"It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God." Matthew 19:24- The evening worship crowd is trying to take over our church.
- They want to tear down our traditional sanctuary.
- They don't financially support the church.
- They want to change everything.
Most common are rumors about the emerging generation - those new people who have found a connection to God and each other through our congregation.
It seems to be about age, but it's not necessarily about age. For example: I know a twenty-something Presbyterian who is firmly against anything outside the box, especially when it seems to bypass standard Presbyterian operating procedures. She doesn't support non-PCUSA mission projects. She questions in-house publishing and new resources when we could be ordering from denominational offices. I learned through conversations with her that she has friends in the denominational offices and basically, she doesn't want them to lose their jobs.
For her it's about maintaining traditional job security even at the expense of dynamic growth and forward-thinking vision. GM tried this and look where they are.
For the most part, twenty-somethings are not interested in institutional maintenance. They are passionate, generous, visionary, and technologically savvy. I'm reminded again of Bob Carson's remarks at his daughter Eve's memorial service about this generation:
. . . she, along with these blessed friends and fellow students, are the ones who can solve the most pressing problems of this time. Please don’t attribute this to hyperbole or relate it to a father’s sadness. I see a stunningly beautiful convergence of talent and caring in this, our children’s, generation.
I believe that these kids, along with their peers around the globe, can reach reasoned solutions for mitigating violence and tackling many of the inequities of poverty, prejudice, inadequate health care and under-education.
They’re more productive because they collaborate and communicate like no generation before them.
I thought of these words when I read the Peter Hart/David Gergen interview with Jann Wenner in this month's Rolling Stone. The article is about how Obama won the election, and if you voted for McCain ,I hope you will forget the Obama part and recognize how the general comments about the recent election also inform us about the future of the church. Gergen wrote:
The emergence of this millennial generation as a force in American politics is going to be one of the biggest stories in the country over the next 20 years or so. They are even bigger than the baby-boom population and they are much more progressive and diverse. Forty percent of millennials are minorities.
Hart adds:
You'd better be able to talk to Latino voters and Asian voters and African-Americans. That's where the population is going to grow.
Imagine for a moment taking the words "politics" and "voters" out of these remarks and inserting the words "religious life" and "believers" like this:
The emergence of this millennial generation as a force in American religious life is going to be one of the biggest stories in the country over the next 20 years or so. They are even bigger than the baby-boom population and they are much more progressive and diverse.
You'd better be able to talk to Latino believers and Asian believers and African-Americans.
Are we ready to be the church with this generation? Are we excited about being a church that would not only welcome Latino, Asian, African-American believers but encourage them to lead?
Or will we be the General Motors of the faith world? As much as I loved my grandfather's Oldsmobile - and boy was it ever comfortable - the brand died in 2004. Wouldn't you really rather drive a Buick? Not particularly. See the USA in your Chevrolet? Not anymore. General Motors - poorly managed and blind to the shifts in culture for decades - is on the verge of bankruptcy.
We are on the cusp of a new and hopeful era marked by a new generation and emerging technologies. It is a great time to be the church, but we need to make some critical shifts.
And that's why it's time for some serious discernment.
Photograph of the parking lot of a Lutheran church in Ohio, circa 1950.
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12 comments:
Preach it sister!!! Amen.
I don't think it is realistic, or maybe even sensitive, to expect the older generation to embrace the change for themselves. A place in the church that honors their traditions in worship needs to be maintained while the younger generations are welcomed and encouraged to develop worship and praise and fellowship that is relevant to them.
Easier said than done, I know. But many of us of a certain age support these changes even though we don't embrace them for ourselves.
Without change... we are without growth... and without growth... we die. Preach it... cause I know it not just your truth... but God's truth!!!
I support grace's position with none other than Archbishop of Canterbury (my tradition, not yours, I know) Rowan William's call to a mixed economy of church. (http://www.archbishopofcanterbury.org/976)
by this, he seems to mean two (or more) churches living alongside one another. the old, usair behemoth (until, i'd add, such time as it dies) and the new, airtran adaptive model (until, again such time as it dies).
the key is always having people on the edges, reading the signs, and preparing new and fresh expressions
And we need "bilingual" leaders. (Spankey, did you talk about this w/ me last week?)
We need people who can talk with both long-standing, traditional believers and new, emerging believers. And - weirdly enough - I'm starting to feel great hope about those two branches of our church appreciating what the other has to offer in this new "economy."
yep - i brought up the bilingual thing last week. you just happen to be in my strike zone right now. :-)
i really think that the gift of appreciation comes with education. when the traditional group knows that their service won't go "funky" they seem to be much more open to reaching out by way of another service. we did a lot of that education here before beginning our 2021 community. it seems to have helped, A LOT!
Fantastic and important reflections here, Jan. Thanks.
Love the "bilingual" church concept!
Okay, lovefest for Jan today. Brilliant thoughts on what is happening. I think there are many more of us out there that can be the translators that we would even want to claim, for if we did, we might also have to embrace that which we do not understand. Thanks!
First, I should say I'm involved in this discernment process. I believe change is needed. But a caution about presentation: In the absence of concrete information, we need to be especially thoughtful about how we present the discernment process so that it is not seen as confrontational.
I read in this post a false dichotomy between traditional security and dynamic growth. I don't believe the two are mutually exclusive.
Many more traditional members are scared of this process because it has been perceived as an either/or, which leads them to think that they will be forced to give up everything that feeds them on the chance that someone else might come along.
I'm sure that's not what's intended, but that message has been perceived and has had time to sink in. It will take real work to fulfill this process without setting up a conflict among our different generations.
What a wonderful reflection. I find that the balance between the risk of the future and the safety of the past is a difficult place for a church to live into (especially the stepping out into risk part). You have aptly described one of the big issues - the younger generation simply does things (including church) very differently. We have hit a real divide - in terms of technology, communication, and relationships that I don't know that we have seen for quite some time.
Thanks for this.
PD - sometimes it really isn't about age though. Most of the time, maybe, but I'm learning that it's harder and harder to generalize. I know retired believers who are looking for a different way to worship.
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