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Spiritual Development Planning Goal #2
2004-2006

1. What is a visionary goal that your unit set? 

To review and revise the Project Y.E.S. program and implement a summer-based mission program that is more accessible to high school and PLNU students, and more in line with the ongoing strategies of the Churches/locations served by Point Loma Nazarene University.

This goal is specific to the work of international ministries and has been chosen for this document because it is the program needing the greatest amount of change in order to accomplish objectives.

2. What information and data did you use to set this goal? 

  • Evaluation forms filled out by student and adult participants from previous years with Project Y.E.S. Indications led us to believe that we were not quite on the mark in the programs we were making available.
  • An analysis of student participation data (Project YES Participant Data) and conversations with local church youth workers pointed out two key issues.
    • High school spring break is no longer consistently the week before Easter.  This means that many students have to miss a week of school to participate in YES programs.
    • The trip is viewed as expensive (over $300) for a mid school year experience
  • Conversations with church leaders and site hosts about objectives for project Y.E.S.  These included:  
    • Meeting/discussion with SW Regional NYI Council to assist in setting new and appropriate goal for Project Y.E.S.
    • Meetings and discussion with District Supers and District NYI pastors to clarify and solidify appropriateness of new goal.
    • Meetings with Northern Baja pastors to confirm appropriateness of Y.E.S. goal for the locations being served.
    • Meetings and input from Nazarene World Mission HQ in relation to their new US/Mexico border strategy.

3. What actions did you take to try to reach this goal?

  • One of the things revealed by this research is that what our past participants want to do and what the field locations actually need/want are quite different.  So, our programmatic restructuring is not quite “in line” with what our previous ADULT participants “want”.  They would like to continue with a skill-based construction project program in Mexico and Native America.  To meet the needs of the sites and the church, we are moving to a more high-school based mission program led by trained PLNU students, working in close conjunction with ongoing strategies of the Nazarene work. 
  • Renaming Project Y.E.S. to YouthWorks.  This represents its incorporation into the PLNU program of student spiritual formation through mission service: YouthWorks for high school students, LoveWorks for university students, GradWorks for students after graduation.
  • Developing a list of priorities for the ministry that are consistent with the objectives of the church.  These are:
    • Mobilization of PLNU students into multi-cultural ministry situations that include high school students from the PLNU educational region;
    • Teams that are structured and utilized in ways that are integral to the ongoing mission efforts and strategies of the host sites;
    • The program is accessible for smaller churches and individual teens, including teens from our ethnic congregations, as well as larger, self-contained youth groups.
  • Shifting to a model emphasizing summer trips rather than spring break trips and giving four or five different week-long options and using PLNU students as staff for these high school mission experiences.
  • Restructuring the calendar timeline of Project Y.E.S. to coordinate with a four year plan that is in line with Church of the Nazarene General Church events (NYC and Gen Assembly) Specific possibilities include:
    • Year round availability of site info/contacts for sites all over the region
    • Mission training camps available summer with international locations available in the year NYC and General Assembly are not taking place.
    • Hiatus on the most costly aspect of the program: supplementing Native American sites/travel costs (There will be no Native American sites in the spring of 2006).
    • Change of promotional strategy to be more in line with the Regional NYI youth council and events.

For a draft calendar see Project Y.E.S. Reorganization Document.

4. What progress did you make?

  • All efforts have been very well received at the regional level of the Church of the Nazarene. There are open invitations to district and regional youth events, and regional council meetings.
  • The PLNU Director of International Ministries and the PLNU Assistant for Project Y.E.S. have received an open invitation to the weekly meeting of the Northern Baja pastors council.
  • The program for 2005-06 is focused on sites in Mexico.
  • On February 7, 2006, the SouthWest Regional NYI (Nazarene Youth International) Committee named YouthWorks an official partner of the Regional NYI Ministries, designating PLNU as the main youth mission organization for Nazarene churches on the region.  

5. What information and data did you use to evaluate your progress?

  • Ongoing dialogue and meetings with each of the key entities with a focus on determining if the YouthWorks is meeting the needs of the sites and the church. These include conversations with:
    • Regional leadership
    • District personnel
    • Host site personnel
    • PLNU students
  • The positive affirmations from church leadership including the approval of YouthWorks as the primary facilitator of youth missions for Nazarene churches on PLNU’s region.

Supporting Documentation:

Project Y.E.S. Participant Data
Project Y.E.S./YouthWorks Reorganization Document and Draft Calendar