OUR STORY

1881                The Christian Endeavor Society (CES) for young people was started in the West

1900                The First Protestant missionaries came to the Philippines and thereby introduced the Protestant Youth organization

1904                Reports say the first CES in the Philippines was organized in North Luzon

1908                Another report says that a CES was organized in Pagsanjan complete with a Constitution

1926                CES of various Evangelical Churches came together and formed the                                                        National Youth Organization

1939                National Christian Endeavor Union was organized with Rev. Onofre Fonseca as its First president

1943                Many young people who had experienced the devastation of World War 2 made efforts to organize themselves

1948                The Union five Protestant denominations – namely, the Presbyterian Church, the Church of Christ (Disciples), the Congregational Church, the Philippine Methodist Church and the United Brethren – gave birth to the UCCP (May 25)

In the same year, the Division of Youth Work and Ministry in Higher Education was created to take care of the youth and student ministries of the UCCP.

1949                The Division organized and held the first Planning Conference for the Philippine Federation of Christian Churches

Christian Youth Fellowship (CYF_ became the official name of the UCCP group of young people

A Federation of Christian Youth Fellowship was organized

1961                The Division launched the National Youth Seminares (NYS) in Dagupan to meet the need for Christian leadership, fellowship and a sense of oneness among the youth nationwide.

1964                During the 2nd NYS, North Luzon CYFers initiated moves to organize the CYF nationally to no avail

1970                The 4th NYS held in Tacloban City South Luzon CYFers revived the proposal to                                   organize the CYF nationally based on 3 major points:

• ·         A national CYF best articulates the collective sentiments of the UCCP youth on important issues.
• ·         A national CYF best serves the interests of the UCCP youth on matters related to their welfare as a major part of the Church and society.
• ·         A national CYF could best decide for the youth on matters of representation to higher judicatories.

These 3 major points were blocked by the following assumptions:

• ·         A national body might just be an added bureaucracy, which would further burden the CYF organization.
• ·         No organization could best serve the grassroots CYF beyond the conference level, as it knows best the pulse of the constituency.
• ·         People from Luzon and Manila who are more accessible to the UCCP main office might just monopolize leadership in this proposed body.

These effectiveness of a national leadership was also questioned due to the terrible communication and transportation facilities. In short, no consensus was reached.

1972                The Division on Youth Work and Ministry in Higher Education was abolished and work was delegated to the Jurisdictions

1978                During the UCCP GA in Cagayan de Oro, a Preparatory Committee and tasked to hold a national convention to decide on the issue of having a national organization for the CYF and to formulate the necessary legal documents

the Visayas Jurisdiction wanted the Jurisdiction CYFs to strengthen themselves first and for the youth leaders to gather and study what kind of national organization will work in the 7,107 islands of the Philippines

1979                In spite the above arguments, the National Christian Youth Fellowship (NCYF) was created during the National Consultation in Dumaguete City

1980                A Constitutional Convention took place in Cebu City

This Convention:

• Drafted the NCYF Constitution and By-Laws (CBL)
• Created an Interim national Youth Council

1982                The first national Youth Assembly was held in Malolos, Bulacan (May 21-25)

The NCYF CBL was ratified; the first set of national officers were elected; and, the National Youth Development Program was adopted since then, the CYF’s NYA meets every four years.

1986                The 2nd BYA was held in the Episcopal Noviate, Antipolo, Rizal

The national CYF initiated a Membership Consolidation Program (MCP) aimed, primarily, at determining the CYF membership quantifying and, secondarily, at generating funds through the “Piso sa CYF”

The MCP was successfully implemented except in some conferences; the “Piso sa CYF” component, however, was not successfully implemented due to poor mechanism and some conflicts with the conferences

1990                The 3rd NYA was held in CENDET, Cebu City

1991                The CYF-Southern Tagalog Conferece’s (STC) All Leaders Assembly formulated a concept and mechanism in consolidating CYF members through basic education on the UCCP & the CYF

The CYF-Southern Luzon Conference (SELC) also produced an orientation manual with similar contests as STC’s

1992                During a CYF-SLJ meeting, other conferences agreed on the need to go back to the basic org thus, the CYF-SELC and STC combined efforts and came up with “Ang ABKD ng CYF – Unang Yugto”

1993                The 4th NYA was held in Mampayang, Camp Philips, Bukidnon

The 1990-1994 national execom decided to pursue the MCP without the “Piso sa CYF” component

The ABKD was considered an integral component of the MCP focusing on membership quality

1998                The 2nd Constitutional Convention was held in Union Theological Seminary (UTS) in Dasmariñas, Cavite (May 16-19)

The 5th NYA was held in Union Theological Seminary, Dasmariñas, Cavite (May 20-24)

The Comparative Presentation of the Salient Provisions of the NCYF CBL & the Proposed CYF CBL was disseminated and Discussed among the conferences

2001                The first ever National Youth Camp, entitled “The Journey,” Was held in Visayas State College of Agriculture (VISCA), Baybay, Leyte

2002                The 6th NYA that met in CONDORA, Damortis, Rosario, La Union ratified the new CYF CBL (May 13-17)