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The Bishop's Journal
September 2000
LIVING ON THE EDGE
I am writing this article the day after returning from The Edge, the ELCIC
youth gathering convened in Regina, Saskatchewan. Over 1600 young people from
Lutheran congregations across the country gathered for four days of worship,
study, learning and fun in a carnival-like atmosphere, steadily fueled by a
never-ending stream of inspiring music, speakers, dramatists, and stunning
audio-visual presentations. We explored multiple dimensions of what it means
to dwell on the edge of society; what it means to follow Christ to the edge
for others and to take risks for the sake of the Gospel.
I wish that each of you who is reading this article could have been there with
me. I wish you could have experienced even just a thimbleful of the tremendous
energy that was unleashed each day in the Regina Arts Centre as we sang,
danced and unashamedly celebrated our common identity as baptized followers of
Jesus Christ.
I returned home from Regina feeling richly inspired and very thankful! We have
a lot of deeply committed and powerfully gifted young people in our church
family and after having just spent several days in the midst of 1600 of them,
I can't help but feel profoundly hopeful concerning our church's future. I'm
extremely proud of our young people and of the whole host of youth leaders and
supporters who contribute so much to youth ministry programmes within our
church. We have so much for which to be thankful!
We also, I suspect, could be doing a great deal more toward making our
congregations more youth-friendly. I often hear congregational leaders refer
to youth as being the "church of tomorrow." It's a sentiment that is
only remotely true. Young people are also the church of today with as strong a
claim to the name of church as anyone, regardless of age. Their participation
in the life of tomorrow's church cannot be assumed and will, I believe, be
largely dependent upon the church's willingness to invite their full and
unfettered participation today.
How
can we do that? Well, here's a list of just five things that we might do
toward this end. It represents some of the responses I've received when I've
asked teens to reflect on how we could make the church a more welcoming place
for young people.
1. Ease up on the dress code! Accept the fact that youth might have different
ideas of what constitutes appropriate clothing for worship.
2. Try to be musically creative. Younger folks live life to a soundtrack.
Attempts to provide more musical diversity will go a long way in making
worship services more appealing and inviting.
3. Provide regular opportunities for youth to provide leadership in worship
services. You might be surprised by the sort of creativity your young people
can bring to a Sunday morning!
4. Give young people an opportunity to participate in decision-making
processes in the church. Have youth representation on your congregational
council. Ask their opinions and assign them special projects to work on. If
you want them to participate you must give them a voice.
5. Provide supportive and safe opportunities for young people to ask questions
and express their opinions on faith questions. Don't be afraid of their
questions and don't be too quick to provide the "right" answers.
That's my list. But of far greater use would be a list put together in
conversation with the young people in your own congregation. Why not arrange a
time for congregational leaders to meet with youth group members to discuss
the church's life and ministry? As part of the agenda, why not create your own
list of things that could be done to make your congregation more
youth-friendly and then invite the youth to help implement the changes they'd
like to see occur? You might be surprised by the results! You might be
surprised by the supportive response you'll receive; and from more than just
the 15-20 crowd!
Happy conversations!
The Rev. Michael J. Pryse,
Bishop
