The Young Clergy Initiative was established by the General Conference in 2012 to be a three-quadrennium focus on increasing the number of young clergy in The United Methodist Church. It was created from the World Service Fund, which is an apportioned fund. Since its inception, the fund has distributed $10 million in support of young clergy programs.

The YCI invites grant requests that encourage denominational innovation in recruiting and retaining talented young clergy while assisting young people to listen for, discern and respond well to God’s call to ordained ministry. Programs might achieve this in a variety of ways, including structured conversations, call events, new resource development, unique training opportunities, research and more.