I got involved with the School for Christian Youth Development (SCYD) when I was still in high school. I would say that this school was very influential in developing my leadership in the church, in my school and in my personal development. I also developed a lot of friendships and important connections by participating in this school.

The School runs for three years. It’s like going to a Bible School for teenagers. You get to study about the Bible, how to lead bible studies, how to lead group dynamics, Preaching, the United Methodist Church polity and structure, Social Principles and Leadership among others! The teachers are usually the pastors, deaconesses and concerned lay persons in the conference or district.

Most of the time, SCYD is sponsored and organized by the Board of Discipleship of the Annual Conference. It usually runs between one to three weeks. During my time (which seems like ages ago!), it used to be three weeks. But due to time and financial constraints, the duration became two weeks and eventually to just one week.

The most memorable part of SCYD, at least for me, was the weekend appointment to local churches. We were sent to these churches as a team of young people. One of us became the preacher during the Sunday worship while others became children’s Sunday School teachers, ushers and liturgists among others. On the whole, it was pretty good training in church ministries for young people!

Here are some of the subjects dealt with during the SCYD:

Bible (Old and New Testament)
Preaching and Hermeneutics
Methodism 101 (Heritage, Structure and History)
Social Principles
Leadership
Youth and Youth Culture
Leading Bible Studies
Children’s Ministries
Group Dynamics
Interest Groups (guitar, piano, tambourine dance, arts and crafts)

As I said, SCYD was very instrumental in my leadership development. I learned a lot about the United Methodist Church through this school. I became actively involved in the life and mission of the church and I understood the history and the mission of the church.

SCYD is a good place to develop networks with youth leaders and workers-with-youth. Pastors, deaconesses and youth-loving lay persons go there to help the school. This school also becomes the venue for recruiting youth leaders and would-be pastors and deaconesses for the church.

SCYD also helps train youth to become lay speakers for the church. Those who complete three years of SCYD become licensed lay preachers who can go to any United Methodist Church to preach and share the word of God.

Yet, there are a number of things that can be refined for the SCYD.

Refine the curriculum. In this time and age of the Information Superhighway, it would be important to look at how we can engage the broader culture with the timeless message of the gospel. The curriculum can also be tied to the lay speaking curriculum of the church. This way, youth can become licensed lay preachers automatically upon completion of SCYD. If possible, the curriculum should be uniform across the Philippines United Methodist Church.

Network with other Annual conferences. The SCYD is very popular in almost all annual conferences in the Baguio Episcopal Area and in the Davao Episcopal Area. To my knowledge, only SouthWest Philippines Annual Conference organize the SCYD in the Manila Episcopal Area.

Come up with a textbook for the SCYD. This will certainly come in as an important resource for pastors, deaconesses and lay persons who are asked to become teachers in the SCYD. They won’t have to prepare every single topic they will teach for the subjects in the SCYD.

The SCYD is an amazing school for youth.

Does your annual conference organize this school?