wfn.org | MODERATORIAL REFLECTION: On Youth and Mission

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3-Aug-95

95268     MODERATORIAL REFLECTION: On Youth and Mission 
 
                        by Marj Carpenter 
               Moderator, 207th General Assembly 
 
(Editor's note: Marj Carpenter has announced that she will be writing 
occasional reflections on her experiences as General Assembly moderator. 
This is the first of them. -- Jerry L. Van Marter) 
 
     My very first appearance [as moderator] was at a worship service in 
Montreat Presbyterian Church the Sunday morning after the Assembly ended on 
Friday.  And it was exciting.  There were a lot of old friends, some new 
ones and a lot of talk about mission. 
 
     That night at the Montreat Mission Conference in Assembly Inn, folks 
came from Montreat and Black Mountain that were not signed up for the 
conference, but Nancy Miller scurried around and found chairs as we filled 
the room and people sat out in the hall and stood in the doorway. 
 
     Somehow it reminded me of the worship services in Malawi where so many 
people go to church that they stand outside on the porch and sing with the 
congregation and lean in to hear the message.  That's all right.  It's 
wonderful to have a crowd. 
 
     Nothing would have prepared me for the enthusiasm of the 6,000 
Presbyterian Youth at Purdue the following week.  They set up a roar you 
could hear in Indianapolis--or hopefully in Louisville.  They are enthused. 
And they love mission.  And they love the church.  There is plenty of hope 
out there.  The church is alive and well among our youth.  Thank you, 
Rodger Nishioka for all you have done to make youth work come alive. 
 
    . 
 
 

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