Conversations Worth Having

Several years ago I was planning a series of “listening posts” around the state of young adult ministry in the Iowa conference. As I was laying out for some conference leadership folks what we had in mind to do, I’ll never forget the comment from one district superintendent – someone I’ve always had great respect for. This person said something along the lines of, “I’m not sure what you’ll gain by just talking about the issue. Everybody knows it’s a problem. What churches are looking for is how to solve it.”

I think I understand something of what he meant. And, I'll admit, I have some sympathy for it. One of my colleagues says that too often the problem in the Church is that we think we’ve accomplished something simply because we’ve talked about it. While I agree with that statement, I also think that too often we try to accomplish something – try to fix the problem – without taking the time to listen to those who may best be able to diagnose the issue and offer some possible remedies.

That’s the thinking behind an Iowa conference sponsored event that a handful of us are working on called “A Conversation with Young Adults” - www.iaumc.org/yaconversation. The premise is that we need to listen to scripture, we need to listen to our tradition, and - at least as importantly - we need to listen to young adults. We need to be willing to have the conversations before we too quickly think we know what will work.

Maybe you’ve heard about “A Conversation with Young Adults”. I hope you’re thinking about being involved. I’m convinced that it may be one of the more important conversations we’re having in the Church.

Peace,

Eric