by Lance Conn
 
Many of you took note of the survey I sent out awhile back and some of you even went to complete it (17 of you, actually). This survey
helped me understand the wishes and needs of other young adults so that I could adequately represent a larger portion of the young adult population. I recently returned from my trip to the new Global Ministry Center in Lenexa, Kansas (it's not actually in Kansas City anymore) and thought it would be good to fill everyone in on some of the details.

First and foremost, everyone should know that Adult Ministries, under which Men's, Women's, Single Adult, Young Adult, and other ministries are coordinated, is taking a serious look at both Young Adult Ministries and Single Adult Ministries. Everyone is primarily interested to know how to properly address the needs of these two groups. It was interesting to see how the two groups actually do tend to overlap and have similar needs.

Anyway, one thought I can take away from this meeting is the effect breaking into groups is having on the church. We constantly separate into smaller groups (children, youth, men, women, etc.) in efforts to "better minister" to those groups. However, we often forget to bring all of those groups back together in the complete picture of unity. This is not to say that those groups are invalid, but perhaps they should be secondary.

So, in a better effort to minister to young adults and single adults, we were trying to avoid creating another group in the church. We came up with some ideas, but we will remain in conversation over the next year to continue strategizing about the ministries. I hope to see some exciting things occur over these next 12 months, but it will take time and patience (and perhaps many years). Many of you expressed your thanks and hope for the denomination to take young adult ministry seriously, and they really are.

On a personal note, this trip was particularly enjoyable for me. It was my first time flying, which went extremely well with no hitches. Security was no problem, the plane rides were enjoyable, and no crashes. The meetings were also held at the new Global Ministry Center, so it was an honor to be one of the first groups to tour and utilize this great space. And in the end, the council was made up of ten people, two of which worked at headquarters. It was a bit humbling to sit there and think, "How in the world did I get chosen for this?!"

If you're interested in the future leadership of young adult or single adult ministries, feel free to get in touch. I don't know if anything I'll have to say will be particularly inspiring, but I should be able to give you some info and connect you with some vital resources. I will be returning to another meeting next year, and the more contacts and examples I can have the better. I'm also supposed to write about intergenerational connectedness, so look out for my first "publishing" some time this year.