Equipping the Called: Young Clergy in the Florida UMC

Hearing the Call

In 1 Samuel 3, we read the call story of the prophet Samuel as a young child. Samuel is sleeping in the temple, and he hears God calling him three times by name. But Samuel does not realize God is calling him, so three times he runs to the room of the priest Eli.

The more experienced Eli realizes that God is calling Samuel, and he tells Samuel that next time he hears the call, he should respond, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.”

Samuel hears God calling again, and he responds as Eli told him, “Speak, for your servant is listening.” Though God was calling Samuel, Samuel needed guidance to hear the call and respond. At his young age, Samuel did not realize that God was calling him, but the older priest Eli saw what was happening and helped Samuel to respond to God’s call.

Scripture shows us that God calls people at all ages, even the very young, to serve in ministry. But if a person is not in a relationship with God and does not have mentors to help them respond to their call, they will not hear the call and respond. Churches, ministries, and denominations that encourage people to have a personal relationship with Christ and help them to respond to a call to ministry create a “culture of call,” where people can come to Christ and hear and respond to God calling them into ministry as a vocation.

Through interviews with and surveys of young clergy serving in the Florida Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church (UMC), three factors came up in every call story I heard: an experience of God’s grace and salvation in childhood or teen years, an experience of serving in ministry in a campus ministry or local church during the college years, and one or more clergy mentors helping the young person to navigate the ordination process. I heard this pattern over and over again, and I realized it was not a coincidence. These three factors form the base of the “secret sauce” needed to cultivate a culture of call in any church or denomination.

Cultivating a Culture of Call

As many churches in the United States are in decline, both in terms of membership and in the number of pastors available to serve them, actions to cultivate a culture of call have become more important than ever before. According to Barna Group research, “as of 2022, only 16 percent of Protestant senior pastors are 40 years old or younger, and the average age among pastors is 52.” God is calling young people into ministry, but pastors, churches, and ministries must take on the role of Eli, listening to young people and helping them to discern when God is calling them into pastoral ministry.

In 2006 the Lewis Center for Church Leadership released “A Lewis Center Report on Clergy Age Trends in The United Methodist Church, 1985-2005,” which reported that young ordained elders (those under age 35) in the UMC had declined from 15.05% in 1985 to 4.69% in 2005. As a result of this report, over the period from 2006-2018, the Florida Annual Conference took steps to intentionally cultivate a culture of call. The Conference invested in ministries with young people, created spaces where young people could serve in ministry, and improved their ordination process to be hospitable and welcoming to new clergy.

As of the latest Lewis Center report released in 2025, 7.1% of ordained elders serving in the Florida Annual Conference are under age 35, up from just 5.25% in 2006. Though that growth seems small, it took place during a time of membership decline, shrinking numbers of clergy, and denominational upheaval, and it does not include young clergy serving in ministry who have not yet completed the ordination process.

One Story

As I collected stories and conducted interviews about cultivating a culture of call in the Florida UMC, I realized that my own call story is illustrative of the shift in the Florida UMC during 2006-2018.

Investment in ministries with children, youth, and young adults are key to the Florida Annual Conference’s culture of call. One place where the Florida UMC invested was in the Warren Willis United Methodist Camp, established in 1948. Like many United Methodist young people in Florida, the camp is where I made my first commitment to Christ. It is also a place where young adults can serve in ministry as camp counselors, getting a hands-on ministry experience. Campus ministries are also an essential part of the Florida Annual Conference’s culture of call. Though it seems like a “blip” in the life of young clergy, involvement in a church or campus ministry during the college years was part of almost every single story I heard, including my own. Between 2009-2012, the Florida Annual Conference established internship programs for young adults to work as day camp counselors and pastoral interns in ministries and local churches so young people can get ministry experience as they are discerning how to live into their call.

In 2011, the Florida Annual Conference also covered costs for a group of thirty-five young adults to attend Exploration, a conference organized by the United Methodist Board of Higher Education and Ministry for young adults discerning a call to ministry. Almost half of those who attended that event are now serving in ordained or lay ministry, including myself.

Ordination: The Final Frontier

In 2016-17, the Florida Annual Conference overhauled their process to approve new clergy, the biggest logistical change during this time. Some of this reform started earlier; in 2011 the Florida UMC established twice annual candidacy retreats, so anyone discerning a call could get the same information to enroll in the process to become a Certified Candidate for Ministry. Candidates then engage in group mentoring with a pastor based in their district. Upon completion of the group mentoring and filling out various required forms, candidates are interviewed by their District Board of Ordained Ministry, which approves them as a Certified Candidate for Ministry. This new practice was a sign of the Florida Annual Conference opening itself to make the ordination process easier.

The ordination process in the Florida Annual Conference was previously considered an adversarial experience meant to keep people out. The changes in 2016-17 indicate a mindset shift to create a hospitable and positive experience to help candidates on their discernment journey. In previous years, applicants went through a small group interview followed by a large group interview with the entire seventy-member Board of Ordained Ministry at least twice in their ordination process. However, in 2017 it was determined by leaders of the Board of Ordained Ministry that this kind of large group interview was needlessly intimidating and not essential for the Board of Ordained Ministry to evaluate candidates for ministry. Instead, the small group was tasked with reading an applicant’s entire application and presenting a recommendation to the full Board of Ordained Ministry based on the application and interview. This change applied to anyone in the two-step ordination process, applying to be a Provisional Member or a Full Connection Member. The Board of Ordained Ministry also adopted a new set of values reflective of its desire to walk with candidates and to create a spirit of hospitality as new candidates started their ordination journeys.

This mindset shift of the Board of Ordained Ministry was reflective of the mindset of the leadership of the Florida Annual Conference. Instead of making new, younger clergy “pay their dues” in a rural, small church settings, Bishop Ken Carter, Resident Bishop of the Florida Annual Conference from 2012-2022, and the Cabinet prioritized the first church assignment (called an appointment) to be a place which matched the new pastor’s gifts, where they could thrive, and where they would want to go.

Key takeaways

Though the details of each call story are unique, young clergy serving in the Florida Annual Conference share some common factors when describing their calls to ministry: an experience of God’s grace in childhood or teen years, an experience of serving in ministry in the college years, and mentorship by clergy throughout the process. This has especially benefitted those in the millennial generation who went through their discernment and ordination process when the Florida Annual Conference was cultivating a culture of call – creating spaces and places where young people could experience God’s grace in their lives and hear God calling them into ministry. Through financial investments, ministry initiatives, and shifting mindsets to be more welcoming, the Florida Annual Conference successfully increased the number of young clergy serving in the Conference and leading the Conference into the future of what it means to be the church today.