Pete Menconi - Don't Worry About Being Right; Be Righteous

The NCS chapter in Winston-Salem had a great visit from Pete Menconi, head of missions and outreach programs at Greenwood Community Church in Glenwood Springs, Colorado. Pete was in town for a family wedding, but took the time to share some of his thoughts about generational differences that exist in modern churches.

Pete is the author of the book, The Intergenerational Church: Understanding Congregations from WWII to www.com. Pete also made reference to David Kinnaman's book, unChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks about Christianity... and Why It Matters. As these titles clearly suggest, congregations across the country and across denominational lines have issues with generational disconnection - in the other words, the old folks and the young folks aren't able to relate, and the generations in the middle aren't helping much either. It's a scary trend.

This is a challenge at my church, Centenary United Methodist in Winston-Salem, NC. And although I believe our congregation would rather widely share the view that there are gaps in our ability to 'blend' the generations in any form of worship, I'm not certain anything is being done to stir things up and make it happen. As a mid-generation member, I am fairly directly entrenched in a ministry that suffers from the disconnect.

As lay minister for a youth-driven outreach called Love Thy Neighbor, I help our high school youth to plan and participate in monthly events that feed the homeless in the greater downtown Winston-Salem community. And while this is an amazing opportunity for teenagers to see a side of life that most are not directly subjected to in their daily routines, I am encouraged by their willingness to not only serve, but also to establish relationships with the downtrodden and often lonely neighbor participants who attend the LTN events.

But too often we find that our greater congregation complains about the presence of the neighbors, or 'those stinky people' as they have been labelled, in the hallways of our church. Heaven forbid one of our 'neighbors' should come to know Christ at our church! It is a tough dynamic with which we deal, be a very real one. And a sad reality at that.

And so I was profoundly struck by one of Pete Menconi's quotes during his NCS visit - and titled this blog post accordingly - "Don't worry about being right; be righteous!" Pete also reminded us that God is already at work - we just need to show up! I'm saddened to think that we often miss the opportunities to serve God just because someone is different than us and make us uncomfortable. What in the world are we teaching our youth when we focus on a man's odor, rather than his soul?...