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VOL. 15, NO. 18

NEWS

Youth seek to discern future in leaders forum

By Melissa Lauber
UMCONNECTION STAFF

“What society does to children, children will do to society,” the Rev. Fred Smith told those who gathered at the Youth Leaders’ Forum at West River Retreat Center in Churchton Sept. 11.

The same might be said for the church. If the church ignores its youth, the youth will respond in kind. If it dismisses them as irrelevant, the youth will do the same.

Youth today are searching for significance, meaning and acceptance, said Smith, an associate professor of urban ministry and associate director of the practice of ministry and mission at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington. The church needs to be prophetic, he said, and it needs to be involved and show youth God’s future.

MELISSA LAUBER / UMCONNECTION

Youth and adults gathered for a time of praise at West River camp before conferencing to discern whats next in conference youth ministry.

“It is the prophetic task, in a time of unraveling hopes, to declare the unimaginable,” he said, quoting Walter Wink, “to assess the rationality of the unthinkable, to call the people to new hope, grounded not on the past but on sheer faith that God is about to do the impossible.”

Smith listed several traits of prophetic churches, encouraging them to adopt their traits in their youth ministries. They include:

During the retreat, in an effort to assist the Baltimore-Washington Conference in offering more prophetic ministries to youth, a session titled “What’s Next” was held.

More than 70 people participated in this small-group session of holy conferencing.

In the past few years, the conference has focused on providing youth-leader training and large, high energy gatherings that enable youth to have encounters with the living God, said Tom Price, director of conference youth ministries.

“At these gatherings, young people are falling down on the floor giving themselves to God. But then often, they go back to a desert, a place where discipling isn’t happening,” he said.

According to Price, the conference provides its youth with a series of mountaintop experiences. “But it’s not about the mountaintop. It’s about living day-by-day-by-day-by-day. So, how do we change that? That’s why we’re here,” he said.

Through a series of questions, answered in an intentionally prayerful spirit, the participants explored issues surrounding discipleship and sought what they discerned to be God’s will for area youth.

“We’re starting the conversation,” Price said. “God, in God’s time, will reveal to us what we need to be doing.”

One of the unique aspects of the discernment process, Price pointed out, is that youth and adults are being encouraged to participate as equal partners.

A second “What’s Next” session will be held at the conference’s first Holy Ghost Weekend, Oct. 29-31, at Oakdale-Emory UMC in Olney. Nationally known author and speaker Duffy Robbins will also lead a seminar at this event.

The church’s vision is set; our mission is clear, said Price. “We now need to be who we say we are.”