Stakeholders

We can encounter ministry in the strangest moments. This week I went to the dentist and had a particularly chatty dental hygienist who wanted to talk more than clean my teeth. When she learned I was studying theology and planning to go into ministry, she seemed particularly intrigued and wanted to know more about exactly what I was studying (and whether I could "just use that degree to be a minister in any denomination I wanted, once I got done" which was a pretty hilarious ecumenical question, though a good teachable moment about Catholicism).

I gave her the Cliffs' Notes version of my interest in young adult ministry, and at that point she put down her hygienist tools (I realized I wasn't getting out of there anytime soon) and exclaimed, "EXACTLY! That's the same problem we have here! That's the same age we lose them here in the dentist's office, too! They finish high school or college, and then they just drop out and we don't see them again for years, because they don't have health insurance and no one's reminding them to take care of their teeth anymore. Young adults don't go to the dentist and they don't go to the doctor - they don't take care of themselves and it's just not good!"

Never had I considered this project would lead me to the dentist's chair, but the hygienist had an excellent point. We ended up having a very interesting conversation about young adults, and as I left the office, she told me that once I "figure out how to get them back to church, tell them to come get their teeth cleaned too!" Ok, point noted: Gen Xers and Millennials need to attend to their religious hungers AND floss regularly. But our conversation reminded me just how many stakeholders are involved in conversations about young adult ministry - not just those attuned to the spiritual needs of young people, but those who care about their physical and mental wellbeing as well. 

In her book Tribal Church, Carol Howard Merritt makes a strong case that churches need to recognize the many stressors on the lives of today's 20- and 30-somethings - rising debts, college loans, lack of job security, lack of health insurance - in order to draw them into community and support them with pastoral care. I had never thought to ask a health professional their opinion on today's younger generations, and yet I learned an entirely new perspective - another piece of the puzzle. It makes me wonder who else I need to talk to about these questions, outside the normal confines of the "ministry world"...