wfn.org | Young adult urges church to talk, listen to youth

["NewsDesk" <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

Oct. 1, 2003  News media contact: Kathy Gilbert7(615)742-54707Nashville,
Tenn.	ALL{471}

NOTE: This report is a sidebar to story #469. A photograph is available.

A UMNS-UMC.org Report
By Kathy L. Gilbert*

Jay Williams stands before 9,000 of his peers and "triple-dog dares" them to
transform the church.

"What if 9,000 youth went back to their local congregations excited and
renewed and became movers and shakers in their local communities?" he asks.
"What if 9,000 youth demanded to be respected and loved not tomorrow but
today?

"I dream of a church that does not change with the times but changes the
times," he says as the crowd roars its approval.

Williams' forum is Youth 2003, an international event held every four years
by the United Methodist Board of Discipleship.

"The youth have had a mountaintop experience here," Williams says after his
speech. "That can be so easily eroded when you step back into your local
church. We have been telling the youth to go back to their church and change
the world, but as soon as you hit the road back home, somebody is going to
tell you (that) you haven't been around long enough."

Williams, however, has indeed been around. When he was 19, he served on a
delegation that bought freedom for more than 4,000 slaves in Sudan. Now 22,
the United Methodist from Buffalo, N.Y., is a Western New York Annual
Conference delegate to the 2004 General Conference. He also serves on the
General Council on Ministries and is co-chairperson of the Shared Mission
Focus on Young People. He joined Merrill Lynch as an analyst this year after
graduating from Harvard University.

"Youth are full members, full participants in the life of the church once
they become confirmed," he says.

"Youth have a vision and a voice that needs to be nurtured and recognized but
that doesn't need to be separated off from the rest of the congregation."

Local churches often make the mistake of separating youth from the rest of
the congregation, Williams says.

Churches think they are doing the right thing by giving youth a more dynamic
worship service, when all of the worship services need to be livened up, he
says.

"Go to youth and ask them to be part of the planning of worship without
making them feel like they are being done a favor or that the church owes
them something but that they are respected as full members."

One of the biggest problems for youth is the feeling they are not heard or
seen, he says. He notes that he has been to many worship services that were
not welcoming to youth.

"What is the church going to do differently to make community and environment
feel like home?" he wonders aloud.

Williams admits it is easy for youth to get discouraged and think the church
really doesn't care.

However, he says, "the church does care." He cites examples, such as July's
Youth 2003 event in Knoxville, Tenn. The church is willing to dedicate
resources to youth ministry, he says.

"The next step is the attitude. That is what has the most meaning for youth."

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*Gilbert is a news writer for United Methodist News Service.

 
 

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United Methodist News Service
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