Youth President 2022/2023
Ay Up, I’m James Carver, the Youth President of the Methodist Church for 2022/2023. Now, you may have guessed from my greeting that I am (technically) from the North, from a council estate in Clifton, Nottingham. I live with ADHD and autistic traits.
The beginning of my term as Youth President has been interesting. As you may know, we had my induction service planned for the 11th September 2022 but due to the unfortunate passing of Her Majesty, it was decided to postpone. Luckily, I was inducted at 3Generate, and the experience was fantastic; like a bolt of lightning going down your spine.
We had Daud Irfan (Youth President 2021/2022) presiding, and Anthony Boateng (Vice-President of the Conference) share a prayer over the two of us.
Over the past few years, I studied Criminology at Nottingham Trent University; qualifying with a BA (Hons), and I am working towards graduating with a Masters.
Covid was an interesting experience. I didn't see many people, probably the introvert in me, but I did see churches do amazing work to adapt and ensure the Methodist Church continued despite growing challenges. To celebrate this work, I am hoping to visit congregations that have discovered new and inspiring ways of worship and hope to share these stories with others to change the perception that churches are dull!
In addition, I hope to use my personal experience of living with neurodiversity to inform and encourage churches in being welcoming, accepting and accommodating places to all.
Finally, I am also going to be working on re-developing the Youth President Social Media to reach a larger audience and would be extremely thankful if you could share the pages with your young people.
It is tradition, I believe, at this point for the Youth President to finish on an inspiring quote from the likes of John Wesley, Martin Luther King, or the Revd Graham Thompson. Unfortunately, my memory is awful at remembering quotes without a trigger so I leave you with this - young people are not the Church of tomorrow; we are the Church of today. If you engage with us, learn with us, and worship with us, Methodism will thrive.
You can find out more or get in touch with James by following the Youth President pages on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram or by emailing youthpresident@methodistchurch.org.uk