When I was a junior at Temple University in Philadelphia, two para-church ministry organizations, Inter-Varsity Fellowship and Campus Crusade for Christ, and a city church, Tenth Presbyterian Church outreach to area college students, had a huge impact on my spiritual growth during college life.Raised in the United Methodist Church, I was blessed to have pastors, Sunday School teachers, and youth leaders who were able to articulate what United Methodists believe and seek to practice. So when I participated in the para-church organizations as well as a city church campus ministry during college, I was able to see where the United Methodist understanding of the Christian faith was similar as well as different from these campus ministries.
To the para-church ministries credit, for the most part, they sought to be ecumenical, respecting denominational differences, but every once in a while the leadership would say something critical about the practice of infant baptism or traditional/formal worship over against a more spontaneous type of worship (as if spontanaity is more "spiritual" than being structured.) These are just a couple of examples.
Yes, there were times when I felt like I was in the minority as a United Methodist, but thanks to the teachings/example of leaders in my home church, I was able to identity what these differences were which led me to appreciate my Wesleyan heritage while also benefiting from other perspectives through the campus ministries.
Sadly, according to recent studies, many of our United Methodist young people leave their home churches ill equipped to know, let alone appreciate their Wesleyan heritage. So when they encounter other theologies, Christian traditions, religions, or humanistic philosophies, they are often unable to contrast/compare. If someone would decide to leave the United Methodist Church, my deepest hope is that they at least know what they are leaving in terms of Christian theology and practice.
Over the years of pastoral ministry, I have found that people are hungry to know more about our Wesleyan heritage. A good example of this is whenever adults help with confirmation and they often say how they enjoy learning more about our United Methodist history, theology, and practice.
This is why I find this article regarding United Methodist youth very interesting. Here's a small portion of the article.
Losing Wesley
Church experts say some young people are simply growing out of the United Methodist Church.
According to the 2010 State of the Church Report, the median age of the population in the U.S. is 35, but the median age of attendees in the United Methodist Church is 57. And while 13 percent of the U.S. population is between the ages of 18 and 24, the denomination can claim only 5 percent in that age bracket.
Charles Harrison, CEO of the Youthworker Movement—a group launched in 2005 to connect United Methodist youth workers with those in other Wesleyan traditions—believes many churches have not provided consistent Wesleyan leadership. Instead, many youth leaders take kids to events hosted by nondenominational parachurch organizations, where they absorb a reformed, rather than Wesleyan theology.
Mr. Harrison, who is director of Perkins School of Youth Ministry in Dallas, began with his team of academics and ministers in the late 1990s trying to translate Methodism founder John Wesley’s work into youth ministry curriculum. Their question: What would John Wesley be doing if he were the youth minister in any of the churches we serve?
Their research focused on 11-year-olds (who generally are about to enter confirmation class) and twentysomethings who have just graduated from college. The majority of those interviewed were already involved in United Methodist youth groups and campus ministries, yet few were able to articulate who they were in terms of their faith.
“This caused us to start asking questions: Are we even doing the right things in youth group? Or are we even doing the right thing in campus ministry?” said Mr. Harrison. “We’ve got a lot of really great people doing youth ministry, but they don’t have any Wesleyan background, understanding or training.”
This is why I find this article regarding United Methodist youth very interesting. Here's a small portion of the article.
Losing Wesley
Church experts say some young people are simply growing out of the United Methodist Church.
According to the 2010 State of the Church Report, the median age of the population in the U.S. is 35, but the median age of attendees in the United Methodist Church is 57. And while 13 percent of the U.S. population is between the ages of 18 and 24, the denomination can claim only 5 percent in that age bracket.
Charles Harrison, CEO of the Youthworker Movement—a group launched in 2005 to connect United Methodist youth workers with those in other Wesleyan traditions—believes many churches have not provided consistent Wesleyan leadership. Instead, many youth leaders take kids to events hosted by nondenominational parachurch organizations, where they absorb a reformed, rather than Wesleyan theology.
Mr. Harrison, who is director of Perkins School of Youth Ministry in Dallas, began with his team of academics and ministers in the late 1990s trying to translate Methodism founder John Wesley’s work into youth ministry curriculum. Their question: What would John Wesley be doing if he were the youth minister in any of the churches we serve?
Their research focused on 11-year-olds (who generally are about to enter confirmation class) and twentysomethings who have just graduated from college. The majority of those interviewed were already involved in United Methodist youth groups and campus ministries, yet few were able to articulate who they were in terms of their faith.
“This caused us to start asking questions: Are we even doing the right things in youth group? Or are we even doing the right thing in campus ministry?” said Mr. Harrison. “We’ve got a lot of really great people doing youth ministry, but they don’t have any Wesleyan background, understanding or training.”
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