Story by Reuben Vincent
A Burngreave resident has been awarded a rather impressive position. Kevin Christopher Jones, aged 20, is the Methodist Youth President for 2005–06, a post which has been running for ten years.
As President, he is the voice of the Methodist Youth Executive (MYE), a nationwide Christian organisation. To find out more about what this involved, I went to see Kevin to talk to him about his new position.
“I have a very busy, non-stop schedule,” Kevin laughed. “As MYP, I am asked to go and speak at numerous different festivals, conferences and events, mainly revolving around the church, at which I share the views of not just myself but all methodist young people.”
I asked Kevin about his reasons for going for this position.
“Well, I had been thinking about going for it last year, but I decided against it. I wanted to be absolutely sure that it was what I wanted to do, because I was fully aware of the workload involved with the post!
“I was concerned about where the youth are within the church at the moment.Where do they go for clubs and groups within the church? I am also frustrated by how all the different faiths worship the same God, but we don’t come together as one body.”
Kevin also told me how he wants to bring his focus to issues in Burngreave as well, by forming youth groups in the church whereby the young can build up a sense of community and support their faith.
When not in this role, Kevin will continue working as a lifeguard at Ponds Forge, where he has received his level 1 assistant teachers qualification. Kevin is sure to be kept very busy even after his post has ended.
“This position allows you to meet loads of people of all ages, which is great.There’s certainly no chance of me fading into obscurity here because once someone know you, they’re not likely to forget you! I’ll still be attending a lot of different events.”
If you are interested in finding out more about what Kevin does, or about the numerous different events he will be attending this year or just to talk to him then you can email him on youthpresident@mayc.info.