By Elizabeth Pfalzgraf, Assistant Director of Children and Student Ministries
While our students (6th-12th graders) may not seem very vocal in large group settings, if you get them in their element, you can’t get a word in edge wise! This is something I absolutely love about them; their personality, their independence, their voice. But until this past week, I’ve gotten minimal feedback on their input for the survey regarding the search for a new Senior Minister. During a Sunday School discussion last week, mid-faith lesson, one student raised a hand and asked me “what is the update on the search for a new Senior Minister? What is to come next for our church?” Luckily, I had paid attention to the newsletter and other announcements to report to them what the Discernment Committee has stated to be the process.
I jumped at the opportunity to hopefully get group discussion going. Many of the students discussed that they are worried that Dr. Miles has been their Senior Minister their entire life and that they will not have the same connection. They discussed that their hopes for the new Senior Minister would be “someone that just comes and hangs out with us (the students),” “someone that knows my name,” “someone who can make us laugh and tell us stories,” and “someone who knows God and just cares.” This discussion made it clear that these students are smart, caring, insightful and that they hope to find this connection after what shows to be a big change in their church life. My personal reflection on this conversation is that not only will the Senior Minister be lucky to have these students wanting to have that connection, but that I am already that lucky to have this connection with them.
Church/faith development to me really has looked different since joining this remarkable church. For me, it focuses on the relationships that are built with our amazing church members, those inside jokes you have with certain 7th graders, that amazing food train after you have a baby (because face it, you would otherwise just starve), listing your church members as emergency contacts for your child’s daycare because your family is too far away, that shy/intellectual and beautiful student you love standing in front of an entire congregation reciting such powerful words they have written, and just having a place where you can express your own struggles and real life challenges that is matched with “that’s completely normal.”
While I hope that the students feel a little comfort knowing their hopes/ideas for the search committee have been reported, biasedly I hope they see how much more lucky our Senior Minister will be to have them, than they are to have the Senior Minister!
