Young Clergy vs. Experienced Clergy

I've enjoyed following and contributing to the 6 Questions for the United Methodist Church. It's a great attempt at helping us focus the conversation on what is truly most important for the Church. As I understand it, the initiative began with a group of young clergy. The tone of the questions makes it sound like the majority of questions (certainly not all) are from young clergy. I've just aged-out of being really considered young clergy, but that's still the grouping I most affiliate myself with.

Every two weeks a new topic for questions is added, based on popular vote. Three categories have now been added: Clergy age 35 and under, Young Adult Ministry, and Campus Ministry. It looks like the next top vote getters are Seminaries, Campus Ministers (not sure that these questions would be different than Campus Ministry), and Camp and Retreat Ministries. The next topic, that would be #7 overall by popular vote, is Clergy within 10 years of retirement. Now if I'm right that this is driven primarily by younger clergy it makes sense that the topics of most concern would be around younger people. And I certainly agree with the assessment that the UMC must find ways to attract younger people if we are to survive as a Church. However, having served as a full-time pastor now for 9 years and part-time for 2 years prior to that one thing that I know is that there's a lot I don't know. While we need to encourage our young pastors and reach new young people, there is wisdom to be gained from those with years of experience.

It is possible that we have entered such a revolutionary time that the more experienced among us really have nothing to contribute. Maybe the world has changed so much that to do anything like it has been done before will just lead to failure. If that's the case I'm probably going to be a pretty lousy pastor for the next few decades. It seems more likely to me that today's young clergy have as much or more to learn from the older clergy than the old do from the young. So for any young clergy reading this, remember that you stand on the shoulders of giants. They still have something to contribute to the churches they serve and they have wisdom that we can learn from as fellow clergy. For any older clergy out there, thank you for your years of service and for the insights you have passed on to me and so many others.