IGNITE sparks new spirit among youth
By Melissa Lauber
The North Point Worship band was winding up the musical portion of the worship service at IGNITE when Enam, a youth from Colesville UMC, quietly approached the area in front of the stage and fell to his knees, raised his arms, threw back his head, and prayed. It was a prayer of thanksgiving, and pain, and hope, and a call for God to be present.
God showed up.
In fact, God was powerfully present throughout IGNITE, as 1,300 youth and their leaders from the Baltimore-Washington and Peninsula-Delaware Area gathered March 7-9 in Ocean City for the newly revived youth conference.
“Today, we are lighting a spark,” said Bishop LaTrelle Easterling. Over the jam-packed weekend, this spark was fanned by the winds of the Spirit with worship, nationally celebrated speakers and performing artists, games, art, connecting with new friends, learning, music, mosh pits and sacred moments of prayer and Communion.
“God is moving through here,” said the Rev. Jackie Ford, director of Connectional Ministries for the Peninsula-Delaware Conference. The theme of IGNITE was “&Go,” calling on the youth to follow Jesus’ words to go and make disciples. “It is our prayer that our youth will go and explore what God has given them to see, to hear, and to live out this weekend. … It is our prayer that they will use all they’ve experienced here and let the freedom of the Spirit carry them wherever God might lead as they go back to their homes, churches and communities.”
Stepping Outside the Circle
For most of the youth, IGNITE was unlike anything they had experienced in their churches. Everyone had their own highlights. Several of the youth said their favorite part was the music — the concert by Angie Rose, the Latin Grammy and Dove Award-winning artist, and dancing to performances by DJ El Vow. Others liked the speakers who were “inspiring and good,” “making arts and crafts just having fun,” “bonding with kids you know from church,” and telling jokes at the open mic. (How long will Cain dislike his brother? As long as he is able … ) “There is a lot of energy at IGNITE,” everyone agreed.
“This is a fun experience for kids to get closer to God, to experience other youth and know they’re not alone, said Victoria from Grace UMC in Gaithersburg.
“Everyone just stepped outside their circle, and I thought that was pretty cool because no one really does that anymore,” said Zeny from Bethesda UMC. "They just show who they really are here. They’re singing, they’re expressing themselves. I thought that was pretty cool. In most places, people get insecure and nervous. I feel like this is a place where everyone can do anything.”
‘We Grow to Go’
Building on the theme “&Go” from Matthew 28:19-20, three very different speakers addressed the youth. Each brought a message that every youth present was created and beloved by God and that God was offering them opportunities to be witnesses to their faith.
The Rev. Michael Beck, who leads the United Methodist Fresh Expressions movement, shared his dramatic personal story – born addicted to a mother who was unable to care for him, he was raised by his grandparents and a little church community in Ocala, Florida. As a teenager, Beck turned to drugs, alcohol and crime. His salvation came when a prison guard slipped a Bible through the chow slot of his solitary confinement cell. That prison cell became a sacred place where Beck was able to restart his life.
As a pastor, Beck now leads “an inherited church.” He also starts faith communities – New Faith Expressions – in dog parks, burrito joints, tattoo parlors, yoga studios, over dinner tables and anywhere else people offer a sense of community in which people can be known and loved as they explore their relationship with God and one another.
He encouraged the youth to consider the things they do each week and how they might add a spiritual component to it. “Being a disciple means we go out into the world, into the normal rhythms of our everyday life, and join what Jesus is doing there. … In that space of community, as we learn to follow Jesus, we grow in our faith. We're creating little pockets of church out in the midst of life.”
The Rev. Mike Whang, the lead pastor of Oikon UMC in Houston, Texas, shared with those at IGNITE, how, as a youth, he embraced the cultural stories of what success should be. “Every culture has an image, an understanding, of what blessing looks like,” he said. However, too often, adults forget to share with youth what happens when challenge, sorrow, and crushing circumstances happen.
He shared with the youth how meaningful it is to him that instead of seeking what society sees as blessing, he can recognize that “what God loves to give is God’s very self.” As we struggle with inevitable suffering, Whang offered three words to nourish our devotion to Christ:
- The soul is designed to crave God’s presence more than God’s provision.
- Grief is an act of worship.
- The valley is a place of vision.
Pastor YaNi Davis, a performance artist and the creator of the Peace People’s Movement, shared her thoughts on reconciliation and how the youth can align their thoughts and actions with the will of God. In a moment of audience participation, she reflected on the sweetness of God by comparing discipleship with the act of making ice cream. She started with mixing the ingredients and how God makes each person special, with their own spice and delicious flavor and moved through pasteurization, cooling, maturation, adding flavor, churning, freezing, molding and packaging – so that each person possesses their own essence and unique, delicious brilliance. “No one can sweeten the world like you can,” Davis told the youth.
In Prayer and Communion
Following Davis’ presentation, she issued an altar call that brought many of the youth and their leaders forward to pray and be prayed for. Bishop Easterling prayed over the young people and the gifts they bring to the church and to the world.
The spirit lifted in the prayers of the youth continued the next morning as IGNITE participants gathered for Communion. During the service, Bishop Easterling shared her hopes with them.
“Life,” the bishop said, “is about ensuring that first we fall madly, deeply, crazy in love with ourselves just as God created us. The us that God already loves unconditionally. You need to look in the mirror and love what you see because you are looking at the image of God. The Bible says you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, and soul, and mind, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. So make sure as you go share the love of God with others, you share it with your own glorious, messy, complicated, gorgeous, stunning, brilliant, extraordinary selves!”
Leadership and Giving
The youth weren’t the only ones participating in the IGNITE experience. Forty young adults from the Baltimore-Washington and Peninsula-Delaware Area—about half of whom were Frostburg University students —provided servant leadership as the IGNITE Squad.
“I think people said yes to IGNITE squad because it's a way to give back,” said the Rev. Chelsea Spyres, one of the Squad’s coordinators. “Many of them have experienced Youth Rally and ROCK as a youth and have fond memories of it. Others are just looking for a way to put their faith into action. It's also it's a way for them to meet new young adults and come together in this journey of faith.”
As a result of being together, several of the young adults have begun to discuss a renewed young adult ministry for the Area.
At IGNITE, the youth also took an offering for Camping and Retreat Ministries in both conferences, raising $2,154.
But the weekend gathering is just the beginning, as Area youth begin to define what they want in future IGNITE experiences.
“My hope is that this gathering launches and sparks a movement of young people that are unstoppable in the way in which they show the love of God and love of neighbor across this Area," said Christie Latona, the director of Connectional Ministries for the Baltimore-Washington Conference. “It’s about unabashed joy and expression and this is just the beginning. We're going to see fruit come from this event – new leaders, new energy, and new ways of being in ministry together.”
As the event drew to a close, Bishop Easterling offered some advice to the youth as they returned to the rhythm of their everyday lives.
“If you have experienced anything good, anything caring, anything healing, anything true, anything that made you feel affirmed and that you are enough while you were here, take that back with you. Take it with you and share it with your friends, share it with your family, share it in your circles,” she said. “That’s how we make disciples. Not by beating people over the head with Scripture or judging them because they don’t believe everything we believe. We make disciples by demonstrating compassion, by offering kindness, by listening with our whole hearts, by creating safe spaces for others, by creating community in an epidemic of loneliness, by giving people hope. To make disciples we have to be disciples, and disciples of Jesus, the Christ, bring good news to those who’ve heard bad news for way too long. Disciples bring the good news of freedom and healing and generosity and sharing and love.”
