Home from Ohio
Yesterday I arrived home from my trip to Ginghamsburg United Methodist Church in Tipp City, Ohio, the site of the first gathering of the Young Pastors Network and the Change the World conference hosted by Ginghamsburg. I arrived in Dayton, which is about 15 miles south of Tipp City late Wednesday afternoon.
Thursday was dedicated to the first day of training for the Young Pastors Network which is an effort co-sponsored by Ginghamsburg and the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas. Church of the Resurrection [or COR as it is often referred to] is the largest church in our denomination that is pastored by Rev. Adam Hamilton. Rev. Michael Slaughter, lead Pastor and chief Dreamer [yes, that is his official job title] of Ginghamsburg has partnered with Adam to lead this new group which will meet again in January for a three day retreat and again next September for a one day seminar followed by COR’s conference they put on every year.
Why are Adam & Mike leading this effort? Here is some of the information that they shared.
- There are currently 16,000 United Methodist clergy. Around 800 of them, or 4.7%, are currently under the age of 35.
- Mike shared with us that he has been a pastor since 1979 and still finds himself under the average age of United Methodist pastors which is 59. That also happens to be the average age of our laity as well.
- In 1964, there were 1.5 million children actively attending United Methodist churches around the nation. In 2005, that number had dropped to 300,000.
- Studies show that a majority of pastors are most effective at reaching individuals and families in their communities who are at a similar life stage.
- Adam shared that is was his vision that in that room last Thursday were men and women who were going to be serving in large churches, growing their small churches into large churches, serving as Bishops and other leaders in Annual conferences across America, and perhaps someone who would one day take his place at Church of the Resurrection.
I spent that first day with 50 young pastors from around the country who had been selected to participate in this opportunity along with Adam, Mike and Brian McLaren. It was really one of the most extraordinary days of my life.
Over the next week, I will be posting my notes from the sessions that we shared with Adam, Mike & Brian.
This post is from a series written following the first gathering of the Young Pastors Network at Ginghamsburg United Methodist Church in October of 2008. The rest of the series is available below.
