Barriers to Annual Conference

After his Annual Conference wrapped up, Bishop Will Willimon ended a blog post with the following statement:

I’m recommending that next year our entire Annual Conference be focused upon the single priority of empowering a new generation, that any reports be made exclusively by those under forty, and that every church send lay delegates who are all under forty.

Some folks questioned that idea over at Beth Quick's blog. And while I'm reminded of Bishop Willimon's statement last summer, that we must "strategize ways to give our church away to a younger generation," (a statement that generated an angry letter, btw) I'm still wondering how it really gets done, particularly at Annual Conference....

As Beth's commenters point out, there's still the danger that a young person delivers a report, but did little else with it; and it's hard for young people to make time for Annual Conference, especially when jobs and kids take priority. Many "younger" (under 50) lay members of Annual Conference I'm familiar with are church-employed, self-employed, or people whose spouses pull a big salary... so, we're cutting out lower-income people as well as young adults by holding Annual Conference the way we do (and I don't count low-paid church-employed laypersons as lower-income because they're encouraged to be there as part of their jobs).

Also: check Beth's follow-up post for a radical example of empowerment. Can you imagine that happening where you live?

As usual, I have no answers, just observations.

Comments

[beth]

Thanks for the link Amy!

[Spencer]

Just to start what could be an interesting chat...

- I'm on a mission to ask "what kind of church are you talking about?" more often. The way you respond to "give our church away" probably changes, depending on whether you're talking about your local congregation, your denomination, or The Body of Christ.

- North Texas Conference opening worship was a young-adult-rich target this year - maybe two traditional hymns, loads of Project Transformation interns, etc. That was nice. I wonder what the rest of annual conference was like - my business trip lasted for all three days of the meetings :-(

- "Young people presenting reports that old people wrote" - yeah, well, this would be a chance I'd be willing to take.

- Putting young people on leadership teams in local churches is a really important investment - especially if you match the right young people with the right team!

I grew up in a large congregation (not Methodist) that lost its young-adult way. My parents were still in the "young couples" class in their late 40s/early 50s, and my father was considered to be a promising young leader in his 50s. We really don't want to go there, and to the extent that we're already there, we really want to go back!

Christ lives in you,

Spencer

[Wes]

While I appreciate the direction that Bishop Willimon is headed, I think this is a grandiose case of missing the point. Lack of young leadership and involvement at all leavels of the church is a symptom of a problem, not the problem itself. The United Methodist Church is in desperate need of renewal and reinvigoration, but simply asking younger people to fit into an already-decaying structure will not suddenly rescue the church. I would rather give our church away to radical followers of Jesus, no matter their age, race, or gender.