I love it when I get glimpses that the things going through my brain just might be in tune with what the Spirit is saying to the Churches. I had one of those moments this morning when my Baptist Times hit the door mat - the second week running where I've found helpful connections.
The front page headline says "Youth need friends not rules" and goes on to report on the BUGB Younger Leaders' Forum (YLF) meeting in sunny Northampton...
" A diet of 'Bible stories and rules to follow' is not preparing youngsters to deal adequately with the dilemmas of the real world and that's why so many are leaving the church."
Citing Chris Eddison, from Yorkshire it says 'Many people I spoke to said church had not prepared them for the real world... They needed help in coming to moral choices rather than being told what the answer is. They'd heard the stories and the rules but felt there was a lack of preparation for their personal faith.'
The YLF delegates felt that church should be a 'flexible place which accepts everyone for who they are and has a commitment to focusing on Jesus and preparing followers of Jesus.' This could be a place 'which looks to develop "real" faith in young people which they continually question, apply and grow within' and/or a place which 'belongs within its community and whose community belongs in it.'
We do well to listen to what these younger people are asking of us...
- acceptance of them just as they are
- freedom to question what we say
- equipping as disciples not instruction as clones
- authenticity and relevance
The things that perplex us middle-aged people just aren't issues for so many young people today - and we all know how many young people whose faith seemed certain and left the church, and sadly often also abandoned Jesus, because of the rules we imposed. I find myself wondering how Jesus might have felt as he listened to these Younger Leaders with their hopes and fears, honesty and struggle.
And I find myself wondering about our churches - are we encouraging people to be missionary disciples of Jesus or driving them away because they can't or won't be rule-bound Baptists? Hmm.
Thank you BT for making me think.
Comments
One of the most challenging areas of reflection for me as a relatively new Baptist minister (Baptist by conviction rather than birth, but open to many other strands of the faith because of my ecumenical upbringing) is how to communicate the faith to younger people in church.
In my expereience, they're hungry for God and hungry for reality, but shared and explored in ways that make sense within their cultural frame and rooted in the ethos and technology of the communication age. So they'll learn by talking to each other and by checking the internet for what they don't know between them. They certainly don't search out an 'authority' unless they're very definite about what they're saying.
I'm not surprised that these young Baptists have spoken about church rules. They're interested in following Jesus, not in being Baptists. The one thing that runs contrary to my expectations is that the young people I encounter (early to mid 20s) want more certainty and less complexity (which tends to be the opposite of what I usually provide them with)!