Go figure...
Some General Conference figures:
# More than 70% of the Adventist world membership is under 30 years of age.
# Nearly 2000 delegates are in attendance at the GC session in St Louis, Missouri.
# About 35 of those delegates are under the age of 30 (less than 2% of the delegate population).
Hmmm... it seems unfortunate that there aren't more young people there at the GC. However, one thing that Pastor Jan Paulsen, GC president, has always been strong on is supporting young people in the church. Hurrah for Pastor Paulsen!
In his opening address to the GC session, Pastor Paulsen said to young people, "I want you to come in and to partner with the rest of us. I want to make room for you, for you have energies and ideas which no one can quite match. If you don't find the church interesting, you can make it interesting. Just don't walk away. That would be the worst possible thing you can do: It is Christ we are talking about. Don't turn your back on Him, for if you do, all you then all you are left with is Peter's haunting question: 'To whom shall we then go?'" (John 6:68)."
"They [young people] represent in large measure the future of this church," he says. "There must be a more intentional dialogue with young people, and a greater recognition of the contribution that they can and do make within the church. I recognize that many, many of our young people feel distanced from the church—they feel as if they don't have a voice, they don't feel that they have been heard, they don't feel that they have been understood," says Pastor Paulsen. "But I want them to know that the church cannot be defined and cannot survive without them."
In other exciting news, a Let's Talk program, where Pastor Paulsen talks with young people, is being planned for Australia later this year! We'll hopefully have more news on that as it comes through :)
For more news on the GC Session, visit http://news.adventist.org/
posted by The Edge @ 10:50 am
4 comments
4 Comments:
Partner, making room, make it interesting. Nice ideology.
How is this meant to happen? We certainly can't sit back and rely on a 70+ year old president to do it.
Only 30 under 30's at the session. Shame. Shame. Shame.
Delegate selection for the General Conference is done by the church globally, and I think a lot of the people who are chosen to represent the Church are relatively well-known, or are in positions of some authority in the church or whatever.
I think we need to talk up more! The more we have to say, the more we speak out, the more we get involved, the more people will pay attention to what we are doing.
Okay, so a lot of older people get narcy about youth stuff with church at times, but who cares? If they can make decisions about the church, I think we can too :)
I feel for young Adventists who are female--under-represented at the General Conference session, and with no chance of ever becoming the leader of the worldwide church (delegates voted to ensure the president could only ever be an ordained minister).
Our church needs more women in leadership positions.
This has been an issue for how long and who is speaking up? No one! I think we as young people need to be heard. And especially women. I'll be over 30 for the next session (a depressiong though) yet am on my Conference Executive. I agree that young people do need to speak up, but not just saying anything. We need to be informed, well-spoken, and knowledgeable. But how do we do that?
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