Where have all the young ones gone?

[mellanella]

GEN-X RISING: Decline in young leadership threatens Methodism's futureI wonder if the decline in young people being interested in the pastorate in the UMC is because we've done a rather lousy job as a denomination in terms of supporting our youth and young adults. Many congregations don't affirm the leadership skills of the youth in their

Comments

[sovevuni]

Well, there was one unplanned premarital pregnancy, and the premature parents were one of the pastor assistants and a daughter of another pastor.

And there was a case of another pastor assistant who got ordained and then it turned out he was gay. Not only he was gay and an ordained pastor in a church that strongly disapproved of homosexualism (Church of Christ) but people learned that he led a double life because all this time he used to live with his gay partner.

However, as I am thinking of it now, I suppose it was less due to the fact that the people in question were young (both guys in their 20's, the pastor's daughter was 18 or so) but to the overly enthousiastic politics of the church to accept pretty much everyone. I mean, they cared about the number of people who 'dedicated their lives to Christ' and did not really care if these people continued to grow later. From what I know, they've changed their politics since then, ie. now there are special 'membership courses' for new members etc., to make sure they realize what it means to be a disciple of Christ and what's required in this particular church. That's a great change.

[mellanella]

Ouch! That definitely doesn't sound like a good situation, though it does sound like one that could potentially happen at any age. Glad to know that you think things are better.