Phoebe Parkin became the new Methodist Youth President in a welcome service that took place at Wellington Methodist, Telford on Sunday the 13 September. The socially distanced service was live streamed across the internet.
Phoebe, 18, was elected at 3Generate, the Methodist Children and Youth Assembly, held in Southport last November.
The Methodist Youth President is a salaried position, working full-time for one year. The role normally involves travelling across the UK and overseas, meeting and representing the young Methodist people, ensuring that their voices are heard. Due to the pandemic, Phoebe will be carrying out her duties in other ways, such as through the recently launched 3Generate 365 which replaces the annual, physical Children and Youth Assembly with online and local activities for the year.
Phoebe commented; "It was a very moving experience and having the service livestreamed on the internet enabled many more people to watch and be part of the afternoon.
"I'm really looking forward to meeting new people and helping to build God's Kingdom. I am excited to start this new chapter of my faith journey. Whilst it is unclear when I'll be able to travel, I am still able to engage with children and young people, whether that's through Zoom, social media or email.
"I wanted to become Youth President after I was encouraged by ministers and youth workers in my church. After I looked into the role, it became clear how I should use my passionate for giving children and young people a voice and help them to be fully engaged as members of the Church."
Phoebe's theme for her year in office will be God's World, Our Home. This will focus on how children and young people can take the lead in helping the Church to tackle the climate crisis, spiritually, theologically and practically, supporting the work that is already going on in local churches and exploring how this could be used across the wider Church.
