umc young clergy

The Story of UMCYoungClergy.com

The single, most represented age among UM elders in 2006 and 2007 was 59.

In 1985, there was 1 young elder for every 13,000 US young adults. In 2005, there was 1 young elder for every 47,000 US young adults (Weems, The Crisis of Younger Clergy).

We can’t argue with these statistics. We must accept them as our reality. But we also know that God does God’s best work in places that appear dead and lifeless.

I’m a 26-year-old candidate for ministry in the United Methodist Church. Many young leaders my age are questioning the relevancy of the UMC to our own generation. Our hearts burn for our peers who find faith and church boring and irrelevant. If we are honest, many of us have considered jumping ship. Starting my own church looked awfully tempting.

I started surfing around the web and came across people asking the same questions I was. I decided I owed it to the church that raised me, paid for my college and seminary to ask the tough questions. How can any organization grow and deepen if they are unwilling to ask risky questions? We decided it was time to name the elephants in the room for young clergy. When you know where the elephant is, it’s easier to clean up after it. That was April 11, 2008.

If you’re not convinced that social networking online is relevant to ministry today, consider this. I started a Facebook group called “Filming a documentary on UMC Young Clergy.” In just a month, over 230 young clergy and candidates for ministry from around the United States have signed up to lend their voice to this project. A movement of hope is rising. Right in front of our eyes. Over 360 young leaders have joined a UMC Young Clergy group on Facebook. People are networking, starting support groups in their annual conference and wondering how we can start recruiting more young clergy.

I traveled to General Conference in April to film thirty young clergy, bishops and more experienced pastors. They’re wisdom, honesty and vulnerability cut through the camera and into our hearts. You can see these interviews at www.umcyoungclergy.com. Since then, over 1,000 people have viewed these video pieces. They were shown at the Board of Ordained Ministry training event in Nashville in August.

Are you ready to get the conversation going in your annual conference about how to support young clergy and identify more leaders? Are you ready to have difficult conversations because it means healthy innovation and hope are just around the corner.

Here are some initial next steps:

Create a Facebook group for your Annual Conference’s young clergy (www.facebook.com).
Mentor young leaders in your conference.
Download the Next Steps handout at www.umcyoungclergy.com.
Empower young leaders to develop covenant groups among their peers. Get them to the table and they’ll make the rest happen.
Watch the video pieces at www.umcyoungclergy.com and pray about how God can use you to empower this next generation.
Establish healthy partnerships between innovative young leaders and insightful older clergy. We need both generations to reach our local communities!

A taste from the video pieces:

Bishop Will Willimon: You’re unaware of how much you threaten older clergy. You’re young and have so much ahead of you. It’s threatening. You’ve been to seminary more recently and have this new theology…You know what annoys me about this age group? You don’t like criticism. But you’re polite. Older pastors have to invite them into your church. We need young clergy to step and say this is my future. Old things need to be changed. God has sent me here to help change those things. Stop being polite and respectful and get in there and help us give our church the future God intends us to have.

Rev. Adam Hamilton: I have a heart for wanting to see the United Methodist Church renewed. God isn’t finished with it yet. We have an approach for the gospel that is exactly what’s needed for 21^st century. Our theology was postmodern and emergent before it was cool.

Young Pastor: The young clergy need the wisdom of those who have come before them and the older clergy need the insight, vision and energy of a group of people who might better understand the needs of this generation. So, in short - I would like to see more REAL partnerships taking place between younger clergy and more experienced clergy - to really begin dreaming and thinking about how the church needs to change in the future.... and then the money to back up their visions!