Viewpoint: A leader’s a leader, no matter how young
09-04-2009Zoe Miles
Special contributor
In Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who, Horton the elephant discovers a town of Whos residing on a dust speck. Because he’s the only animal in the jungle of Nool who can hear the Whos, the rest of the animals believe he’s crazy. They cage Horton and aim to “boil [the dust speck] in a hot steaming kettle of Beezle-Nut Oil!”
The Whos realize their predicament and, after every Who down in Whoville shouts “We are here!” with the utmost Whoness, the other citizens of Nool realize that Horton was right and Whos live on the speck, on the clover.
Here, the animals face two choices. Although they hear the Whos, they can pursue their mission and make Whoville a tasty addition to their Beezle-Nut stew. Or they can hear the Whos, utilize the newly acquired information concerning the Whos’ existence, and find boiling them is obsolete.
Oddly enough, the United Methodist church faces the same two choices as the emerging generation stands up and says “We are here.” We can nod toward the young persons’ noble attempts at entering the ministry but proceed down the preordained path, sending young adult ministry and, consequentially, the denomination tumbling into a big boiling pot of Beezle-Nut Oil. Or we can hear out the cries of the young church, utilize their gifts and let the church shine as a city on a hill.
Dooming the entire denom-ination appears drastic, but it’s inevitable if we disregard the voice of the younger generation.
Twenty-four-year-old Sally Jones desires to be a part of Christ’s body. She calls her local United Methodist church’s Sunday School superintendent, offering help and suggestions concerning the new young adult Sunday school class. He kindly informs her that her assistance is unnecessary; although, she was welcome to join them. Sally attends the church but is one of three people to ever visit the class. When she moves away, the church’s membership steadily declines and its parishioners wonder why young people today don’t believe in anything.
This hypothetical situation reveals a severe reality that, without a young adult community, the United Methodist Church faucet is turned off, leaving what’s left in the sink to drain out.
To redirect ourselves from this Beezle-Nut Oil path, we must realize two things.
Firstly, as situations change, pruning a particular ministry, worship service, etc., may be in order “so that it will be even more fruitful” (John 15:2) rather than dead weight.
Secondly, Horton is a compassionate elephant, worthy of his companions’ trust. Likewise, my generation is not ignorant of the church’s tradition or the doctrine’s delicacies. We cherish it, desiring to see Methodism thrive.
We don’t leave the denomination because we want to. We leave because, oftentimes, when we cry out “We are here! We are here!” nothing happens as a result of our presence and we’re thrown into the pot as seasonings.
Like the animals in the jungle of Nool, listen. There are voices in your community. Rescue them from the Beezle-Nut stew because their rescue is your own.
Mary Faith “Zoe” Miles is a junior at Oklahoma City University in Oklahoma, a United Methodist institution. She can be reached at mmiles.stu1@okcu.edu.
