Young Clergy Forum Reflections

As a young clergy, it is easy to get lost in ministry, frustrated with the process and feel isolated.

As a campus pastor, I was grateful to connect with people of similar and diverse ministry settings and to know that we have similar lenses on how to live out the Gospel.

I ask myself, what does it means to do ministry in a season such as this and what resources do have to lead a people forward? It’s easy to grow anxious looking at tightening budgets and growing tensions in society. The Young Clergy Leadership Forum helped highlight the reality that a lot of issues and fears that I face are not unique to me. How I choose to respond with others determines if we can make things better for those who come after us.

Church and Society’s leadership forum is important because it shows you that you don’t have to do this alone and you don’t have to reinvent the wheel. There are resources, partnerships and new and traditional opportunities to help the world be your parish.

No, you don’t have to do this alone. But you do have to do your part, be authentic and carry the Gospel with integrity.

To see the Church and Society staff working with all the young Clergy and different organizations across the globe was inspiring and I was honored to be there and charged with bringing the information back to my campus and students. Sanctifying grace is an ongoing process so is hearing, discerning, and responding to God’s call on our lives in context to where we are, who we are and what that means as United Methodists.

Moses had a staff to part the dead sea and to challenge the governing authority of his day. As United Methodists, we have a diverse, inclusive connectional church which helps us put our minds together, resources forward, and our faith in action to help heal a hurting world and navigate troubling waters.

What did I learn?

There is no one way to be United Methodist. Our voice and presence around the globe has been and must be consistently Wesleyan in that we speak to the issues of the day and are centered around creating disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. We don’t just talk faith, we do faith.

We had the opportunity to speak with our nation’s senators which was an awesome and insightful experience.

But if you want to use your faith to address immediate issues, systematic injustices, or understand the churches’ position locally, nationally or abroad we have to practice a language and curricula already doing things in our Social Principles. We are invited to let our voice be known, heard and to contribute to a network.

What came out of your interactions at the Young Clergy Leadership Forum?

On a college campus, students are eager to engage in service.

We use lead Bible studies in addition to our service projects at our Wesley Foundation. We partner to make civic engagement tool kits and internships opportunities available for our Young Adults at the Change the World Conference in Nashville, TN.

The Young Adults Change the World Conference is an excellent partnership with Howard University Wesley Foundation, Tennessee State University Wesley Foundation, and Austin Peavy State University Wesley Foundation.

Why should agencies such as Church and Society and events like the Young Clergy Forum continue to be supported?

Just as the work of the local church and seminaries help us understand God’s Word and bring life to what that looks like lived out in the world, agencies such as Church and Society and events like the Young Clergy Leadership Forum, help young clergy understand and illuminate what our faith looks like as United Methodist and how to live in that deep heritage. We remember where we came from and who we are because of ancestors struggles and resilience is still with us.

When we support events like the Young Clergy Leadership Forum we are helping better equip young clergy through providing insight, training, and connections which in turn highlights what social holiness and the Methodist connection is all about.