Consider a Conversation with Young Adults

A little over a week ago, the Iowa Annual Conference hosted "A Conversation with Young Adults". This day-long event involved two keynote speakers--Dr Bruce Birch and Bill Lizor--and a panel of young adults who both offered questions and feed back to the keynote speakers and took questions themselves. I'm still processing the day, and I think I took away some good thoughts. I would welcome your thoughts as well.

Bruce Birch - considering YA ministry as "Babylonian Exile"
Bruce walked us through the biblical narrative of the Bablylonian exile--especially from the book of Jeremiah (29:4-11). He likened the church to the arrogant people of Jerusalem before the exile--"Peace, Peace when there is no peace". Then the people in exile needed to rediscover how to be the people of God. Bruce had a wonderful phrase for this "the vocation of the people in exile must learn to be singers in the midst of non singers". And these singers use their "memory" of what God has done to offer a fresh "vision" of what God will be doing.

Bruce reminded us that after the exile, the Jewish religious landscape looked very different--some people did return to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple, while most of the people remained in Babylon or elsewhere. And out of the exile, new traditions took hold--the synagogue is one of these.



Bill Lizor - considering YA ministry as Wandering and Dreaming
Bill talked us through his thoughts on YA ministry: "Young Adults have come. Young Adults have gone. Young Adults will come again." He talked about how unhelpful the Prodigal Son model is for churches--in that it assumes that the church is the gracious parent who welcomes home the long-lost son.

Bill suggested that a better biblical paradigm is the intersection of two stories: Jacob the Wrestler and Joseph the Dreamer. Both of these are life-journeys where the people are radically transformed, experience the grace/presence of God, and somehow grow in their relationship with God and others. At the heart of Jacob's story is the passage where he wrestles with God: he is physically transformed, he receives a new identity, and he receives a blessing. And Joseph dreams--has a vision of what God is doing--but it takes quite a while and life experiences for that dreaming to make sense. So Bill suggested that faithful life happens in the intersection of "wrestling" and "dreaming".

What is helpful to you about these paradigms? Are there other paradigms you think are helpful for considering YA ministry?

Peace,
rc

Moments of Return

Ryan’s off getting married this weekend and has left me in charge of posting to the blog. In honor of Ryan’s upcoming nuptials I want to toss out a comment from a section of a book I read a month or so ago about young adults and the times, places, and events when they may most likely (re)connect with churches.

In a previous post I've referenced Googling God: The Religious Landscape of People in their 20’s and 30’s by Mike Haye’s. In the book Hayes lifts up the work of Father John Cusick and Katherine DeVries of the Archdiocese of Chicago’s Young Adult Ministry Office. Cusick and DeVries identify five “Moments of Return” in the lives of young adults that churches need to be aware of. They include: Marriage, Baptism, Moments of Sickness, Death, and Personal Decision/Changes in Life (such as a change in career or lifestyle choices).

These are times when young adults are likely to be inside church building, among the church community or open to the ministry of the church. Churches, Hayes says, need to be intention about how they relate to young adults in these times when they connect with the church.

I think Haye’s is onto something important. I’m wondering if there are other “Moments of Return” that we need to be aware of for young adults besides these five. I’m wondering if we see these as important times of ministry outreach or if we see many of them as intrusions into the life of the church. And I’m wondering if there are specific ways that any of you engage in ministry with young adults during moments of return.

Conversations Worth Having

Several years ago I was planning a series of “listening posts” around the state of young adult ministry in the Iowa conference. As I was laying out for some conference leadership folks what we had in mind to do, I’ll never forget the comment from one district superintendent – someone I’ve always had great respect for. This person said something along the lines of, “I’m not sure what you’ll gain by just talking about the issue. Everybody knows it’s a problem. What churches are looking for is how to solve it.”

