Jun 21 2022 43 mins 1
It's Your Call chats with Andrew Hyde, an ecumenical chaplain at Guelph University. Andrew is the first United Church Designated Lay Minister (DLM) to be interviewed on the program.
Andrew is a United Church preacher's kid and grew up in the church. As a 10 year old, the 1988 United Church decision to open ordained ministry to all, regardless of sexual orientation, was a formative event in his own call and showed him just how complex and challenging ministry could be.
While taking time to choose between becoming a minister like his father, or becoming a teacher like his mother, Andrew took a job as a youth minister, and he's still involved in young adult and campus ministry today.
Andrew says, people are always called to where there is a need, and in his case, that was ministry with young adults, which is a specific niche that is both undeserved and a challenge because many young adults are seeking a spiritual home, but not active in congregational life.
This generation of young adults has a strong desire for authenticity, Andrew has found, and this is both a gift and a challenge to the church, as it compels us all to live out our faith everyday, everywhere, not just on Sundays in church. Responding to this challenge has the potential to help us rethink ministry as we know it and embrace change by meeting people where they are at.
Andrew Hyde is the author of My Daily Discoverment: 40 Days of Vocational Discernment with Young Adults, available from UCRDstore.ca.
