#emerging generations

[blgriffith]

Students and their environment

Definitely read this article in this month’s Atlantic Magazine for a view into the current college environment and the state of student attitudes and emotional competency… the cult of self, affirmation, and personal affront.

The Coddling of the American Mind:                        

In the name of emotional well-being, college students are increasingly demanding protection from words and ideas they don’t like. Here’s why that’s disastrous for education—and mental health.

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/09/the-coddling-of-the-american-mind/399356/

[imagodeiinitiative]

State of our students

Definitely read this article in this month’s Atlantic Magazine for a view into the current college environment and the state of student attitudes and emotional competency... the cult of self, affirmation, and personal affront.

The Coddling of the American Mind:                       

In the name of emotional well-being, college students are increasingly demanding protection from words and ideas they don’t like. Here’s why that’s disastrous for education—and mental health.

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/09/the-coddling-of-the-american-mind/399356/

[imagodeiinitiative]

The Shape of Things to Come - High Church!?

So, from the post, below, by Rachel Held Evans, concerning her move from American-Evangelicalism to the Episcopal Church, there has been a flurry of controversy and blog ruminations.  See her original article, CNN.

This is very challenging to American-Evangelicals! It is challenging because it asserts that younger people don’t buy the religion or way-of-the-Faith that American Evangelicals have caused American Christianity to develop into. (I used to be one of them... as a matter of fact, I was one of the beginning folks of this migration who came out of American-Evangelicalism in the mid-1990′s and into Anglicanism, thus the Episcopal Church.)

Here are links to some of the responses - particularly from those who understand what she is actually saying - plus voices of others who are being drawn to historic and traditional forms of the enduring Faith (all links come from the article linked to by the previous blog post, “5 reasons why...”):

On “Going Episcopal” - by Rachel Held Evans - her response to her antagonist critics

Re-rearranging the chairs: a response to Richard Dahlstrom responding to Rachel Held Evans (a.k.a. in defense of liturgy) - by Ben Erwin (who also came into the Episcopal Church and writes that it is about “substance.”)

Why Millennials Long for Liturgy: Is the High Church the Christianity of the future? - by Gracy Olmstead

A glimpse of the church’s future (hopefully) - by Aaron Niequist

Confessions of a High Church Millennial - by Erik Parker (Lutheran pastor)

[imagodeiinitiative]

When I was young, there was nothing worse for a church than to be "traditional". We stripped back the liturgy, swapped the organ for a drum-kit, and replaced the hymnals with Hillsong. We unceremon...

[thinktheology]

Four Qualities Millennials Look for in a Church

Ok, so I know what you might be thinking if you have ever read any articles about Millennials and the Church: “Seriously, don’t we have enough articles and blog posts on this topic?”

  In my opinion, yes and no.

  For those of you who are unsure of what I am referring to, let me briefly explain: Researchers use birth years ranging from the early 1980’s to the early 2000’s to talk about the…

View On WordPress

[imagodeiinitiative]

The Church and the Reform

"The Church, in common with the whole redemptive process, does not exist as the fruit of human endeavour, which has shown time and again by the bloody collapse of 'civilized' rationality to be incapable of attaining anything that is lastingly healing. Thus the Church cannot be reformed by human effort and ingenuity, any more than sin can be reformed by good will. We must hear the gospel of the incarnation as a summons to self-abandonment before all else, not as a reassuring endorsement of the best we can humanity do."  (Rowan Williams in his book, "Anglican Identities", p. 89-90, writing on Michael Ramsey's theology of the Church.) This is the problem we have today - those who still rely on Modernist notions for their base foundation of what can be known for sure are still trying to reform the Church by human endeavor and some kind of human ingenuity - and it isn't working. There is too often a reliance on late 20th-Century American socio-political ideology (of the Left or Right) rather than what the enduring Tradition reveals to be the ways-and-means of the Kingdom of God. For example, demanding "rights" is not at all the same as living into "loving your neighbor as yourself." With respect to the "reform" of our Church (in this case, the Episcopal Church), what is needed is self-abandonment to the gospel-of-the-incarnation (understood in a Postmodern way), which is completely tied to the deep and flowing stream of the enduring Tradition (for us in its Anglican form) taken up  by us from generations past, experienced anew in our own day, and if we are faithful we will strive to understand how to pass it on to the next generations. What will we do in this Anglican form of the Tradition of ours when we think about issues of a numerically and financially declining Church - a Church that has nearly lost what once was significant influence for the good within society - within a culture that no longer thinks and acts within a Christian worldview?

[imagodeiinitiative]

Changing perceptions...

