Jesus Would've Carried an iPod

It happened again.

Today, as I was walking through town, a police officer pulled up beside me. "Hey, what are you doing?" he asked.

"Just walking," I said.

"Are you soliciting?"

"Um, no. I'm Erik Hoeke, the pastor of the Methodist Church. I'm just walking back to the office." I offered my hand for a greeting.

"Oh, my bad. I am so sorry. We just got reports of a guy soliciting on 5th St., so I thought maybe you were one of them. I apologize. Have a good day."

And then, as he began to pull away from me, he said these final parting words, "You know, you're too young to be a pastor."

Darn. I had a good streak going. It had been at least 2, maybe 3 weeks since I'd heard that. But once again, as happens regularly, I was reminded that there is an unwritten rule out there that pastors are supposed to be middle-aged or older. Most of the time, these comments come from people outside our congregation.

Now, don't get me wrong -- I have no problem with anyone significantly older than me being a pastor. The church needs leaders from all age groups if it wants to call itself the body of Christ. But why is it that our society has such a difficult time accepting a pastor who also happens to be a young adult?

I know another pastor who began his ministry as a young adult: Jesus. I wonder if that was part of the issue his hometown had when he went back to teach. "Look at him, he's just a boy. What does he know about life?" Perhaps the Pharisees didn't appreciate his age either. "Look at this young guy, with all these fresh ideas...he hasn't been around long enough to learn how things really work around here."

Timothy was probably a young adult, maybe even younger. So was Jeremiah. So why again am I too young? Last month, at our Annual Conference, Bishop Will Willimon made a point in one of his sermons that made a lot of sense. He said the average age of United Methodists is 59, and it's no wonder we have a hard time attracting younger pastors and young adult members. We've made church something you do when you're older. It's safe, practical, comfortable, careful, predictable, reliable, and logical -- everything young adults usually despise. No wonder people think I'm too young to be a pastor. Church is something you do when you're older, so obviously a young adult doesn't belong -- especially not in a leadership role. And by believing this, we either implicitly or explicitly turn away young adults from our doors. Jesus was a young adult. Would he feel welcome in our churches?

My congregation is still coming to grips with the unusual circumstance of having a young adult pastor. But they have been very supportive and filled with grace thus far. They have embraced me, age and all, and desperately seek to embrace young adults into their congregation. But we're not quite there yet as the Christian church universal. In fact, the church is not much different from young adults or adults of any age...we all still have some growing up to do.