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Commentary
GEN-X RISING: Churches need a missional mindset
Andrew C. Thompson, Aug 26, 2009
Andrew Thompson
By Andrew C. Thompson UMR Columnist
Young adults who experience a strong call to ministry sometimes feel like they’re faced with a dilemma. They love the Church and want to serve Jesus there. But at the local churches they’ve been a part of, it doesn’t always seem like a full commitment to Jesus is at the top of the priority list.
The dilemma they face—and the United Methodist Church should take note—is whether to answer the call by pursuing ordination, when they’re afraid that will lead to being appointed to a church that is more committed to the culture than to Christ.
The United Methodist Church is caught in a bit of a Catch-22. We need to convince those called young adults that the best, most exciting work that Jesus is doing is happening right in our churches. But for that argument to be persuasive, we need energetic young clergy to be pastoring our congregations and leading them into robust forms of mission and ministry.
By the grace of God, there are signs of hope.
I sat down recently with the Rev. Arthur Jones (the son of Kansas Bishop Scott Jones), who is a recent graduate of Duke Divinity School and a newly commissioned elder in the North Texas Conference. Arthur is spending a year as the director of church relations for the ZOE Ministry, which works with orphaned children in Africa for hunger relief and life-skills empowerment all through a Christian paradigm.
ZOE Ministry (www.zoeministry.org) was founded by United Methodist elder Greg Jenks of the North Carolina Conference. Just five years old, ZOE is already active in Zimbabwe, Zambia, Kenya and Rwanda. And it continues to grow—fast.
Arthur’s job title sounds administrative, but he strikes me as more of a missionary than anything else. He recently returned from a trip to Kenya where he took part in ZOE’s work with orphans firsthand.
There he saw the method inspired by a woman who survived the 1994 Rwandan genocide that has gained the moniker, “Giving Hope Empowerment.” It gathers family groups of orphans into teams for training in life skills, from agriculture to craft-making to small business ventures.
And it’s all done with the support of local clergy and churches.
As Arthur described, it is hard to understand the impact of ZOE’s work without seeing it firsthand. Now he is traveling throughout the denominational connection in North America to share the news about ZOE in local congregations and get them involved. His focus is primarily in his own South Central Jurisdiction, but he wants to get his message as far and wide as possible.
For young clergy (or potential clergy) who are skeptical about the church today, the example of ZOE Ministry should offer hope. There are indeed ways local churches can move into a “missional mindset.” And by offering themselves in service, those congregations will experience their own transformation even while they aid in the transformation of others.
That means the age-old work of shepherding a flock can be the most exciting ministry imaginable.
Arthur knows that. He has committed to work in his coordinating role with ZOE for a year. After that, it’s back to North Texas to serve as a pastor. But he’s excited about that, because he’s seen how energized local churches can get when given the chance to take part in the missional work of God.
“The world is complicated,” Arthur told me after his Kenya trip. “It is so much more complicated than my suburban, mission-minded self could have imagined in high school.
“I am interested in the church finding out how to transform the world through ways that are both effective and indigenous,” he added, referring to leadership roles that ZOE’s African partners take in the world on the ground.
Changing your point of view can change your entire mindset. And that is as true of global missions as it is of the mission of a single congregation.
Andrew Thompson
ZOE Ministry (
