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News
Magazine for Teens Celebrates 10th Anniversary
 NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS, May 20, 2006) - For 16-year-old Victoria, a little bimonthly magazine called Devo’Zine is her “cheat sheet” for life.
It is comments like that from teenage readers around the world that have fueled the embers and filled the pages of the devotional magazine for the past decade. The 64-page, full-color magazine, published by Upper Room Ministries is celebrating its 10th anniversary with the May/June 2006 issue.
During the summer of 1991, youth from Hartford (S.D.) United Methodist Church started writing and sharing devotions as part of their confirmation experience. That experience led the youth to the idea of a devotional magazine written "just for them."
With the help of the Rev. Bill Gran, pastor of the Hartford church, and
Randy McGuire, director of camping and youth ministries for what is now the
Dakotas Annual (regional) Conference, the youth began to work on a petition
to send to the General Conference of the United Methodist Church.
McGuire says they became more enthusiastic with each word they wrote. "We
can do this!" describes the attitude that McGuire remembers as the youth
prepared the petition.
The youth wrote, "We believe the youth of our church need to know the mutual
support and witness of other youth celebrating and struggling with daily
faith issues in their lives ... (and need) an outlet for the expression of
their own spiritual highs and lows and an opportunity to give witness to
what God is doing in their lives."
Lifelong Practices
Stephanie Gran, Gran's daughter who was a sophomore in high school in fall
1991, and her sister Jennifer, a member of the South Dakota Conference
Council on Youth Ministries, were instrumental in getting the petition sent
to General Conference.
Legislation "encouraging the General Board of Discipleship to consider
development of a youth devotional" passed at the 1992 General Conference.
Since then, the bimonthly magazine has flourished.
"Written for teens by teens and by adults who love them, Devo'Zine is
designed to help youth 12-18 develop a lifelong practice of spending time
with God and of reflecting on what God is doing in their lives. It also
gives young people a chance to express their faith and to hear the voices of
their peers - and that is one of the reasons it has been so popular," says
Devo'Zine Editor Sandy Miller.
More than 90,000 copies of the magazine are printed for each issue with
nearly 7,000 individual subscriptions. The bulk of the orders go to
churches. Subscription to the magazine is $20 for one year. Information
about how to subscribe is available at www.devozine.org. Devo'Zine also
hosts an interactive website for youth at that address.
Young people have been involved at every step along the way, from suggesting
weekly themes to writing to reading layouts and shaping the issues that go
to press, Miller said.
Weekly Themes
Each issue of the magazine focuses on nine themes, one for each week. Each
theme includes daily meditations and a feature article on the weekend.
Meditations are written so youth can read them in chronological or random
order.
The Devo'Zine Guide for Mentors and Small Groups is published as a companion
piece to the magazine and offers easy-to-use session plans to help adult
mentors and small-group leaders expand the ministry of the devotional into a
variety of youth ministry settings.
"The vision for Devo'Zine magazine has always included a worldwide community
of young people encouraging and challenging each other. We hope that this
website is an added bonus to the magazine and helps to fulfill its vision -
giving youth opportunities to 'talk' with their peers about life and about
God, to pray for one another, to find strength and help in times of crisis,
to have fun, to share their poetry, their opinions, their writing - to find
extra spiritual food for their journey of faith," Miller said.
Beginning January 2007, the magazine will have a new look, extra pages, and
many new features that readers have been asking for to help them deepen
their faith. "It's exciting to watch Devo'Zine grow up and become a
teenager," Miller said.
"Devo'Zine connects me with youth my age, who share the same beliefs and
questions that I do. It assures me that I am not alone or abnormal," writes
Colleen, 15. "It reminds me that people have to explore their faith
personally. Devo'Zine also serves as a reference book to help me answer
questions or to give me suggestions. It helps to strengthen my faith and to
analyze how I reflect my Christianity to those around me."
Edelisse, 16, sums it up this way, "I never thought there would be a
magazine that understands what teenagers go through, but Devo'Zine gets it!"
Kathy L. Gilbert is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in Nashville, Tenn.
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