Registration Open for Christian Educators Fellowship/Preaching from the Center 2008 Conference

Oct. 24-27, 2008 - Albuquerque, NM

NASHVILLE, TN - 12/11/07 - Registration has opened for "Blessed to Be a Blessing: Christian Education for the 7th Generation with Preaching from the Center," a conference of Christian Educators Fellowship (CEF) and Preaching from the Center (PFC).
The conference will take place October 24-27, 2008, at the Hyatt Regency Hotel and Albuqerque Convention Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico.For the first time, these two normally separate national events will be held jointly. Participants will be able to cross-register for workshops from either conference, and many events (e.g. worship, Bible study) will be shared. Entire ministry teams are encouraged to attend together, as the conference is designed for both clergy and laity, professionals and volunteers, preachers and those involved in any kind of educational ministry.

Some of the featured speakers and workshop leaders include:
Marjorie Thompson: Author/Christian spirituality leader (Pre-Conference Retreat and PFC speaker)
Osvaldo Vena: New Testament Professor/Author (Bible Studies)
Marjorie Suchocki: Theologian/Author (Faith & Film Plenary)
Bill McKibben: World-renowned environmentalist/author (Plenary)
Ronald Allen: Preaching Professor/Author (PFTC Pre-Conference Leader and Speaker)
Dean McIntyre: Music Resources Leader (Preaching from the Center leader)
Taylor Burton-Edwards: Worship Resources Leader (Preaching from the Center leader)
Safiyah Fosua: GBOD Staff/Author (Preaching from the Center leader)
Stephanie Hand: Christian Educator/education consultant (Preacher)

Christian Educators Fellowship, a networking group for persons involved in Christian education, age-level ministries, resource centers, and other educational ministries, will celebrate its 40th anniversary during the event. Preaching from the Center is a conference sponsored by the General Board of Discipleship.Full conference details are available at http://www.cef2008.org

Young adults seek ways to put faith into action, leader says

Bill Lizor, director of the board's Young Adult and Single Adult Ministries, presents "Effective Models of Young Adult Ministry."

By Linda Green*

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) - Young adults today want to be involved in mission and service, and they represent "a passionate movement" in the church, a United Methodist executive says.

Young adults are living out their faith every day by being active participants in their own life stories, said Bill Lizor, director of Young Adult and Single Adult Ministries at the United Methodist Board of Discipleship.

"This isn't a generation of people wanting to sit in the pews and consume worship," he said. "Today's young adults want to be out in the fields, active in mission and service, taking the faith they were handed down as children and adding their own hands and feet."

Although "faith" as a concept, may look different manifested this way, it is "a passionate movement and reclaiming of Christian tradition that is setting young people on fire to be the today's church."

The Board of Discipleship brought nearly 80 United Methodist young adult leaders from across the United States together in November for a weekend of networking and sharing about their ministries. The Nov. 15-17 gathering was the second Young Adult Leaders Summit.

With the growth in popularity of Young Adult Ministries in The United Methodist Church, numerous annual (regional) conferences are developing ministries to young adults, which the denomination defines as people between 18 and 30. Leadership summits provide a place for annual conference teams to engage in training and dialogue around such topics as theology, practice, ministry models, discipleship and leadership.

'Take action'
The Rev. Vance Ross, a discipleship staff executive, challenged the young leaders to take the initiative and to make a difference today. "Now is the time for young adults to take action."

Several ministries from across the denomination were invited to share about what they are doing for young adult ministry. The ministries included:

• Emerge Detroit, a citywide network of churches and ministries engaged in young adult ministry.



• North Georgia Annual Conference, which is developing a model for young adult leader training, as well as marketing, podcasts and Web sites designed to include young adults in the annual conference process.



• The Bishop's Initiative of the Rocky Mountain Annual Conference, which placed four young adults in an intentional community and service setting for a year. The program is being re-evaluated and seeking further funding so it can continue.



• The Division on Ministries with Young People, which introduced the new Young Adult Network, a Web-based portal for young adults at http://www.gbod.org/youngpeople/youngadult/youngadult.htm.



• The United Methodist Commission on the Status and Role of Women, which shared what it is doing in the area of developing young adult women.

Developing a model
To get an overview of current research, the group viewed the video, "Generation Next: Speak Up, Be Heard," a research project developed by PBS and Films for the Humanities and Sciences.
According to the PBS Web site, "the aim of the Generation Next initiative is to unravel this generation of young people who are hooked to technology, generally supportive of gay rights and racial differences, partial to postponing adulthood and swamped in debt." The film provided the young adult leaders with information about recent research.

Elaine de Leon said she was glad the video talked about "the economic debt because that's a reality that is 'under-talked' about."

De Leon, of the Greater New Jersey Annual (regional) Conference and seminary student at Wesley Seminary in Washington, said she senses "that people believe that young adults leave the church to pursue careers - because that's so much more important to them - and to climb the corporate ladder. Some of the reality is that you have to have the job to pay off your college loans," she said.

Following a session on "Effective Models of Young Adult Ministry," participants engaged in conversation around developing a theology for young adult ministry and a group process to identify resourcing needs.

Young adult ministry development, as an emphasis of the church, has emerged within the last 10 years. There has not been a lot of research into what a biblical model for young ministry would look like, and the summit conversations are beginning the process of developing a foundation, Lizor said.

*Green is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in Nashville, Tenn. Jeanette Pinkston, director of media relations for the United Methodist Board of Discipleship, contributed to this story.