It was interesting to me to see and hear what these young "creatives" from the Pratt Institute are thinking about in their design theory, creative process, social understanding, and sense of where things are going through their art (fine, graphic, communications, media, digital, etc.) and design (architecture, industrial, interior, fashion, furniture, etc.).  300 of Pratt's most accomplished graduating students are presenting their work at the annual Pratt Institute juried exhibit at the Manhattan Center.

One observation deals with their projection of the "post-digital" age - their words.  Did you "hear" that? A rediscovery and assertion of the analogue concept - not really about sound recording, but applied to all manner of things.  There is a sense that their current reality is within a developing "post-digital" age in conceptual ways, but most profoundly in relational ways.

The other interesting observance deals with social understandings.  In the "interior design" exhibit, there is a presentation of interior space as a means for relational community generation and development.  The project deals with ways of designing large, interior gathering spaces, and in this instance a "mega-church" is the project focus.  Remember, these are all incredibly well thought out projects - many have won national awards. Smack-dab in the middle of the interior depiction graphic of the "mega-church" are people in pews (yes, pews) as if right after the service is ending.  Along with others, there are two guys holding hands, a couple.  There are a good number of Christians at Pratt - and they are very adept at naturally integrating their faith in their creative work, but not like what general society is used to.  My assumption is that a project depicting a "mega-church" is probably a Christian student's.

Which leads me to this: The profoundly destructive battles being waged in the Culture Wars are just not there for these folks (a war mostly being fought by Baby-Boomers and the first part of GenX - like me).  The dualistic tendencies (and frankly, fundamentalistic whether political or religious) are not present, as of yet.  Yet, I say, because moving into adulthood in these times seems to dictate a giving up of hope, excitement, wonder, and discovery for something like cynicism, drudgery, abject anger, bitterness, and forlornness.

In these students, there is still hope!  That's why I like working with students - there is still positive hope!

[blgriffith]

Hyperactivity vs. Relationality

From her book, "Almost Christian: What the Faith of Our Teenagers Is Telling the American Church," Kenda Creasy Dean writes and quotes Mark Yaconelli:

"Mark Yaconelli attributes youth ministry's obsession with action to a deep anxiety that pervades American churches.  He illustrates the difference between ministry rooted in anxiety and ministry rooted in love, and points out:

'We cannot undergo this transformation by the sheer strength of our own will or intellect.  It is only by yielding that we can even begin to embody the freedom of God... We have to allow God to de-program us from habitually related to kids as projects that need managing rather than persons who need God's love and trust.'" (emphasis mine)

In other words, when churches focus on keeping young people active for Jesus, we may forget to teach them how to be present with Jesus." (emphasis Dean's)

[Dean, p. 168] (Yaconelli, of Youth Specialties fame, conducted a multi-year, Lilly funded research project to redefine youth ministry form and approach to be most effective & sustainable among Millennials and younger. See his book, "Growing Souls: Experiments in Contemplative Youth Ministry".)

I see far too many "youth groups" that focus far too much on ideas that work themselves out in something like, "If you have food, they will come;" or youth leaders who simply keep their remaining young people busy, busy, busy doing stuff.  The "stuff" may be really good to do, but for the Christian, whether young or old, there is something that comes before the doing, and that is the relational experience of the person with God.

When youth leaders and youth groups - heck, when parishes - take seriously the spiritual nurturing of their young parishioners, when they have as the first priority to "love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul, and mind" as more than just a theoretical proposition, then the second priority of the working out of "love your neighbor as yourself" is authentically possible.

The focus on doing projects of good works will do little to offer any solid reasons for young people to stay in the Church. Community service is good to do, yes, but God can be completely absent and those good activities can still be done. Most all students have community service project requirements in their schools these days.  When all we have to offer are what seem to be empty rituals and stagnant tradition (or lots of pizza), then all the activity in the world will not keep young people in the Church.

Our encounters with God enable us to honestly, transparently, unselfishly, and authentically love others. For the Church, the doing of good works are a means of transformation and a means of experiencing God more deeply - even as other receive the benefits of such things. 

But, older parishioners, parents, youth leaders, priests and pastors have to have honest, transformational encounters with God themselves before they can pass on such experiential knowledge to rising generations of young parishioners.  Too often, we don't and too many of us do not know how to yield to such notions.  We are inexperienced in seeking God, deep contemplative prayer, being vulnerable, explaining our own faith, or anything close to a competent apologetic. 

Despite good intentions, we end up having youth groups where the few remaining young people leave for college or adult life and have no real reason to keep attending church.  A different way begins with adults who are intentional, consistent, persistent, and humble enough to yield themselves to God for the sake of our rising young folks.