“I am Generation X. I am not content to be next. I am the Church. ... WE are the Church.” That’s how David Flentje explained to his parish in St. Louis why he spent three days in Indianapolis recently learning from fellow Episcopalians how to pray, play and grow in Christian community.” From Episcopal News Service, by Jan Nunley, June 28, 2002

Recently a group of interested “baby boomers” like myself and two “twenty/thirty-something” Episcopalians gathered at the Summit Conference Center with Kathy Pfister, our youth coordinator, for the diocese and the only “young adult” on the diocesan program staff. We came to explore the ministry to the young adult population of our diocese. We asked: “Where are the gaps?” “Who cares about that?” “How is young adult ministry a part of the mission strategy of our parishes and of this diocese?” “How can we get together and advance the support for this most scarce and valuable population of an aging Episcopal Church?” The group then watched a video about young adult ministry put out by our national church office. It gave us a good launching place for discussion. We noted, however, that the video was 10 years old, and that in those 10 years very little had changed to address the needs of young adults in the church.

While we have many active and worthwhile programs for teens and for college students in the Episcopal Church, there has been a dramatic drop-off in young adults over the last several decades, after high school and after college graduation. In fact the average age of all Episcopalians is in the mid-50s, while the average age of all people in the country is about 34! It is that gap we must consider for the future of our church.

While our Cross Ties ministry at Chapel of the Cross does a good job of inviting the population of 22-35 year olds in our community, our parish is the decided exception in the Diocese of North Carolina. There are only a few other examples of parish young adult ministry to cite. But an effort is being made to ‘connect-the-dots’ where there is interest, and a workshop will be held at Diocesan Convention on young adult work, which may bring more interest and support. Programs like our Johnson Intern fellowship are one of the few demonstrable examples of new, effective, and creative work in this mission field.

Currently the diocesan Committee on Higher Education has voted to expand its mandate to include post-college young adults. Our rector has successfully petitioned to include ministry with young people as one of the revisions to the mission statement of the Diocesan Mission Strategy report. Vocare, a renewal weekend for young adults, has reformed itself and will hold its first retreat in March. Young adult internship representatives were to gather from around the country in mid-January to consider the support needed to carry on in hard budget times. Nationally, there will be a young adult gathering at General Convention this summer and the national church is actively seeking gifted young adults who may consider the ordained ministry.

So there are huge gaps; but new initiatives are rising locally, regionally, and nationally in the church which deserve all our support. How we collectively respond may be a preview of how viable this Episcopal tradition may be in future years. What’s NeXt? Let us seek that future together, with God’s help.