A Changing World

When did you discover your calling? I discovered mine 13 years ago when I responded to a little yellow postcard asking for volunteers for the youth program at my church. I met with the youth director where I shared with him that because of my relatively new found faith I was probably best suited to work with senior highers during their fellowship time. I walked away from that meeting assigned to teach Junior High Sunday School. Yikes!

So, on the second Sunday of September 1999, I found myself sitting with my boyfriend, soon to be husband, and two dozen junior highers trying my best to look sure of myself. I was clueless. I certainly never imagined
how putting my name on one postcard would lead to such a profound change in my life nor could I have imagined the incredible blessings I’ve received since. Perhaps that is what Paul meant when he wrote this prayer to the Ephesians, “I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. 3:18-19”

I am grateful for that first volunteer experience. Working with an experienced director taught me how to capture the imaginations of young people and build sustaining relationships. My first call taught me that describing one’s faith to young people is far more potent than prescribing it. My current call has allowed me to stretch my talents and use them in new and creative ways.

Recently, I attended a conference with dozens of pastors and church leaders. The conference centered on Ministry in a Changing World (presumably, how to do ministry in a changing world). The conversation, although interesting, felt stuck. We were having these same conversations 13 years ago when I first started ministering to youth. I’m now 37 and the kids I started with then are starting their own families now. I wish that we had used those seven glorious hours together to generate ideas and to hear from people in our Presbytery who are doing fantastic ministry within this new context.

There are folks in this Presbytery who are getting it right, who are doing ministry successfully in a changing world.

I had a rare opportunity to spend an afternoon with some of these folks earlier this week. As part of the Youth Initiative, facilitated by Rev. T.J. Parlette, a group of youth and young adult ministers met and wasted no time getting to the real issues. We talked about our young adult ministries, confirmation, ecumenical and inter-faith ministries vs. connectional ministries, and we laughed about the last line in all of our job descriptions which states, “and all other duties as assigned by the senior pastor.”

Although we all have unique ministries in radically different congregational contexts, what we have in common is that we are all trying to carry out the challenging task of reaching out to a new generation that is reacting to church in radically new ways, while simultaneously ministering to a congregation with limited resources, shrinking staff sizes, and increasingly diverse demands.

What I learned from our Youth Initiative gathering this week is that there are folks in this Presbytery who are getting it right, who are doing ministry successfully in a changing world and these are the people we need to hear from, these are the people who could lead us all into the future.

I’m excited to see what this group does with the Youth Initiative, but in the mean-time I’ve decided to share with you through this blog what I’ve learned (and what I am learning still) as a youth, young adult, and family minister. I will share ways in which my faith in God translates into my ministry. I will also use this blog as a way to assemble good ideas whenever and wherever I find them. An example of this is a recent post from Rev. Kara Root, pastor at Lake Nokomis Presbyterian Church.

I hope you will also share with me your joys, concerns, successes and failures. If you have questions, I would love to hear from you. If you are running a successful ministry with young people and would like to share your insights, I would love to hear from you.

My hope is that everyone can learn from our collective experience and be strengthened in our resolve to answer the call found in Matthew 28:19-20, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”