by Joseph McBrayer, Director of Emory Wesley Fellowship

At Refresh 2010, this past December 14-16th, in Kansas City, KS over 150+ other United Methodist Campus Ministers gathered at the Church of the Resurrection to engage in the practices of reflection, worship, dialogue, and prayer about ministry with college students and young adults. The three days we spent together were engaging, challenging, and encouraging to me both personally and professionally.

Refresh provided an intentional time to look back over the semester of ministry and life, to be in conversation with others in the field of campus ministry, and to hear what nationally recognized speakers have to say about United Methodism, the Church, and ministry with young adults and college students.

Image Courtesy of Joe McBrayer

Each year at Refresh, which began in 2005, we hear from excellent ministers and theologians in worship, workshops, and discussions. This year many gifted and faithful men and women led workshops on a variety of topics including: Sabbath Keeping, Servant Evangelism, Songwriting, How to Run a Prayer Room, Missional Leadership, Fundraising, and others. The workshop leaders represented a wide cross-section of the Wesleyan and United Methodist tradition from people who work in local church settings (both lay and clergy), UM boards and agencies (GBHEM, Upper Room, and the Foundation for Evangelism), campus ministries, and church planting.

Image courtesy of Joe McBrayer

Laura Story, author of Indescribable, led worship for our large group sessions and there were four keynote speakers: Rev. Olu Brown: Lead Pastor of Impact Church–a UM church plant in Atlanta, GA; Alan Hirsch: church visionary and author of The Forgotten Ways and Untamed;  Rev. Adam Hamilton: Lead Pastor of 17,000 member UM Church of the Resurrection and author of When Christians Get It Wrong and other books; and Pete Grieg: church planter, leader of the 24-7 Prayer Movement, and author of Red Moon Rising and God on Mute. Each of these speakers offered unique perspectives from their experience and the vision God has given them for the future of the Church.

Olu Brown delivered a message that centered around remembering the gifts God has given us and remembering who we are, that we might continue to be connected to God and help others to connect with God. It was an encouraging word for campus ministers and chaplains to hear at the end of the long Fall semester. Pete Grieg spoke on the importance of prayer in our lives and said that “people aren’t looking for another program or a product…they are looking for the presence of God.” He led us through an evening session of prayer for our campuses and challenged us to create more opportunities for students to be in prayer.

Image courtesy Joe McBrayer

Alan Hirsch spoke about the importance of the different roles and functions of Christians in the body of Christ–especially the Apostle, Prophet, Evangelist, Shepherd, and Teacher as found in Ephesians chapters 4 and 5. Hirsch, an avid researcher of movements in global and historical Christianity, asserts that the difficulties and decline of mainline churches in America/the West are a result of current ecclesial (Church) structures that contribute to a loss of the emphasis and importance of the first three functions–especially as a result of the focus of our ordination routes to the roles of shepherd/pastor and teacher/theologian. He posits that this lack of recognition and function in the Western church, and especially the UMC, is a direct result of the loss of the NT understanding of the nature (and mission) of the church (ecclesiology). He noted that many people who do or do not fit the accepted norms of a denomination’s expectation for ministers have left the Mainline protestant churches resulting in either a “churchless mission” or a “mission-less church.” Our discussion did not broach the subject of Elders and Deacons in the UMC, which might have helped to identify ways that the UMC is striving to recognize and encourage different gifts and calls to ministry.

Having read The Forgotten Ways while in seminary, I was excited to have the chance to hear Hirsch and engage his ideas with other campus ministers. The resulting discussions proved fruitful–especially from the perspectives of campus ministers who work directly with, and sometimes in between, the aspirations, creativity, and willingness of college students and young adults and the sometimes slow-to-change features and facets of our denomination and institutional structures. One of the most helpful and practical suggestions from Hirsch was that ministers and ministries each take time to think through and rank our gifts in the five categories. Hirsch’s message and subsequent workshop offered a provoking, challenging time to engage in conversation and thought about how to go about the renewal of the Church and its structures.

Image courtesy of Joe McBrayer

The most powerful moment in my experience at Refresh was our afternoon session with Rev. Adam Hamilton. Hamilton spoke from his experience with young adults and college students at the Church of the Resurrection. He spoke about the increasing secularization of society and the aggressive anti-theism so prevalent in our American culture. He noted the importance of campus ministry for the future hope of our denomination and the Church in general as campus ministers are on the “front lines” of understanding and working with the new, emerging generations. Hamilton said that Christians must “understand the questions and concerns of the people you work with and help answer some of the questions” and that we must “formulate thoughtful Christian responses” to their difficult questions.

Hamilton shared portions of his own journey into ministry and highlighted three of the difficult questions that young people and college students are asking–questions of Theodicy (evil in the world), questions about other world religions, and questions about sexuality. Hamilton gave articulate, genuine, and succinct responses to these questions and shared how he and the Church of the Resurrection had engaged in each of these complex questions.

Hamilton and his vision for the renewal of the Church and our denomination give me an even greater hope for the future. Throughout his talk–especially in the context of these difficult questions–Hamilton modeled responsible dialogue, civil discourse, and a vulnerable, disarming openness and honesty that helped to produce mutual understanding. Hamilton articulated a hopeful-critical vision for the future of the United Methodist Church that calls for young people to be “modern day reformers” helping to retool and rethink Church in ways that help the wider world to see the Christian faith as an examined, intelligible, attractive, and practical way of living life to the fullest.

Refresh was an excellent time to be encouraged, challenged, strengthened, and revived while being with colleagues in campus ministry from across our denomination through quality speakers, workshops, and spaces for conversation, collaboration, worship, and prayer. I find myself still pondering and digesting themes and ideas from the conference and engaging with the people and resources I discovered. I have a deeper hope for the Church, for our United Methodist denomination, and I have a renewed passion for young adults and college students to be involved in the life changing transformation that comes from being a part of the body of Christ.