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By Sarah Alsgaard
UMConnection Correspondent

The Rev. B. Kevin Smalls led an evening of open discussions, karaoke singing and laughter during the Dec. 11 meeting of the Young Adult Christian Caf? at Casa del Pueblo UMC in Washington, D.C.

'We tell people that when they come to the caf?, they should be prepared to laugh,' said Christine Jones, president and one of the founders of the ministry.

The caf? is an alternative to the traditional church experience. Here everyday situations are given a context of faith, said Smalls, director of young adult ministries for the Baltimore-Washington Conference. The three main goals of the organization are to have fun, challenge one another and become enlightened about who one is called to be.

'I forgot what my concerns were' Jones said. 'I was just Christine. I was able to be myself, and nobody in the room was looking at me like I was crazy. They were laughing with me, not at me.

'That?s what you need sometimes,' she added, 'just to be and not worry about stuff.'

Jones, who came from a church in which she was the only one in her age group, has found a group of friends at the caf? whom she can relate to and with whom she can build a community. As a result, she has become more active in her new church.

'I?m heavily involved in my (new) church, and at my other church, I wasn?t involved at all because they saw me as a child, not as an adult,' Jones said. 'They see me here for who I am, and I say the caf? did that and was the beginning for me.'

Three years ago, at a class during the School of Christian Growth in the Washington-Columbia District, Smalls created the caf? as a way for young adults in The United Methodist Church to connect and relate to one another. Eight people showed up at its inception and all agreed to continue the program outside the class.

'We just kept on meeting because we had such a good time together,' Smalls said. 'It?s a social extension.'

For the caf? to work as a small group environment, Smalls said, it?s best to have approximately 30 people at the most. However, he wants more caf?s created in other churches.

'They?re not difficult to lead; young adult leaders somewhere can lead them once we?ve trained them,' Smalls said. 'We go with the flow, and what we look for is people who are capable of going with the flow, reading crowds, reading the audience and making adjustments.'

It?s important to keep the caf? lively, thought-provoking and inviting to young adults, Smalls said.

'Nowadays I feel like you have to have something to make people come to church,' Jones said, 'and our freshness at the caf? is what the future is.'

SIDEBAR:

We started off with just eight
sometimes we have twenty-eight
sometimes we start late
but our times together
are never fake ...

Sometimes we run
out of ideas
but at least we found a place
where we face our fears ...

We may not always see eye to eye ...
but we can never say good bye
we just try
to make
spiritual ends meet
and every time
we greet each other
we know that
we are not alone
in this temporary
world we call home ...

So we won't get
weary ... even when
the road ahead seems
dreary ... because
we have too much
at stake, I mean,
the young adult
nation is about
to make a mistake
by saying 'no'
to the One who gives
us the eternal 'yes' and
in our attempt to clean up
this mess we can?t fail
the test, for our God
needs us to care
for the rest who
don?t yet know.

So, we won't forget
to say I love you
we won't forget the day we met
we won't forget the Way
who met us on
our Emmaus Road
because he is surely
seen as the Way
in the Young adult
Christian Cafe'.

- B. Kevin Smalls