Conference within a conference
Friday, June 22, 2007
The past few days have had me busy trying to catch up from the time I missed when I was back in Arkansas for annual conference. Hopefully, my posts will become more frequent in the days ahead.
I can't overstate how optimistic I was at the general vibe on the part of Gen X and Millennial clergy who got together during our annual converence session. This was really the "conference-within-a-conference" for me. In fact, I was so pumped that I worte a column about it in the Reporter. You can read it here.
One of the things that occurred to me as I was sitting with my colleagues and friends at annual conference is that we are "on the clock," so to speak. We ain't gonna be young long. So our window to really influence the church in a formative way is probably going to be narrow.
Oh, we'll influence the church sooner or later. But if we don't make our presence felt until we achieve "senior status," then I am afraid we will have forgotten why we thought the Christian life should be lived differently in the first place.
For any Arkansas readers out there, Eric Van Meter has begun to follow up on our discussions at conference. I believe he will be trying to get folks together late in the summer or early in the fall. For non-Arkansans, I hope you all will begin to investigate common work and ministry among the X'ers and Millennials out there. It is worth the effort.
Peace to all...
I can't overstate how optimistic I was at the general vibe on the part of Gen X and Millennial clergy who got together during our annual converence session. This was really the "conference-within-a-conference" for me. In fact, I was so pumped that I worte a column about it in the Reporter. You can read it here.
One of the things that occurred to me as I was sitting with my colleagues and friends at annual conference is that we are "on the clock," so to speak. We ain't gonna be young long. So our window to really influence the church in a formative way is probably going to be narrow.
Oh, we'll influence the church sooner or later. But if we don't make our presence felt until we achieve "senior status," then I am afraid we will have forgotten why we thought the Christian life should be lived differently in the first place.
For any Arkansas readers out there, Eric Van Meter has begun to follow up on our discussions at conference. I believe he will be trying to get folks together late in the summer or early in the fall. For non-Arkansans, I hope you all will begin to investigate common work and ministry among the X'ers and Millennials out there. It is worth the effort.
Peace to all...
Labels: Annual Conference, Generation X, Millennials
posted by Andrew C. Thompson at 5:25 PM
3 Comments:
So our window to really influence the church in a formative way is probably going to be narrow.
hoping that this isn't actually true ... your input and impact should affect the church for a long long time (hopefully in a very positive way)
it isn't true that only the young voice is of value you know.
Lorna -
Thank you for your comment. I don't think I've ever had anyone write from Finland - English, Finnish, or otherwise!
When I wrote that our window for effecting change in the church is going to be narrow, I was alluding to the opportunity we have to effect that change while we are still so-called "young adult clergy." I do believe we can all influence the church for as long as we are a part of it, but the pervasive sense at my annual conference gathering this year was that, when we become part of the "establishment," we'll start to become blind to some of the deficiencies in church life that are obvious to us now.
This isn't just adolescent complaining or a desire for youthful rebellion. (I am, after all, 31 years old and my youthful rebellions are behind me.) I think that it is rather that we think we've been in ministry long enough to get a "lay of the land" on the state of the church, but not so long that we've had our sharp edges worn down.
Just wanted to offer those words to clarify my post.
It seems like a rivalry exists in the UMC between the young and the old and it's very unappealing to me. Makes me wonder if all churches are like this?
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