Difference between revisions of "Especially for Youth"

Revision as of 11:53, 4 May 2020

Especially For Youth (often abbreviated as "EFY") is a week long youth-oriented seminar focused on fellowship and teaching the principles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Attendance is open to all youth aged 14 to 18. Sessions, which are primarily held in the United States, follow a common curriculum created by the Church, resulting in a common experience wherever EFY is held. Sessions take place during the summer months in order to coincide with the summer break practiced by many American schools. The program is led by Latter-day Saint young adults who serve as counselors in exchange for a modest stipend. Speakers are selected from the Church's Institute and Seminary programs. All sessions are organized and managed out of the EFY headquarters in Provo, Utah.

EFY's mission is to help participants "come unto Christ" by providing an environment where youth can experience physical, intellectual, emotional, social, and spiritual growth.

Changes to EFY

In July 2019, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced that Brigham Young University would no longer administer traditional EFY sessions in order to assist the Church with For the Strength of Youth (FSY) program. The EFY Special Edition and EFY Express will continue.

History of EFY

Created by Ronald C. Hills, EFY began in 1976, when 172 youth and 15 counselors met for the first session of the summer program. Jeffrey R. Holland, now of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, was one of the banquet speakers at the founding session. By 1977, only one year later, attendance had risen to 863 youth. Currently, EFY's summer program includes sessions which are held at various locations throughout the United States and Canada. As of 2005, the total number of participants who have attended EFY over the years is 409,484.

In 2006, EFY celebrated its thirtieth anniversary and held its first session outside of North America, with 900 youth attending a session in Manchester, England.

EFY themes

In 1982, EFY introduced its first annual theme. Since then, a theme, scripture, and musical selections have set the tone for each year's curriculum.

An album of the musical selections is released every year, and has been since 1987. Only the last few years' albums are still available at any given time. They have been published originally by Embryo Records, then Excel, and since 1993, some have been published by Deseret Book. All since 2003 have been published by Deseret Book, as that is when the two companies merged.

For many years there has been a paperback book containing articles from many of the speakers. Those have been published by Deseret Book as well. Only recent years' books are still available although they are regularly found at used bookstores that sell used Latter-day Saint books.

The themes since 2006 have now been coordinated with the annual scriptural theme for Mutual that is announced in the fall of the previous year; i.e., the scriptural theme for 'Power in Purity' was announced in August of 2006 as the Mutual theme for 2007.