What is the Judicatory (Diocesan) Plan?

There are two judicatory options available to dioceses (synods, presbyteries, etc.):

                             1. MEMBERSHIP
                             2. SPONSORSHIP

The CYM Judicatory Sponsorship is a partnership between the diocese (synod, conference) and LeaderResources that provides a 25% discount to congregations who chose to become a CYM member, an honorarium for a Diocesan Coordinator and discounts on a diocesan training.This lower priced options is a way for dioceses to support youth ministry in congregations by lowering the cost for congregational use. 

The CYM Judicatory Membership provides every congregation free access to these resources during the membership term. The advantage to this is that congregations will have a broad range of resources. If one resources doesn't work well, they can simply download another one. Smaller congregations, in particular, benefit from access to programs they otherwise may not be able to afford. 

See pricing comparisions HERE:

Price Comparison Charts

Here's a chart to help you compare prices of our youth ministry programs which you can buy indivdually or bundled into the Center for Youth Ministry (with 35+ other resources).

Your fee is based on your church size using the average weekly WORSHIP attendance (including children, youth and adults -- whatever your church reports to your denomination as your average weekly attendance).

Episcopalians can find their average attendance HERE (click on "Studying your Congregation" and go to the bottom of that page to select your diocese and congregation -- it will then give you your 10 year average trends).

Why do we use church size?

Well, we had to pick something! Here's our rationale for why we settled on worship attendance:

Number of Youth:

Most church youth group attendance varies greatly and it is very common for a church to start the fall with six youth and, when they institute a good youth program, end up with 20+ by December. Having to change their fee level mid-year would be a pain for them and us and if we didn't adjust it would penalize churches who had good youth programs or got themselves well organized before they ordered!

Number of Members:

Different denominations count members differently. Plus, membership numbers are often hugely inflated if the church hasn't removed people who moved away, quit attending, etc.. So this is an unreliable figure.

Plate and Pledge or Total Budget:

Most people don't have a clue what that is so they'd have to go to someone to find out the number, making ordering a pain. Or we'd have people guessing and with some being wildly off track -- which isn't fair to those who know their accurate figures.

Worship attendance:

So we settled on average weekly worship attendance -- which is what researchers indicate is the most reliable figure (people either are or aren't there!). And we've learned that on average, most congregations have about one teenager for every 5-7 adults. Those teenagers aren't necessarily visible, but if you go through your membership list, most churches will find that ratio. So that seems to be the fairest way to apportion the fees. Smaller congregations pay less; bigger congregations pay more on the assumption that they are (or should be) serving more youth.If you institute a good youth ministry program and invite youth (preferably by other youth), they will come. And their parents will follow. That's why youth minstry is one of the best church growth programs around!

How can we pay for this?

Budgets are tight everywhere, so the first question is: How can we find the money to pay for this? While it is generally possible to add this to a church budget after the first year, getting that first year funded can be a challenge.

We have offered youth ministry memberships for years and have heard how churches found those funds. Here's what others have done:

• Some priests/ministers have discretionary funds that can help fund the first year's fee.
• Ask individual donors to contribute -- youth ministry is very popular and this is something many people would be willing to support.
• One youth group asked their parish family to give $20 or whatever they could afford and then passed the hat -- literally! Five minutes later they had almost double what they needed to pay for their congregational membership. Lots of others churches have followed their example with comparable success.
• Set up an Angel's Fund -- and invite individual donors to be an Angel Investor and invest in the youth of the church
• Take a special offering -- tie it to a Sunday where you have participation by youth

We hope these ideas will help you come up with some creative ways to find the funding for a membership.