wfn.org | Generation X clergy meet to dream and plan

[Daphne Mack <dmack@dfms.org>]

99-006
Generation X clergy meet to dream and plan

by Michael Kinman
(ENS) What started last June as a gathering of the Episcopal 
Church's young clergy has grown into an action plan that will help 
generate and define Generation X's contribution to church thought 
and mission.

"Like Hannah, we're pregnant with something we prayed for. 
It doesn't have a name yet, and we can't quite explain it.... Yet 
we go on dreaming, and we do it because we love the church. 
Institution or no."

With these words from Beth Maynard, priest-in-charge at Good 
Shepherd Episcopal Church, Fairhaven, Massachusetts, and assistant 
rector at St. Gabriel's Church, Marion, Massachusetts, 20 young 
clergy gathered for Eucharist on the eve of the Feast of the 
Presentation at St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church in New York 
City. 

They represented all eight provinces of the Episcopal Church 
in the United States. Their principal task in meeting in New York 
was to plan provincial gatherings along the same lines as 
"Gathering the neXt Generation," which brought together nearly 
half of the then-300 Episcopal priests under the age of 35 last 
June to build relationship, talk about their 
own feelings of joy and isolation, and begin the work of 
discerning their generation's mission in the church. 

The planning meeting also allowed them to review the fruit 
of that national gathering, to look at organizational issues that 
have arisen since then and, as Maynard said in her homily, to 
discern and dream the future of what has become an active movement 
of younger clergy in the Episcopal Church.

The biggest decision that came out of the three-day meeting 
was the decision not to incorporate "Gathering the neXt 
Generation." Staying unincorporated prevents GTNG from applying 
for funds from most large granting foundations, which require tax-
exempt incorporated status. The consensus not to incorporate came 
out of wanting to try something new, to resist the limits imposed 
by a formal structure, and to operate from a position of trusting 
God.

"All conventional wisdom says we should incorporate-it's 
the normal thing to do at this stage of an organization. But we 
want to try something different," said one member of the group. 
"`Give us this day our daily bread' means asking God to sustain 
us just for today-no more-and trusting that God will be there with
another 
day's bread tomorrow. That's how we want this to be, not building 
up a storehouse of funds, but trusting God that if 
the initiatives that spring out of the spirit of `Gathering the 
neXt Generation' are of God, that the resources to support them 
will come, too."

The decision means that "Gathering the neXt Generation" 
will be a fellowship network of clergy born in 1961 and after, and 
it will have two goals. 

The first goal, the group decided, is to continue to build 
and nurture relationships among Generation X clergy that put the 
commonality of their life in Christ ahead of political and 
theological differences. To that end, GTNG's ongoing work 
includes:
* Planning seven regional gatherings of young clergy to be held 
in the fall.
* Plans for another national "Gathering the neXt 
Generation"conference in 2001. 
* Distributing a newsletter for Gen X clergy, "Conversation in 
Community," whose first issue is due out in May, 1999. It will 
aim to build and maintain community and to provide a forum for 
theological and personal conversation on ministry in the 21st 
Century and ministry to that generation.
* Communicating through mailings and emails to the entire 
demographic. A listserv-an email discussion group open to 
anyone in the demographic-now has 68 members and is growing 
(for more information, email the Rev. Clayton Crawley at 
clayton@crawley.net).

The second goal is to encourage mission initiatives of Gen X 
clergy to serve the wider church. Many such initiatives are 
already underway or well into the planning stages. Among these 
are:
* The Young Priests Initiative, an effort to reform the 
ordination processes of the church to encourage young 
vocations.
* A Gen X Think Tank, tentatively scheduled for February in 2000, 
in conjunction with Trinity Church, Wall Street. It will 
provide an opportunity for a group of young priests to enter 
into a unique visioning process in which they will grapple with 
the future of the Episcopal Church and how the group might 
reach out to its generation.
* A book of essays entitled Gathering the neXt Generation: Essays 
on the Formation and Ministry of GenX Priests.
* A young adult evangelism conference tackling questions such as 
What are the major concerns of Generation X, and how does the 
church respond? How do we interpret and not modify the Gospel 
for the current generation?
* The "Church in the Third Millenium Working Group," an ongoing 
entity made up of Gen X clergy along the model of Associated 
Parishes, identifying and addressing the major issues facing 
the church in the next century.
* A seminarian mentoring network that would link young 
seminarians with young clergy through the Internet.

"It's amazing,"Marshall Shelly, associate priest at Grace 
Church in Madison, New Jersey, said of the initiatives that have 
sprung from GTNG. "A little idea has expanded into a great idea 
for people who lamented they were the only ones."

"I'm stoked," said Chris Rankin-Williams, associate priest 
at All Saints by the Sea, Santa Barbara, California. "I really 
feel that something incredible is going on in the church and the 
Spirit is really moving, and I'm grateful to be along for the 
ride."

--Michael Kinman is associate priest at St. Michael and St. George 
Church in St. Louis, Missouri, and a member of the Gen X planning 
group.

http://www.ecusa.anglican.org/ens