The youth and young adults attending the UrGen Leadership Development Project
play an icebreaker game to help in cooperation and communication.
Welcome to the UrGen Leadership Development Project | By Jesse N. Love
I’m in San Diego again.
The last time I was here was to serve as a communicator for the Pacific Northwest Conference – observing the Western Jurisdictional Conference. Coming back I am reminded of my important time observing, learning, hearing stories and sharing stories about our church in the west. Now, I am here again – helping to share the story of UrGen and its Leadership Development Project.
The UrGen Leadership Project is unique – it’s an event to develop Asian-American leadership in three areas: strengthening ministry, empowerment through technology, and striving to be spiritually fed. Troung Le serves as one of UrGen’s organizers. Le expresses that another UrGen event in 2014 will gather Asian-Americans in ministry with one another – potentially on the level of the Youth 2011 or Exploration events. These latter events have served as grounds to help nurture a spiritual calling for the next generation of church leaders within the denomination. Le has shared his genuine concern to have an event experience that touches the Asian-American Christian community in a way that other established events may not be able to. With events like Youth 2011 or Exploration, the focus on reaching out to a broad range of young adults through Christ is certainly there. But the need to connect those to the Spirit – or through UrGen’s tagline “Bridging the Generations for Christ” – may be met if Christ was modeled by peers and leadership with the same struggles that come with being from a similar ethnicity.
The UrGen Leadership Development Project is bringing a diverse group from across the nation in the “Asian-American” demographic. When I first arrived, I met with my fellow PNW member The Rev. Shalom Agtarap, pastor of Ellensburg First UMC in Washington, and a Filipina-American. Troung Le is a member of Wesley UMC in San Diego, an associate web developer for the General Board of Discipleship, and a Vietnamese-American. The Rev. Betty Nguyen is the Pastor of Bethany UMC in Denver, and is a Vietnamese-American. I serve as the print & publications manager for the Pacific Northwest Conference, a communicator, and a Filipino-American. Other attendees expected to arrive are of Hmong, Chinese, and Korean heritage to name a few.
During our initial meeting at In-N-Out Burger, we each talked about our experiences within the Methodist faith. Le shared his experience in developing UrGen as he is part of the Young People’s Ministries and GBOD; Agtarap and myself shared our experiences serving in Christmas Institutes (an annual retreat with roots in the Philippines) in the Pacific Northwest and in Northern California, respectively. Nguyen shared her experiences in Michigan and her concerns as a minister in the Denver Area. It was interesting to hear each person’s perspective on the status of Asian-American ministry in America. Issues such as generational disconnect, building ministry around the needs of our Asian community, cross-cultural collaboration among Asian-American ministries, and even conflicts among AAs that affect ministry. But the underlying purpose of gathering this group is still familiar: answering a call and equipping leadership for the transformation of the world through Christ Jesus.
As UrGen continues through the weekend, this group has specifically prayed to God for guidance as we participate in workshops, enter into worship, and collaborate together as Asian-American Christians.
UrGen on:
WEB | FACEBOOK | TWITTER: #urgen2012
The UrGen Leadership Project is being held at Wesley UMC in San Diego, Calif.
It is supported by The General Board of Discipleship and The General Board of Global Ministries.
Follow posts about UrGen on Twitter: #urgen2012.
Jesse N. Love serves as the Print & Publications Manager for the PNWUMC.
