proper guidance, etc. though youth play an active part in most of the churches that are vibrant and growing.

Even though the youth face these problems within the church context, the Conference 2008 decided to give special emphasis to the youth in the Methodist Church Sri Lanka and to increase youth participation at all decision making bodies of the church. As a result of this many churches took the initiative to appoint the youth leaders at all level of decision making. During the early stages though the process was not much appreciated by some circuits later, 90% of the churches and circuits have taken steps to include youth in their decision making bodies.

Another important event held in the last year was the Pre Conference Youth Assembly. For the first time in the history of the church this pre conference assembly was gathered to bring in the conference members below the age of 30 together with the circuit secretaries to have a time of discussion and reflection. It was decided to appoint a 3rd circuit steward under the age of 30.

Youth Task Force Activities

Awareness programme in Negombo Mission area on HIV/AIDS in association with NCEASL (November, 2009)
Workshop on handling conflicts (February, 2010)
Awareness programme held jointly with the Justice & Peace Desk on conflict resolution (March, 2010)
Exposure visits and a national camp (June, July, August, 2010)
Youth representation at an international conference in Cambodia organized by the Asian Methodist Youth Network.
Youth representation at international conference in Fulbare Sort-Pokhara, Nepal organized by the South Asian Christian Youth Network (May, 2010)


		for more details or inquiry youth@methodistsrilanka.org