Dear friends:
Thank you for your trusted partnership with Young Adults in Global Mission! As YAGM adapts to the pandemic this year, we’d like to share the latest updates on the program for which you’ve shown so much care and support.
Around this time of year, YAGM volunteers normally arrive in their country programs to accompany our companions all over the world. But due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020-2021 program year is different. For the first time, YAGM has refrained from sending a cohort of volunteers.
This is a moment in which faithfully accompanying our companions means keeping a physical distance. By committing to this sabbatical year, we avoid placing a burden on our companions and seek to keep everyone safe as we navigate the challenges of the pandemic together. At the same time, YAGM’s work has not paused but rather continues under the leadership of YAGM country coordinators and our companions.
Here are the latest developments:
- YAGM country coordinators, who are ELCA long-term missionaries, are accompanying companions during the pandemic.
- YAGM country coordinators are evaluating their country programs to deepen relationships and strengthen the program for the future. YAGM churchwide staff are also focusing on evaluating and strengthening the program for the next cohort.
- The YAGM program is updating its recruitment and application processes, as well as its media, in an effort to make sure that applicants of any race, ethnicity, sexual orientation or gender expression feel welcome, safe and valued.
- YAGM alums are stepping up to raise funds as part of the #YAGMForward campaign, to sustain the program for the present and “pay it forward” for the next cohort of volunteers. If you haven’t already, you can donate to the #YAGMForward campaign in honor of one of the ten country programs. We are deeply grateful to you and to our alums who are raising funds.
As YAGM’s work continues this year, support is especially needed right now.
If you’d like to support YAGM at this key moment in its history, you can make a donation today. Your gift will help sustain the program this year and strengthen it for the future.
Thank you so much for your prayers, support and care for this vital ministry. Take care and be well.
Blessings,
Dan Beirne
Program Director, YAGM Leadership Formation and Alumni Engagement
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
Rahel Mwitula Williams
Director for Global Mission Funding
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America |
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