The last few years have been a challenging time for the United Methodist Church (UMC). Since 2019, some individual churches have started the process to disaffiliate, many doing so over disagreements about the church’s welcoming stance on members of the LGBT+ community.

Dealing with the struggles of disaffiliation is hard for many, including our youth. At Monroeville United Methodist Church (MUM), I help our youth come together to worship and grow in their faith. I hear many of them bring up disaffiliation concerns.

As I read the recent Tribune-­Review article exploring the issue of Methodist disaffiliation in Western Pennsylvania, I realized it was focused on the perspective of adults in the church, and the voice of our children, the next generation of church leaders, was missing. They have real and valid concerns over disaffiliation.

We don’t shy away from the topic of disaffiliation in my youth group, even if the conversations can be difficult. They are concerned with the churches still deciding whether they will disaffiliate. Many have friends at these churches and have concerns over not seeing friends they have made over the years at youth events like retreats and camps. These programs are part of a strong infrastructure of youth programming the UMC offers.

Due to distance and busy schedules, these events may be the only time young people can get together. Churches’ decision to disaffiliate means many kids will no longer be at these events, and these friendships may end. Having churches continue to disaffiliate means that many of these social bonds between the children will be broken.

In addition, members of my youth group are worried about the future, especially after they move on to college. A chief concern is that they know MUM is a welcoming church that values them and their concerns. Many of them have found a safe space in our church and want to find a similar area to worship and form connections wherever they end up. They are scared they could end up in an area with a church that is not welcoming or has disaffiliated, leaving them without a place to worship.

Many of the kids in my youth group also raise concerns over the treatment of members of the LGBT+ community. Older members of my youth group fear the damage being done to members of the LGBT+ community when they grow up hearing that they are made in God’s image and then excluded for who they are.

Our youth group has been taught that they should love their neighbor, and we feel that some learn that it is OK to exclude others. Some of the older members of my youth group bring up mental health concerns and fears they have heard from their LGBT+ friends. It’s difficult to hear, but I tell them to remember where our church stands on this issue and live these welcoming values daily.

I make sure that all members of our youth group know they are welcome to come as they are. They are who God created them to be, and we strive to let them flourish. They are always welcome to contact me, our pastor and other members of our youth group, even after they graduate and leave for college. Just because they are moving on in life does not mean they are not part of our family.

We want children struggling with fears of disaffiliation to know they have a safe, welcoming space to talk about their concerns and receive support.

While adults are making decisions regarding disaffiliation, they must listen to what our youth have to say. Our children are concerned that disaffiliation is only a short-term solution that will cause unforeseen problems for the next generation of church leaders. The strongest Methodist church is one that can effectively preach in every part of the mission field, including where our young adults interact with their peers.

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