Diversity Management...

In recent months I have been blessed with a great deal of revelation and spiritual renewal, hence the previous post of crossing the bridge. Part of that renewal has been through defining things that have been with me and agitating me all along without a full understanding. One of these "defining" moments came through a mix of understanding the need for particular shifts in church culture, a slight discontent with youth ministry experiences, and the quote a quote from Ed White that recently lit up over my head.
Ed White was one of the facilitators at the missional/emerging church conference I attended in Princeton back in April. He is retired Presbyterian minister who still does consultation with Presbyteries and churches through Alban Institute. He was in a dialogue with Brian McClaren when he asked if Brina agreed with this statement: "Would you say that churches and the whole Christian faith are overmanaged and underled?" Of course, everyone in the room agreed. I agree, but was only seeing half the picture. I was seeing how the congregation I serve overmanages with none of its leadership positions neither currently functioning nor envisioned to function as leaders. The chruch overmanages and underleads. And here is how it has transformed my life and ministry.
I was also recently engaged in some sort of middle judicatory argument over the involvement of several generations in the discernment of some serious regional decisions. The "young adults" in the region got up in arms about the lack of "young adult" representation in this discrernment. On one hand, it is a theologically valid point in many ways. However, on the other the proposal of the said discouragment was sinful and simply a carry over of past overmanagement of different groups of people. Beside the fact that there is no clear way to define "young adult" except by age, and that age range is different with every person you ask, there is a problem with leading us all together into one vision of what God desires of all people. My friend April icnurred me to think the following: (mostly her thoughts adopted ofr my own spiritual renewal - thanks Pastor April!) At what point am I no longer a "young adult" and fenced in by all the misgivings and generizations aht come with that title. I am 33, a father of one and one on the way, married for 71/2 years, have nearly twelve years of experience in pastoral leadership, have been through college, seminary, and continuing ed seminars at some of the finest insititutions in the world, have lost a mother to terminal illness at 19, baptized a 4-month still born fetus, layed to rest an 8-month pre-mature baby, led younger and older couples than I into marriages that will certainly last longer than a lifetime, sandbagged a river with Desmond Tutu, paid off three automobiles, and have purchased a house, just to name a few things. At what point can I no longer limit myself to being a "young adult" and be considered a child of God with knowledge, wisdom, experience, wit, energy, and desire that is worthy enough to make my gifts considerable beyond my demographic? I have been offended by many older folks in my pastoral positions, but I have really been recently offended by my own "clan."
Thus the problem with the whole church. We do a great job of managing programs, age-defined groups of people, as well as gender and culturally-definded groups. But we are doing a poor job as doing the one thing we are supposed to do the most - lead all of God's people, diverse in more ways than just culture, race, and gender, into one holy and "catholic" union of believers bound together for the purpose of making disciples and presenting the good news of Jesus Christ. I know, I just started to meddle and even made a broad sweep at a theologicla statement. OOPS. I'll just go back to pastoring now. I am sure there is someone who needs me to take care of them in some way. Time to go change another diaper.