5 reasons it is hard to be a "young adult" at UPC right now: A letter to my church

Dear University Presbyterian Church, A little bit about me, so as to establish credibility here. I moved to Seattle in early 2008 at the age of 22 and began attending UPC sometime that summer. I connected through the young adult community of Convergence and became a member in 2010. In my time at UPC I have been involved in various ways including as an intern in the Outreach department, participating in and leading mission trips, as a youth sponsor for a year, and more. I have made this church my home, and through the arms of Convergence UPC has welcomed me as well. UPC has been changing a lot in the time that I have been involved, but in the last six months or so it feels as though it has ramped up. To be fair, this may be the case because much of the recent change that has happened more directly affects me than some of the other things that have changed. I acknowledge that. I want to recognize the season of change that we have been in for some time, and say that it has been difficult for a lot of people. Right now, it is particularly difficult for the young adults who call UPC their home. Here are 5 reasons why I think this is the case: 1. No more Convergence Convergence has been a lot of things to a lot of people over the years, but first and foremost it is a community. It is a place where a group of people connected through worship, fellowship, teaching and service. Convergence was not a singles ministry. It was a group of real people seeking God together. In April of this year, Convergence said goodbye. This venue for connection and growth is now gone. For many of us, this hurts and we are grieving. 2. No more Jon Epps Jon Epps is my pastor. He was the Director of Young Adult Mission and Ministry, and it is largely due to his vision and leadership that Convergence blossomed into the community it was. I also had the privilege of working more closely with Jon as an intern. While Jon is a great teacher and a good friend to many of us who were involved with Convergence, after he stepped down from his position in April, I have begun to realize how much more of an impact he had on this church as a whole. A UPC staff member recently pointed out to me that Jon was a bridge-builder, and I think that is the perfect way to articulate so much of what he accomplished while he was on staff at UPC. Jon tried to bridge generational gaps, ideological gaps, etc. within the church as a whole, but most of all he was our bridge to the wider church. He advocated for us and for our involvement. Many of us feel now as though our bridge has fallen out from under us. 3. No more 7pm A few years ago, UPC launched the 7pm service on Sunday evenings (I believe there have been different iterations of this over the years, but I never experienced them, so for this context I am referring to the one that has been in existence for approximately three years). Perhaps because of the hour, and perhaps because of the music style, this service became populated by many youth and young adults, and many older adults who caught the vision of the 7pm as well. It became a place for involvement for much of the youth and young adults: we got to participate in the service. Either through serving communion or greeting, it became a place for us to plug in. We saw pastors and people in leadership who we not only recognized, but who knew us as well. We were given the freedom to experiment musically, and even dive deeper into some more traditional elements of worship in a new and fresh way. But alas, the 7pm service has ended as well. 4. No more The Hills Beyond One other special element about the Convergence community is a band called The Hills Beyond. This group is not special because they play rock music or because many of the members are classically trained musicians. This group is special because they came out of Convergence. They started writing their own music based on what we were learning and experiencing as a worshipping community. I have never seen that before, and I can hardly express how beautiful it was to walk in one week and hear a song that was written out of the process of struggling through a passage of Scripture together. Partly because of Convergence being gone, The Hills Beyond is in flux, and we haven't been blessed by any new music from them. 5. We are not a demographic In the midst of all of these changes, we keep hearing about priorities. One of these happens to be engaging youth and young adults. I know the leadership has already heard this question, but the question that I have is really? Because it doesn't feel that way. I hear people talk about engaging "young adults" and speaking about the age group that I happen to fall into as if we are merely a demographic to be reached, and if we can somehow get younger looking faces in the pews we will be successful. I have heard leaders talk about this as well, but I don't feel engaged by leadership. I am tired of being a "young adult" that people want to "reach out" to. I am a person, seeking to know and glorify God, in community with other believers. I have chosen the community I want to be a part of, and committed wholeheartedly to it, but I don't feel like it is committed to me. We are not bodies to fill the pews. We are people, and we want to be known, cared for, invested in just like all the "adults" who show up on Sunday. It would be really easy for me to say that UPC is changing too much, so I'll go find another church. It would be really easy for me to say that leadership at UPC isn't doing a very good job. It would be really easy for me to say that UPC needs to focus solely on young adults. But this would be ridiculous, and this is most certainly not how I feel. Thankfully, I believe in a God who is bigger than Convergence or the 7pm service. I believe in a God who is blessing Jon Epps through his new opportunities, and will bless UPC likewise. I believe I am just as broken as the people who sit with me in church on Sunday, and I believe we can all move forward together. I am not the most important person in that sanctuary. Young adults are not the most important people in that sanctuary. Jesus is the most important person in that sanctuary, and my goal is to follow after him. We each have an individual responsibility to push into this change and make it work for our community. How am I helping? Even though my worship service has changed, I am trying to be active in figuring out what it will look like in the future. I am trying to find new ways to be involved, including exploring how my gifts and passions might be used in other ministries. I am trying to build relationships with other people on staff and in leadership now that many of my connections have moved on. Change is hard. That's okay. But with every change we have a choice. We can go kicking and screaming, or we can be part of the solution. It is all a matter of perspective. Here's to handling change well. With love, Carly