Thayne A. Thompson, DMin | EFC-MAYM Lead Superintendent
Traditions do not die easily. I was born in 1960 and grew up coming to Yearly Meeting with my parents on a fairly regular basis. Both of them were heavily involved in Glen Elder Friends Church, and served at the Yearly Meeting level in a variety of capacities, as well.
At some point a decade or so ago the idea of Yearly Meeting was re-envisioned… and renamed. No longer did we call it “Yearly Meeting”, but the new vision for our annual gathering would be called “Ministry Conference”. I was not actively involved in EFC-MAYM at that time, but I can probably guess some of the reasons for the change in nomenclature. A new name can sometimes help people picture something different than what they have experienced in the past. With decreasing participation, thereby leading to a shortened event (it used to be one week-long during my upbringing), the question had to be asked, “What is the purpose and focus of our annual gathering?”
During that era, Christian conferences were a prevalent part of the evangelical landscape. Many church leaders attended conferences of all types for a variety of reasons. The idea of a “conference” versus a “meeting” had a much more purposeful appeal to it. Thereby, Ministry Conference. Whereas Yearly Meeting has the connotation of conducting business. Ministry Conference implies personal learning and growth. And I don’t know about you, but the idea of attending a conference for personal growth versus attending a meeting to conduct business in the church has more appeal to me.
Fast forward to 2024. As most of us are aware, our population across EFC-MAYM, like many denominations, is aging, and participation in our annual event continues to decline. We as a Leadership Team for Mid-America have recognized that whether you call it Yearly Meeting or Ministry Conference, we still seem to be missing a very important segment of our population as we gather annually. For the future of our movement we must re-engage and release into ministry those who are in their 20’s and 30’s today. How do we do that?
That is one of the questions we are contemplating as we approach Ministry Conference 2024. In recent conversations with these younger generations we are finding a passion for Jesus, but in many cases a disconnect with how we “do church”. Perhaps you have heard the adage that says. “Our message never changes. But our methods must change!” That must be true with each generation if we are to continue to connect with and communicate the gospel effectively to our children and their children.
So do we need yet another name change? I don’t know about that, but In light of this, our EFC-MAYM Elders and Team Leaders will be meeting with a group of our young adults at the beginning of Ministry Conference this year to ask questions like, “Why would you want to be a part of Yearly Meeting/Ministry Conference? What would make it worth the investment of your time and energy? Furthermore, why would you want to raise your family in one of our Friends Churches today? How does the (Friends) church need to change and evolve in order to connect with your generation?
I have no idea what we may learn. But this seems like a worthy exercise as we prepare to hear from Alan Amavisca regarding how we as modern day Friends regain some of the spirit-filled evangelistic fervor of our Friends from the 1600s. Alan is making a mark in reaching the next generation in his part of the world in southern California as he leads the North County Project.
I hope you will choose to join us for this special gathering of Friends from across EFC-MAYM, July 26-28, for Yearly Meeting or Ministry Conference, or whatever you want to call it. How about we just gather to meet with Jesus and see what He has to say to us about reaching our communities in the days ahead. Sounds kind of exciting to me! I hope you see it that way as well. If so, click HERE to register today!
Follow Us!