'Millennial' generation poses challenge for church
9/11/2000
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) -- The United Methodist Church can't "out-entertain" other groups in society that are trying to reach a booming new generation of young people, but it can "out-relationship" them.
That's the counsel of the Rev. Craig Miller, director of new congregational development at the denomination's Board of Discipleship in Nashville. Miller spoke at the first meeting in decades of churchwide employees who work with young people. About 40 staff members representing eight agencies met at Henry Horton State Park near Nashville Sept. 5-8.
Miller, author of NextChurch.Now: Creating New Faith Communities and a specialist in generational studies, said healthy relationships are among the short and long-term needs of the "millennial" generation, those born between 1982 and 1999. This generation, just beginning to enter college, will be larger than previous "baby boomers" and "postmoderns," he said, and will set trends for the next 20 years.
Local churches and campus ministries are uniquely suited to provide small, intimate settings where young people can be in meaningful relationships and where they can develop their own spiritual gifts and understandings, Miller said. The church must act quickly, he said, since studies show that individuals make decisions about faith and values before the age of 25.
To serve the millennials, Miller said local churches must rediscover classical disciplines of prayer, daily devotions, Bible reading and acts of mercy. "Churches must listen to God and stay centered on disciplines that sustain the human spirit through the test of time."
Churches can tap into the millennials' desire for spirituality by offering a ministry where they can experience the grace of God, he said. "Children develop relationships in planned settings, not just by running around the neighborhood."
United Methodist Sunday schools that now focus on "getting knowledge" must shift to spiritual disciplines, and worship must be planned with the input of young people, he said.
The sheer number of millineals will pose a greater challenge for some U.S. areas than others, particularly in the West and South, Miller noted. The growth of high school graduates will increase 66 percent in the next 10 years in Nevada and 40 percent in Arizona, he reported. States with an increase of more than 20 percent include Florida, North Carolina and California. "If we were to operate like commercial businesses, we would go to conferences in those states and make sure a strategy exists for ministry with young people," he said.
Representatives reported on what their respective agencies are doing related to ministry with young people. Linda Bales, Dayton, Ohio, staff member of the churchwide Shared Mission Focus on Young People, noted that the definition of youth and young adult varies, particularly on the global scene.
While youth in the United States are generally understood to be from age 12 to 18, and young adults are 18 to 30, she said in some other countries the youth category extends to 35.
A 19-member team that guides the Shared Mission Focus met for three days following the interagency consultation. The Shared Mission Focus, with a four-year budget of $3 million, was approved by the 1996 General Conference as a way for the denomination to give greater attention to needs of people in this age group. Delegates to the most recent General Conference in May voted to continue the initiative for four years. The Shared Mission Focus will propose a comprehensive plan for ministry with young people for consideration by the 2004 General Conference in Pittsburgh.
Offices of the Shared Mission Focus will be moving soon from Dayton, where the organization has been administratively linked to the General Council on Ministries, to Nashville, where five agencies of the church that have staff working with the concerns of young people are already located. Administrative linkage will be shifted to the Board of Discipleship.
"Accessibility to a number of staff working with youth and young adults made it attractive for us to make this kind of move," Bales said. She expects to have the offices moved by Jan. 1.
The initiative has made at least three major contributions to the denomination, Bales told United Methodist News Service:
· "It has provided a forum for real, intentional collaboration among general (churchwide) agencies around ministries with young people, something that wasn't in the forefront of our work but which grew out of our common concerns and work together."
· "The church allocated significant money for grants to projects across the church around the world. These grants served as catalysts for enabling ministry with young people. Even when we had to turn down funding for a project, it got people to thinking about what they could do."
· "We now have a clearer understanding of the importance of working globally, and we have learned we need to broaden our definitions. Here in the United States, youth are more concerned about relationships, peer pressure, disenfranchisement, but outside the United States youth are often concerned about war, famine and political strife."
During their meeting, the Shared Mission Focus team members heard reports from dozens of pilot projects that are being funded. Team members also identified "learnings" from the projects. Among these, it was noted that some of the most successful projects are proposed and successfully implemented by small churches. While the projects must be initiated and guided by young people, one project was guided by a "grandmother figure," which prompted team members to affirm the value of intergenerational efforts.
During the interagency consultation, staff members agreed to closer collaboration in the months ahead with the help of an e-mail listserv. Plans were also made to create a Web site that would include various youth and young adult programs, projects and initiatives as well as a calendar of activities.
As a gesture of the common spirit generated during the meeting, staff members agreed to promote during 2001 the denomination's Seminar Program on National and International Affairs based in Washington and New York. It was chosen because participants said it was one of the most exciting but least-known programs for young people in the denomination.
The seminars, jointly sponsored by the Board of Church and Society and the Women's Division of the Board of Global Ministries, have dealt with issues such as violence, racism, economic justice and conflict resolutions. In the past, they also have focused on international hotspots such as Vietnam, the Middle East and South Africa.
Churchwide programs for youth and young adults represented at the consultation included the United Methodist Youth Organization for high school-age youth and the United Methodist Student Movement for college-age individuals.
During the Shared Mission Focus meeting, concern was expressed that young people who have graduated from high school but who are not in college are inadequately served by the church.
"People graduating from these networks ask, 'Now what?'," observed Jorge Domingues, staff member of the Board of Global Ministries in New York. "There is not a place where we can come together to talk about how we participate in mission and engage ourselves in the life of the church."
The 2000 General Conference approved the development of a churchwide plan for young adult ministry. How the study will be conducted and funded has not been determined, according to Bill Crenshaw, staff member of the Board of Discipleship. The proposal for a young adult organization was initiated by people from the Rocky Mountain Annual Conference and came to the 2000 General Conference as a legislative proposal from the National Youth Ministry Organization, now the United Methodist Youth Organization. At the conference, the proposal was broadened from creating an organization to conducting a study of young adults.
The interagency staff members agreed to meet next year in Washington.
The first meeting of the new 2001-2004 governing team for the Shared Mission Focus is scheduled for early 2001. Membership of the new team will increase from 19 to 23, primarily to accommodate more international members. During their final sessions here, Jeff Quick of Friendswood, Texas, and Lillian Smith of Nashville were honored for serving as leaders of the Shared Mission Focus during the 1996-2000 quadrennium.
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