On whose shoulders you stand

One of the best things about the work I do with the UMC in Mississippi is being an advocate for the voice of college students. This has occasionally brought me into conflict with some people within our conference but it's well worth it. I remember something my grandpa used to say and I'm sure it wasn't him who was the first one to say it, but he said " Never forget whose shoulders you stand on". The Methodist Church in the US and to a greater extent the Christian church as a whole has forgotten whose shoulders we stand on.

Jesus Christ is our rock of salvation. However when we neglect the voice of youth and young adults within our church we are ignoring the beginnings of the church. When Jesus called out his 12 Disciples, he did not call out old men but youth and college age students. In the 17th chapter of Matthew there is a discussion of temple tax. Only Jesus and Peter pay the Temple Tax. According to Jewish tradition any man aged 20 or older paid the temple tax. This tells us that Jesus took in men younger than 20 to be his Disciples. The church was built in this world by youth and young adults chosen by Jesus to walk with him and build his church. These are some of the shoulders I was talking about. We as a church stand upon the shoulders of all those who came before us. In this instance they are the shoulders of Jesus and the 12 young men he chose.

Fast forward to 1729. A group of college students gather as the "Holy Club" at Oxford University in England. They would join together and fast from rising until 3 pm on Wednesdays and Fridays. They held devotions, visited the sick and imprisoned, and were accountable to each other. This group comprised of many members including Charles and John Wesley would become what today is now known as the Methodist Church.

For me as a United Methodist one of the first ways I was exposed to the Methodist church was a button given to me by a Campus minister that said "John Wesley was a Campus Minister". I still have that button on a shelf at my home. For this reason it saddens me to see people in the church disregard the voice of youth and young adults. In the 2008 election cycle I made many an enemy at Annual Conference for consistently pointing out the lack of youth among the delegates to General and Jurisdictional Conference. After a break a delegate to General Conference came to me and said " I appreciate what you're trying to do but youth and young adults have no business at General or Jurisdictional conference. It's just too much work and reading for them". My heart sank. Jesus the one in whom I confess to follow had enough faith in his youthful 12 Disciples to build the church after he was gone that he chose them. Jesus could have picked anyone he wanted, but he chose 12 young men. Remember Jesus told them "You did not choose me. I chose you" (John 15:16). In 2005 Young elders made up only 4.69% of all elders in the UMC. In this research "young" is defined as being under 35. Elders 55 and up make up 41% of the UMC. The research also showed that 51 is the average age of elders in the UMC. The only bright spot I really take from this is that my jurisdiction (The Southeast Jurisdiction) comprises 42% of the "young" elders. During the 2012 General Conference, many Annual Conferences will be sending only delegate who is under the age of 35. So why do we as the United Methodist Church, and to an extent the Christian church ignore the voice of youth and young adults?

For many the ignoring of that voice, has become a power issue. The old saying goes that "absolute power corrupts absolutely". This is a prime example of that. Many who have been in positions of power have grown accustomed to the position. We see it in our United States legislature and we see it in the church. We see it in the United Methodist church when we elect someone to General Conference who has been a delegate since the merger of 1968. There's nothing wrong with that because experience is valued, but we must as a church learn to relinquish some of the leadership to those who come after us.

Many have supposed that this lack of investment in youth and young adults is the reason for the Christian churches decline in America. I from my experiences affirm this belief. After visiting Zimbabwe I am ever more disturbed by the lack of faith in and lack of leadership opportunities afforded our young people in the United Methodist Church. In Zimbabwe I met Freeman. He's a recent graduate of Africa University (Congrats Brother) in the Faculty of Theology. He began working with Hilltop United Methodist Church's youth in Mutare, Zimbabwe. By the time he resigned from his position as youth director while nearing the end of his studies, the youth group had grown from 70 children to near 600. Here is a young man who the church believed in and gave an opportunity. The church was rewarded by an explosion in the growth of it's youth group and the life of the church.

Youth and young people are a vital component in the future of the church as well as the present. Remember that last part "as well as the present". Far too often the UMC tells young people to wait your turn to be leaders. We young people are not the leaders of tomorrow but are the leaders of today. The church must begin to realize this and remember upon whose shoulders the church was built. For the Christian church it was 12 young men chosen by our Messiah to help build the church. It was a 2o something that became "the rock upon which I will build my church" (Matthew 16:18). For United Methodists, it's time to remember that our denomination started in a small room with college students. As faithful Christians, it's time that we call our church back to remembering the shoulders upon which it stands and putting down our selfish pride and allowing leadership opportunities to a new generation of Christian leaders. The church was built on the shoulders of young men and women. We forget it's on these shoulders we stand.

We Methodist are quick to acknowlege John Wesley and all he did in starting the Methodist Church but overlook that it's the shoulders of this young college student on which the church was built. If Jesus puts the weight of building the church upon the shoulders of young people, why are we his followers over 2000 years later now reluctant to do so? Young people had a hand in almost every major social, political, and spiritual renewal or uprising. Martin Luther was only 34 when he wrote his 95 Theses. I pray that as you read this you begin to think of ways you can encourage young people in your life to invest in the future of the church and take leadership in it. I also pray that we as a christian church and especially my Brothers and Sisters in the UMC will begin to let go of the power we struggle to hold on to and be not only willing but jubilant to pass the torch to a new generation