By Summerlee Walter
YEAH: Young Episcopal Adult Hubs A new take on building a network of young adults For at least the past decade, the common wisdom surrounding young adults and the local church has been to go where they are, discover what ignites their spiritual selves and offer something to meet their needs instead of waiting for young adults to appear at 10 a.m. on Sunday morning and bemoaning their absence when they don’t. Many churches in the Diocese have taken this approach seriously, and we’ve seen as a result a variety of pub theology and beer and hymns programs succeed, including in Raleigh, Tarboro, Durham and Asheboro (“It’s Not a Gimmick. It’s Church,” Disciple, Winter 2018). A Movable Feast, the mobile food and prayer ministry that debuted at Convention in 2014, led to a successful Sunday evening program of the same name at Davidson College and to ongoing engagement by St. Titus’, Durham, on the campus of Durham Tech Community College. (The trailer is currently reaching out to a different population at Galilee Ministries of East Charlotte.) While there are successful—albeit often small—young adult ministries and peer groups throughout the Diocese, it can still be a challenge for under-40 Episcopalians to find a peer group if they are not fortunate enough to attend a church with an active young adult ministry. Others know where to find such a group but feel they don’t fit the “young couples with kids” vibe—or, alternately, the “single folks who can stay out late without hiring a babysitter” vibe. In the end, the question remains: How do young adults find a group of peers in The Episcopal Church? SOME 3 A.M. INSPIRATION The Rev. Adrienne Koch was hired—she thought—as the campus minister for North Carolina State University in 2017. It was only after she came on board that Koch learned she would not have any affiliation with NC State, which no longer sanctions chaplains, but would instead serve as a young adult missioner located near the college campus. This arrangement is in line with the vision of the Rt. Rev. Anne Hodges-Copple, who in her role as bishop suffragan guides young adult and campus ministry within the Diocese. She’s working to shift the model for campus ministry away from the traditional chaplain role and toward a local missionary or community organizer model in which a young adult missioner does what the churches have been learning to do for the past decade: go out and meet people. This doesn’t mean the need for a chaplain and a campus-based gathering place disappeared, however. “It really was a dual role, and I found myself thinking about how the young adult missioner piece really expands the focus of the ministry to, for me, the Raleigh area, basically Wake County, which is a large area,” Koch explained.
26
The North Carolina Disciple | Winter 2019
Making Disciples, Making a Difference
