tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2915295267008347771.post2694548060563859462..comments2023-05-17T04:24:29.890-05:00Comments on Tina Talk: Younger Clergy ObsessionTina Dietsch Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06495771693487955552noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2915295267008347771.post-41068917982297080392010-07-06T17:04:32.401-05:002010-07-06T17:04:32.401-05:00Hey Paul!!!
Thanks for your "diatribe"!...Hey Paul!!!<br /><br />Thanks for your "diatribe"! I don't really disagree with you. The younger clergy thing just makes me feel like a number...like affirmative action for the young methodist crowd!<br /><br />I do think we should recruit and train and equip younger clergy, just not exclusively; it feels like unless you are young and hip, you don't matter. I happen to be young and hip, so that shouldn't bother me so much, but nonetheless it does ;-)<br /><br />as for younger clergy recruitment: we also need to re-evaluate the ordination process. We can recruit all we want, but there are many other denominations that make it a whole lot easier to get to the work of pastor-ing than we make it as Methodists. I have a whole list of other things that could change in order to attract younger clergy (or any clergy), but I won't get into that. My ideas are all mostly hot air anyway!!!<br /><br />I am all for loving Jesus more, too! Let's make that a plan!Tina Dietsch Foxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06495771693487955552noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2915295267008347771.post-57179265113692774252010-07-06T16:14:18.577-05:002010-07-06T16:14:18.577-05:00Um... Tina and Anna --I'm not going to let eit...Um... Tina and Anna --I'm not going to let either of you off the hook that easy. <br /><br />As an old pastor... pretty much a has-been... I expect all you young pastors to change the world and raise all the apportionments dollars so I can sit on my butt and collect my retirement.<br /><br />Okay, really. <br /><br />I think the point behind this push for younger clergy is good -- even if it may sometimes seem misguided. Fact: our pastors are getting older. Much older. Fact: so our most of our congregations. Fact: we have built an ordination system that is producing what it is designed to produce... so we need a new system. Fact: Yes, second-career folks bring a lot to the table. Extra experiences, new perspectives etc. (I'm not anti-second career at all -- my assoicate is a former engineer and is FANTASTIC). But there is also a richness that comes from a "lifer" in full-time church leadership. At 43 I have been In church leadership for almost 20 years. There are fewer and fewer of us with that kind of experience.<br /><br />Studies say that churches grow within plus or minus 7 years the age of the pastor. It's a generality (I have lots of young people in leadership so I hope to throw that off!), but seems to hold over a large sample. In general, if we are ever going to reach a next generation (and the church is always within a generation from extinction), younger pastors ARE really important. <br /><br />Also, as a dinosaur, I realize that the next great idea probably won't come from me... but the people I mentor and raise up. So I will either be the lifter or the limiter of the next generation of pastors. I choose lifter. I have committed my life and ministry so that those who follow me will do much greater things than me. I wasn't invited to the young clergy network -- too old -- but I am SO glad that opportunity exists because I didn't have it. I didn't have an intern program, but I will give my energy to make sure the next generation does so they are even more equipped than I was when I started ministry.<br /><br />Your comment about events based on years of ministry experience is valid, but I do think there is a young mindset and even a stage of life that is not always embraced by those chronologically older. As someone not invited to those things, I'm not threatened by that at all. Truth is, I don't need the Conference to motivate me. If I want those experiences I will find them. If I want to hang with those people, I invite them to lunch. <br /><br />Yes, "youth" won't solve the problems in the UM church.... but I'm not sure they won't be solved without them. And I want to do all I can to be a part of it.<br /><br />My diatribe is over as well. :)<br /><br />And I think pretty highly of that Jesus guy too. I want to love him more. I agree 100% on that one. :)paulhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00180889957276587776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2915295267008347771.post-54177562089860535462010-07-05T10:36:18.282-05:002010-07-05T10:36:18.282-05:00Amen, Anna!
I love you!!!
now that we are move...Amen, Anna! <br /><br />I love you!!!<br /><br />now that we are moved, we have to plan our couples get together!!Tina Dietsch Foxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06495771693487955552noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2915295267008347771.post-966848178050429202010-07-05T10:21:38.433-05:002010-07-05T10:21:38.433-05:00I really appreciated this post. I (as a fellow yo...I really appreciated this post. I (as a fellow young clergy person) get frustrated when older clergy people sit back and think that they don't have to do anything because all the young clergy will. <br /><br />I think it is unfair to place these expectations of saving the dying denomination on younger clergy people. What happens when the decline is still happening in 15 years? Do we then realize that age doesn't matter in ministry? <br /><br />I <3 you.~ Anna G ~https://www.blogger.com/profile/11484754728639002974noreply@blogger.com