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Commentary
GEN-X RISING: An evening at Mad Pizza Co. Andrew C. Thompson, Jul 2, 2009
Andrew Thompson
By Andrew Thompson UMR Columnist
The annual conference’s daily session ended a little before 5 p.m. Monday in Rogers, Ark. By 5:30, more than four-dozen young adult clergy and lay delegates were gathering in the upper room of the Mad Pizza Co. down the street.
Not all the important “conferencing” happens on the main floor of an annual conference between the hours of 9 and 5. That has especially been the case for the young adult delegates to the Arkansas Annual Conference over the past five years.
Under the leadership of the Rev. Eric Van Meter, a campus minister at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro, a yearly gathering of Generation X and Millennial delegates has grown to become one of the highlights of the annual conference session each June. The first gathering in 2005 attracted about 18 people. This year, three times that many showed up.
One of the struggles that Gen X’ers and Millennials tend to have with the institutional church is in understanding how some of the traditions that have evolved actually relate to discipleship and ministry. Annual conference is a good example.
While there are wonderful times of teaching and worship interspersed through the three days of conference, much of the time spent seems to be dedicated to endless reports, awards and floor debates over resolutions.
I’ve never met a young adult clergy or layperson who was opposed to the idea of Christians conferencing together. In fact, most of them crave the opportunity to really connect with one another, pray together and share ideas about ministry. We live in an isolating and individualistic world, and many young pastors and lay leaders go around chronically hungry for true connection.
The problem with annual conference is that it can seem so dang business-like. Parliamentary procedure allows the work to proceed, but it also inhibits real conversation. And the long stream of three- and five-minute presentations can make even the most attentive delegate’s eyes glaze over after a while.
If annual conference had always operated this way, Methodism would have never gotten out of the starting gate. And to younger delegates, it is downright depressing to see some of our older colleagues cope with conference by sneaking off to play golf.
But the desire for real conferencing remains. And it is particularly strong with those young adults who make the commitment to actually attend a real annual conference.
So when a group of those young adults gets together for pizza and conversation, the topics covered go much deeper than pepperoni vs. sausage.
Eric opened us up that night at the Mad Pizza Co. with prayer and an invitation to move from table to table, enjoying one another’s company. There were easily more than 1,000 people in the official session that day, which could make it hard to spot the young adults present. But when we all gathered in one place, it was really encouraging to see that there were enough of us to make a crowd.
I heard people covering topics that ranged from the ordination candidacy process, the importance of campus ministry and the challenge of helping the United Methodist Church adapt to changing ideas about the itineracy and local church ministry.
Before the night was through, three pastors had gathered a group into a circle to share stories about their experiences as new church planters. It was easily the most enlightening and informative conversation I’ve had at annual conference in years.
Young adult clergy and laity in other annual conferences should take a cue from Eric and the group in Arkansas. Their example offers a constructive way to move from cynicism to hope.
To an outsider, the gathering in the upper room at the Mad Pizza Co. that night probably seemed unremarkable. But to those who were there, it represented the best of the Wesleyan approach to ministry.
Connection. Conference. Community.
Those words are more than pious platitudes that hearken back to yesteryear. They can be reclaimed and reinvigorated.
And when adapted to our own circumstances, they can help to revitalize the clergy and lay leadership of this church.
Andrew Thompson
The problem with annual conference is that it can seem so dang business-like. Parliamentary procedure allows the work to proceed, but it also inhibits real conversation. And the long stream of three- and five-minute presentations can make even the most attentive delegate’s eyes glaze over after a while. 
