Annual Conference
Annual Conference Dialogue Session

Young Adult Council will host its' dialogue session based on Lovett H. Weems book, "The Crisis of Younger Clergy" on Friday afternoon. Come by and hear our strategey for helping recruit first-career, young clergy for the next generation.

THE CRISIS FOR YOUNGER CLERGY

Explains why the numbers of younger clergy are declining, and helps shows young church leaders how to thrive in spite of it.

What many denominational and congregational leaders have suspected for a long time has now been proven: the numbers of persons under 35 graduating from seminary and entering ordained ministry in mainline churches have declined precipitously in recent years. What does this trend mean for you? If you’re a young pastor, it means that you’ll have to create different kinds of support networks than your predecessors have done. If you’re on the administrative board of a local congregation, it means that the kinds of pastors available to you, and the character of their pastorates, will be different to what you have been used to in the past.

Writing for local congregations and their leaders, but also for judicatory and denominational leaders, Lovett Weems and Ann Michel explain the groundbreaking studies they have undertaken into the crisis of younger clergy, and chart a path forward for both younger persons considering ordained ministry, and the congregations they would serve.
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Hear our Cry? There are about 8 million twentysomethings alive today in the US who were active in church as teenagers but who will no longer be active in a church by age 30. EIGHT MILLION!  (www.barna,org)

Join us for an engaging “fish bowl” dialogue with discussion groups to explore some of the issues of young adults and the Church.  We’ll look at resources for local church ministries to young adults, how to connect with college students, and how to encourage young people with the call to vocational ministry.  www.grace2live.org