I think I understand something of what he meant. And, I'll admit, I have some sympathy for it. One of my colleagues says that too often the problem in the Church is that we think we’ve accomplished something simply because we’ve talked about it. While I agree with that statement, I also think that too often we try to accomplish something – try to fix the problem – without taking the time to listen to those who may best be able to diagnose the issue and offer some possible remedies.

That’s the thinking behind an Iowa conference sponsored event that a handful of us are working on called “A Conversation with Young Adults” - www.iaumc.org/yaconversation. The premise is that we need to listen to scripture, we need to listen to our tradition, and - at least as importantly - we need to listen to young adults. We need to be willing to have the conversations before we too quickly think we know what will work.

Maybe you’ve heard about “A Conversation with Young Adults”. I hope you’re thinking about being involved. I’m convinced that it may be one of the more important conversations we’re having in the Church.

Peace,

Eric

summer reading

Neither Ryan nor I have posted for awhile. Chalk it up to hectic early summer schedules, preparation for annual conference and the willingness to offer both ourselves and each other a bit of grace. We’ll see what unfolds the next couple months, but we’re planning to post at least every few weeks – more or less, depending on whether we have more to say or less to say…

I’m reading a couple different books right now (rereading one). There are a couple phrases/concepts in the two books that have been stuck in my thoughts the last few day.

On a whim – thanks to Amazon.com’s you-might-also-be-interested-in suggestion – I ordered and have been reading Googling God: the religious landscape of people in their 20’s and 30’s by Mike Hayes. Hayes is Roman Catholic and very much writes for that audience, but most of what he says can be translated easily enough to mainline protestant churches or even non denominational or parachurch groups. I’ve been intrigued by an idea that Hayes suggests – and from where he takes his title - that young adults tend to seek instant gratification in all areas of their life. Since they have grown up with the concept that any information request can be ‘googled’ with instant results they tend to think of their faith in the same way. They may not be persistent or patient enough for wading through the ‘churchiness’ (my term, not Hayes’) of church in order to find meaning and purpose. If that’s true, it’s an additional challenge for churches when seeking to relate and be relevant to young adults.

The book I’m rereading for a book discussion hosted by the district superintendent and field outreach minister in the south central district is Brian McLaren’s Everything Must Change: jesus, global crises, and a revolution of hope (a great book and a great concept of district book discussion opportunities!). While I’ve read several McLaren books and am now reading this one again one particular statement really jumped out at me the other day. McLaren says,

“… church leaders can’t help but notice the rapid decline in local church
involvement among younger generations and wonder what to do about it.
Church leaders often begin by criticizing the young people: ‘What’s wrong
with them?’ But eventually, some leaders begin to ask a more productive
question: ‘What’s wrong with us?’”

As a denomination and as churches within that denomination, I wonder where the United Methodist church is on the continuum McLaren suggests. Are we mostly still asking the “What’s wrong with younger generations” questions or are we beginning to ask, “What’s wrong with us?”

A couple good websites to peruse: Mike Hayes contributes to www.bustedhalo.com. McLaren has a presence on several websites. The best of which may be www.emergentvilliage.com.

"And the truth shall set you free..."

Carl Gladstone shows up quite often on my Facebook thread, and every now and quite often one of his comments catches my eye. Here's one from this morning:

Carl Gladstone Watched the bio of Jon Stewart on Hulu. Who'da thought the guy from Half Baked would be the most trusted news source for 20-30 yr olds?

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Believe it or not, earlier in the day Eric and I were talking about where we turn for truth and insight into the world. Didn't theologian Karl Barth say that we need to engage the world with the bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other. Problem is, for me, I don't trust or believe most the major news outlets. I'm tired of corporate and political slants and propaganda getting passed off as news.

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People give 20 and 30 year olds a hard time for turning to The Onion and The Daily Show for their news. But I appreciate that their satyrical approach that requires viewers to have at least the basic understanding of world events. But still, I long for truth...

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Where do you turn for honest and earnest reporting of the news--local, state, global?

