Next Gen at GC, Part 1: Experiencing Session as a Young Adult

Nicole Brown-Dominguez
Jul 9
3 min read

Updated: Jul 17

Visiting the Exhibit Hall [Gerhard Weiner] / AME (CC BY 4.0)

This article is a part of a series exploring the General Conference Session in St. Louis, July 3-12, in order to inspire and inform members of the Illinois Conference about how the global church works.

GUEST AUTHOR:

Nicole Brown-Dominguez

Member, Hinsdale SDA Church

Read Part Two

Many young adults believe the lie that we’re the only one. We are the only ones to struggle with our faith. We’re the only ones to feel frustrated with legalistic mindsets by our local church members. We’re the only people to want change and action in our church. Then come events like the 62nd General Conference Session. Suddenly, we aren’t alone. The evidence of a global church is on full display, reminding us that we are a part of something greater than our own squabbles and misunderstandings. Walking the hallways of America’s Convention Center in St. Louis, Missouri, Illinois, seems like a small yet loving thread in a global tapestry. Small collections of people are huddled in the hallways, speaking different languages and reuniting with friends they only see every five years.

For the average college student or post-grad in North America or Illinois, our environment is our world, with the Midwest as our central platform. We can become bogged down with jobs, creating a work-life balance, finding a relationship, searching for a church family, and developing our faith. Though it might not always be isolating, it can be insulating. Touring the Exhibit Hall, hundreds of vendors share their ministries, many of them run by young adults. Some ministries are designed with young people in mind, addressing common questions and doubts that might arise. Touring the hall, attendees can reconnect with friends from college, meet fellow believers from around the world, or discover that new friends are right in their backyard.

Moraya Truman at Impact! Youth Ministries meeting [Nathaniel Sebastian Reid] / AME (CC BY 4.0)

When roaming the hallways, prayer room, bookstore, cafeteria, and exhibit hall, there is a camaraderie that isn’t always afforded in our daily lives. There is no need for translation. We can connect with a peer we’ve never met and connect over Sabbath potluck culture, being an Adventurer, rediscovering Ellen G. White in adulthood, and the glories of a Sabbath nap. It’s revitalizing to meet other young people who care about our church and are actively moving to maintain and improve it. Caught between humility and comfort, young adults can recognize that no one’s spiritual journey or church experience is the same, but there are universal realities. We all want to rest in a community of believers in the same season of life that can encourage us as we brave the transition from childhood to adulthood, learn how to take the tenets of our faith and explore how they exist for us on a personal level, and most of all share how God has put us in the equally vulnerable seasons of “not yet” or “It’s time to move”.

Within Illinois, we can forget the luxuries afforded to us. For those raised within the church, we can take for granted the accessibility of our church, the reality that there are thriving churches where young people can experience a softer transition into the hard parts of adulthood, and not face legitimate persecution for proclaiming their faith. One young adult, a recent graduate, is coming from a church of 15 members where they and their sibling are the only young people. Another has to walk to their church at night to avoid mercenaries. They and many others are living the 1 Timothy 4:12 truth: “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.”

Inspired, humbled, and excited, young adults can connect to a relational truth: “You understand, we’re in this together.”

NEXT STEPS

🗞️ Other articles in our 62nd GC Session coverage:
📹 Watch GC Time Machine Videos
📰 Lake Union Herald's coverage of the 62nd General Conference Session: [Facebook] [Instagram] [YouTube]

Please send any news items of what God is doing around the Illinois Conference to communication@ilcsda.org.