By Owen Copps
November 6, 2024
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I was lonely.
I was 22 years old, several thousand miles from all my friends and family and trying desperately to figure out how to be a children’s and youth minister.
And I was lonely.
In the Episcopal church, we are not exactly known for our influx of young adults into the pews on Sunday mornings. However, as I looked around St. Michael’s each week while I was getting my bearings, I noticed that there were some young adults here and there. So off we went, following the typical format of the unstructured young adult affinity group—bowling one month, a potluck the next, a brewery outing, then a hike, and so on and so forth.
But these monthly fellowship opportunities, while fun and nice, were not feeding me in the way I was searching for. In our 20s and 30s group, we experienced swings of attendance—12 people for bowling but then two for a potluck. We experienced scheduling challenges, people leaving the state, and a variety of other obstacles that come with young adult ministry. And so, I found myself wanting more. I wanted a community in which I could be with my peers, where I could engage in interesting conversations, where I could feel heard and seen, where I could learn from others, and where I could experience the divine in meaningful community.
So, when Jen Williamson (a youth minister at another Episcopal church in Colorado Springs) looked me in the eyes one day over coffee, and asked me, “Are you lonely?” I did in fact answer with yes.
Jen introduced me to one of the leaders of Gather: Pikes Peak, Sam Johnson, who would become a dear friend. Gather: Pikes Peak is the Colorado Springs chapter of the Gather Network, which is a formula, structure, and program for creating young adult community that comes from the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA). At the first Gather meeting I attended, we shared highs and lows, engaged in a discussion about creation care, and then sung songs together that I remembered from camp. “I like these people,” I thought, “and I think they’re on to something.”
As time went on, I was an Episcopal youth minister actively trying to support a 20s and 30s group at my own church, and yet I was participating in and becoming a part of a Lutheran young adult ministry in the very same area. That seems strange, right?
I think here is where it is really important to get honest about where the vast majority of our churches (specifically mainline Protestant ones) are in regard to young adults. The truth is that most Lutheran, Episcopal, Methodist, and Presbyterian churches do not have thriving young adult communities within their walls. Now, I am not going to try and diagnose the causes of this phenomenon or speculate as to why this might be, but rather I’d like to propose an idea that has been working for us in our context over the past three years, and that is: work together.
As time has gone on, the St. Michael’s 20s and 30s group has merged into Gather: Pikes Peak. Gather has continued to grow in Colorado Springs. We have partnered with more Lutheran churches, Methodist churches, a United Church in Christ church, and another Episcopal church. Because of our partnerships, we have been able to expand what we are able to offer to our community. This past year, we hosted a robust Theology on Tap series where each month at Goat Patch Brewery a different faith leader from the community came in and hosted an engaging conversation about a theological topic that they were passionate about. We had UCC pastors and theologians, Lutheran pastors, Episcopal priests, and we concluded our series in May with the Right Reverend Kym Lucas, Bishop of the Episcopal Church in Colorado as our host.
Through the partnership of Gather: Pikes Peak, I have been connected to and gotten to know my children and youth ministry counterparts at Trinity Lutheran, First Lutheran, First Congregational, and First United Methodist, among other churches in the area. Out of these relationships we developed, BeYou!, which is an expressly LGBTQ+ open and affirming youth gathering that meets once a month and is a partnership of nine churches in Colorado Springs. St. Michael’s was also pleased to host a Pride booth for the first time in our history alongside Lutheran and Methodist churches where we helped attendees make friendship bracelets, invited guests to design and make their own buttons, and positively contributed to an important event in our community.
If we are to be the body of Christ in the world, I think it is hard to have an Episcopal hand over here doing its own thing, a Lutheran nose doing its own thing, a Methodist kneecap doing its own thing, and a UCC foot doing its own thing. I think it brings God great joy to see us step out from behind our denominational differences and work together to share the divine, unending, and unconditional love of Christ with the world and with each other.
I’ll close with my friend Evan. Evan worships at Grace Lutheran Church, a small church on the east side of downtown. One day after service, his pastor approached him and told him about Gather, encouraging him to check it out. Since then, Evan has been an active member in our group and is a close personal friend. He is even set to take on a leadership role in our community this fall. In the traditional way of siloed ministries, I would never have met Evan. I would have been over at St. Mike’s while Evan was across town at Grace. But, because of Gather: Pikes Peak, because of ecumenical partnerships, we get to be a part of a community together.
I’m grateful for the humility and partnership of Grace Lutheran Church and for each of the churches involved in Gather. Pride would tell us that each of our churches must have our own extravagant young adults’ groups. Humility, on the other hand, is the willingness to be a part of something greater, even when it does not have our church’s name on it.
I will preach ecumenical partnerships to anyone who will listen. They have provided me with meaningful community and meaningful experiences. They have given the young adults of St. Michael’s opportunities to engage with their peers and with their faiths in substantial ways. They have connected me to new colleagues, allowing for creative and enriching ministry opportunities to be developed. They give me hope for the future of the Church in a time when the prevailing narrative is so often that “the Church is dying.” And ecumenical partnerships have given me Sam and Evan, dear friends who will last a lifetime.
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Owen Copps, Director of Children, Youth, and Young Adult Ministry
Owen serves as the Director of Children, Youth, and Young Adult Ministry at St. Michael’s Episcopal Church in Colorado Springs. He was born and raised in Charlotte, North Carolina, and is a cradle Episcopalian. Growing up, he was very active at Christ Church Charlotte, where he was confirmed and later worked as an intern for two summers during college. Owen attended college at Tufts University, just outside of Boston. At Tufts, Owen enjoyed playing club basketball, leading trips for the Tufts Mountain Club, and spending time with a college ministry called Bread. Owen values empathetic listening, Ignatian spiritual practices, and spending time in the great outdoors. He is passionate about young adult ministry especially in the way of engaging ecumenical partnerships.
