In Iowa, we are working on building young adult clergy cell groups. We have one in the central part of the state and we are building one in the eastern part of the conference as well. We try to meet monthly to talk about all the issues that we face as young clergy persons. Most of the time when we meet, we gather at 1 for lunch and end up staying for a few hours... definately through dessert and coffee. It is a great chance to just catch up and hear what others are doing, get advice and also be refreshed for the rest of our ministry. But we did invite the bishop to our very first retreat last fall as we were getting organized... the conference does recognize us and gave us some floor time at our last Annual Conference.

We have pushed hard to make sure people know that we are gathering and meeting. 1) because people need to know we exist, 2) because it shows that we are taking the initiative and are building leadership from within, 3) because we all think that our connectional system is important.