Many young people are visual learners and love watching videos about fashion, workouts, cooking, music, and more. Young people are also increasingly using graphics and videos to share what they experience and what they are doing.

My Facebook feed on Sundays is filled with verses, videos of on-going church services, and snippets of videos from a pastor’s sermon.

To reach young people in the Philippines, the national officers of the United Methodist Youth Fellowship in the Philippines (UMYFP) started VidTalks, a series of online videos that talk about faith and the gospel. I talked with Kevin John Maddela, the President of the NUMYFP, to find out more about the VidTalks.

What is VidTalks and why did you come up with this project?

The 34^th National Youth Conference (NYC) of the UMYFP, held in April 2016, approved the UMYFP VidTalks as one of its official projects.

So many young people are now using YouTube and Facebook Live to access and share videos, it makes sense to use these media for ministry with youth. The purpose of VidTalks is to share sermons, messages, and talks coming from different lay speakers and workers. The topics of the videos will cover the concerns and issues affecting youth today. This project also serves as a springboard for our young people to delve into conversations and discussions (in the context of a small group or a local church) based on the theme or topic of the video.

The VidTalks could also serve as resource material for learning about exciting ministries, events, and activities of young people. Of course, in doing this, we can help spread the gospel.

What are the topics that you have on your list?

We have already published these titles:

• A Relevant Church - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVDYTb1G_HU
• Campus Ministry - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAdk1sW2b3I
• Passionate Worship - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mytALoDRakk
• Intentional Discipleship - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eA4O_6KSfRQ

And we are working on the following topics: Social Holiness, Gender and Sexuality, Missional Worship, and Women’s Empowerment.

How will it affect the lives of the youth?

Through these resources, we help young people understand our Methodist faith more deeply. These could also serve as digital resources for our youth in the annual conferences, districts, and local churches.

The speakers in the videos are young leaders in our church, sharing their experiences and their love for the church. Of course, a five-minute video is not enough to explore the topics, but it is short enough to capture the attention of youth. As we always say in the UMYFP, all the projects and ministries we do point to our main goal—to know Christ and make Him known!

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Written by Dale Cancio with Kevin John Maddela