Open Secrets About Deep Spiritual Growth

We definitely didn't plan it this way, but Eric's last post, Katie's post before that, and my post today all connect with deepening discipleship.

Love him or hate him (in a Jesus still loves you kinda way), Bill Hybels and people like him often dictate the conversations you and I have in our churches (can you say 40 Days of Purpose). One thing I appreciate about Hybels and Willow Creek Community Church is that they took an honest inventory of their church and discovered that people felt their spiritual discipleship was lacking.

Their study was part of the larger study of churches--large and small--with spiritual vitality (evangelism, serving), with personal spiritual practices (prayer, Bible reading), and the church's role (activities, congregant needs). This highlights of this REVEAL study are published in the current issue of Rev! Magazine.

From their survey of these spiritually vital churches, they identified four key principles of helping people grow in their faith:

1. "Get People Moving" - the top churches make it clear that they intend to help every person grow in faith. The first steps of growth are clear. The 2nd steps of growth are clear. And every church that ranked near the top had a "not optional" newcomer or membership class. (I'm thinking back to two ladies who once walked into my church and said that they wanted to join the church the next Sunday... they didn't last very long, as I recall).

2. "Embed the Scritpures in Everything" - the top churches have leaders and insist their leaders spend time with the Scriptures. And it pours out on everything they do.

3. "Create Ownership" - it's the idea that "I go to church" doesn't really fit anymore. Instead "I AM the church" is a better slogan. The pastor doesn't dictate or run the ministries, but rather empowers and unites lay leaders in their minisry.

4. "Pastor the Local Community" - these churches are relevant to the communities around them. "From bussing hundreds of disadvantaged kids to Sunday services, to cooking hot dogs on city streets to break up drug deals, to refurbishing a bankrupt hospital in a needy neighborhood--thee churches are the hands and feet of Christ in ther Communities."

You know, as I look at this list, there's really nothing new about these 4 principles. I'm pretty sure that I've been hearing them in some form for at least the last 10 years. Someday, you'd think it will sink in.

some thoughts on preaching

I just finished reading Dan Kimball’s The Emerging Church: vintage christianity for new generations. It’s one of those books that has been on my shelf for some time. I’m wishing it hadn’t taken me so long to get around to it! I don’t agree with all of what Kimball suggests, but I think he has some great points about the challenges for Christianity in reaching “new generations”.

I especially found his chapter on “preaching without words” interesting. Among the points that Kimball makes are these:

• While a more modern/traditional mindset moves through a faith process of FACTS influencing BELIEF which influences BEHAVIOR, Kimball suggests that in post-modern/emerging cultures the faith process shift looks much more like EXPERIENCE influencing BEHAVIOR which in turn influences BELIEF. Acknowledging that change means that we need to rethink the ways we seek to communicate the message of the gospel. Kimball concludes that we can no longer assume that the spoken word – in a 20 minute message - is what impacts people the most. “Art preaches, Scripture preaches, Music preaches, Even silence preaches”, says Kimball.

I’m wondering what our worship service would be like if we followed a model that saw EXPERIENCE and BEHAVIOR preceding BELIEF?

• Kimball says that for emerging cultures there should be an importance placed on developing a culture which encourage questions and thinking. In the emerging church, he says, we need to “cultivate a culture that allows dialogue. The church needs to “learn to ‘struggle with the scriptures’ through the example of midrash” that allows for thinking through scripture using a variety of interpretations.

I’m wondering what our worship service would be like if we not only allowed but actively promoted questions, dialogue, and doubt instead of blind obedience or unthinking acquiescence to a set of beliefs?

• Finally, Kimball maintains that emerging churches are more comfortable with an image of the “preacher as shepherd and fellow journeyer instead of a message giver and problem solver”

I’m wondering what our worship service would be like if we preachers would be vulnerable enough to allow ourselves to be experienced as co-journeyers rather than the ones who have the answers?