Episcopalians 18-40 Create Community & Nurture Faith

Will Harron, Network Organizer

In the past year, you may have seen ads on Facebook, in the diocesan newsletter Mission Matters, and elsewhere in the Diocese of Western Massachusetts for a Young Adult Ministry Network. This exciting new ministry is the result of collaboration between young Episcopalians, campus ministers, Lawrence House, and beloved mentors.

We began talking over Zoom in the summer of 2020, hoping to build a new ministry. Inspired by diocese-wide work in our neighboring Diocese of Massachusetts, we hoped that a similar flowering of young adult ministry could be enabled by stronger coordination between those who minister with young adults as well as through better-resourced outreach and empowerment of young adults themselves. These conversations revealed a hunger for connection; we began meeting monthly and, needing something to call ourselves, we settled (for now) on the Young Adult Ministry Network, or YAMN for short.

Last winter, we applied for a grant from the Episcopal Church’s Office of Young Adult and Campus Ministry. The award, which was generously matched by the diocese in February 2021, funded us for a year. The funding provided us with a program budget to put on more ambitious events and allow us to offer hospitality to young adults we meet. It also allowed me to be paid quarter-time for my organizing work and to devote more time to connecting people with the ministry. Furthermore, the funding offered us hope that the wider church sees this sort of ministry as something worth financially supporting.

In the Episcopal church, “young adult” can mean anyone under the age of forty or sometimes even under fifty. Even the intentionally broad definition used by the network, of people between 18 and 40, still encompasses a wide array of people and life experiences. College students, young people not in college, young professionals and early-career adults, young parents; all are people who are underrepresented in church leadership and budget lines. Ideally, these cohorts would each have resources addressed to their faith lives and needs, but in a time of smaller budgets, we use methods of faith-rooted community organizing to connect and empower leaders in all of these cohorts, growing our capacity as well as our presence in the diocese.

Currently, the network offers multiple strands of engagement. At our monthly Zoom meeting, people who minister with young adults and those who want to help steer the network meet to check in, share ministry resources from different corners of the diocese, plan events, and connect with each other.

Our Discord server, an app-based platform that allows for voice, video, and text communication, is a central location for young adults to connect, including channels for prayer request, job opportunities, and upcoming events. We held a small bible study using the app during the summer, and a small group currently meets weekly using it.

Finally, our network events are a third way of engaging with the network. Through Advent Vespers in December 2020, Lent Godly Play in February and March 2021, and monthly Zoom Evening Prayer in Summer 2021, a variety of online and in-person events have helped to build our platform, connect young adults to the ministry and each other, and created space for prayer, fellowship, and the visible presence of young adults in the diocese and the church.

Most recently, ten young adults were able to be together in-person for our largest event yet. Through a Ministry Development Grant, we were able to visit the Barbara C. Harris Camp and Conference Center in Greenfield, New Hampshire for a retreat weekend of fellowship, prayer, and relaxation. Some attendees took leadership of the weekend’s worship, others offered workshops on artistic rituals and contemplative worship, others got the fire started at the campfire for s’mores, kayaked in the lake, and engaged in wide-ranging meal discussions about young adult faith life, theology, and what ways the network might grow.

A strength of the ministry has been in activating new leaders - an attendee at one event might have an idea that leads to them leading the next event - and the retreat will hopefully prove to be no different, leading to the next wave of worship, fellowship, and formation opportunities in the network. Ultimately, centering young adults in leadership, enabling them to access resources, and planting the seeds of community, is one way the church can create the conditions of multigenerational flourishing and make itself a home for all people. ♦