Less than 20 years ago, Amy Rollins Probst was among the 12,000 United Methodist youth to descend on Gatlinburg every January for a spiritual renewal weekend retreat called Resurrection.

Today, she is pastor of Dunlap United Methodist Church and is one of a handful of young elders in the Chattanooga District of the denomination’s Holston Conference.

A 2006 study by a Wesley Theological Seminary professor indicated the conference, which includes the Chattanooga area, has the highest percentage of elders (ordained ministers) under 35 of any other conference in the United States.

In a denomination where the percentage of elders under 35 dropped from 15.05 in 1985 to 4.69 in 2005, the news is gratifying for Holston Conference officials.

“It didn’t surprise me,” said Dr. Albert J. Bowles, district superintendent of the Chattanooga District. “In my work, I get to work with a lot of them. It’s a good trend to have. There are really some quality young adults coming into ordained ministry.”

In the Holston Conference, 10.45 percent of the elders in the study by Dr. Lovett H. Weems Jr., distinguished professor of church leadership and director of the Lewis Center for Church Leadership at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C., were under 35. The next highest group of young elders was 7.84 percent in the Arkansas Conference.

In the North Georgia Conference, which includes many of the United Methodist churches in the northwest part of the state, 7.01 percent of elders were under 35, ranking seventh among all conferences.

Mrs. Probst, now 35, the Rev. Brian Davis, 31, associate pastor of First-Centenary United Methodist Church, and the Rev. Keith Moore, 35, director of the Wesley Center at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, all pointed toward the interest the conference has shown in youth and young adults through events such as Resurrection as one reason for the large number of young elders.

“When (the spiritual renewal weekend) began, there was nothing like it,” Mrs. Probst said. “People would come and study the success of Resurrection.”

The weekend, now in its 23nd year, offers participants the opportunity both to make a deeper faith commitment and to explore pastoral ministry.

The church also offers an opportunity to be involved in leadership for conference-wide youth activities, Mrs. Probst said.

“It’s a given way of serving that is very, very tangible,” she said. “You’re not just a part of the church, you’re a part of the now. That’s an important affirmation.”

Mr. Davis said he made his first profession of faith as an eighth-grader at a Resurrection event in 1989. He said other youth programs offered him “formative experiences” and that he made an tentative commitment to pastoral ministry at the final Resurrection he attended.

He said “some really strong youth programs” in Holston churches and the proximity of four seminaries in states surrounding the conference also may be factors in the larger percentage of young elders.

Mr. Moore said he became a part of his United Methodist church’s youth group when he was in high school after his family moved from New Jersey.

“I got involved, going to Resurrection and taking a part in youth activities,” he said. “They helped crystallize a call (by God) on my life.”

The conference has been willing to invest time and effort in its youth and, more recently, in its young adults through campus ministries, Mr. Moore said.

When he enrolled at East Tennessee State University, he said, his goal was to be involved in campus ministry. That ministry, he said, “helped me practice (to) see if I wanted to do that, to go and try things out. That resonated with me.”

Dr. Bowles said various factors probably contributed to the high number of younger pastors in the Holston Conference. Events such as Resurrection are one significant reason, he said.

In addition, he said, “pastors have done a better job with people in exposing them to the call.”

The Rev. Anthony Grills, pastor of Holly Avenue United Methodist Church in South Pittsburg, said most mainline denominations have declined in membership since the 1960s.

“We’re in a sad state, in all honesty,” he said. “Ethically and in our way of life, so many folks are going by the wayside.”

However, Mr. Grills, 30, said the Holston Conference, with its young pastors, has the potential to help reverse the declining trend in the United Methodist Church and grow.

“We’re at a crossroads,” he said. “We have that core of people — the kids and the teenagers — to train, to bring up in the Lord.”

Mr. Davis said the denomination needs to invest time and resources in its Wesley Centers throughout the country.

“That plays a huge role,” he said.

Young people today often fall in two distinct camps, Mrs. Probst said. Either they’re not involved in a church at all, or they have a very deep commitment.

“It’s harder to be a young adult,” she said. “In a lot of mainline denominations, there is that great chasm. So if you find (people) atypical enough to still be involved, there’s a deep level of involvement.”

<!-- INCLUDE FOR SOCIAL SITE BOX --><!-- Content -->