May 29, 2000,
CHICAGO, Ill. All the elements to appeal to todays young adult worshipers
were there soft lights and candles, a message delivered from an on-stage podium,
high energy contemporary music led by a live band, lyrics projected onto a big
screen.
The more than
300 who packed the Westin River Norths Grand Ballroom most of them 18 to
30somethings stood and rocked to a pop tune adaptation: I just want to thank
you, Jesus. How sweet it is to be loved by
You!
Then it was time
to share Holy Communion, and participants found themselves squarely within mainline church
tradition. The flow of words on the big
screen now moved participants through the liturgy: Christ
has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again. The Lord be with you. And also with you. The table is set. All are welcome.
The occasion was
opening worship at an ecumenical young adult ministry training event, held May 26-29 in
Chicago, sponsored by the National Council of Churches Young Adult Ministry Team.
Its theme, Come to the Feast, is
based on Luke 14, foreshadowing the Heavenly Banquet in which the host extends a broad
invitation to the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame, compelling
people to come in so that my house may be filled.
This second NCC-sponsored young adult
ministry event the first drew 250 to Atlanta in 1998 featured daily worship,
plenaries, small group meetings and a veritable smorgasbord of workshops that both
discussed and modeled ministry how tos. Saturday
afternoons offerings included service opportunities at two Chicago shelters.
Content was a mix of techniques and values
undergirded by cultural analysis of todays young adults the Gen Xers,
Postmoderns, Baby Busters and Thirteeners born
between, roughly, 1965-1980.
Its the least churched
generation in our nations history, said Rodger Nishioka, a Presbyterian who is
Associate Professor of Christian Education and Youth & Young Adult Ministry at the
Columbia Theological Seminary, Decatur, Ga.
Nishioka acknowledged that most of the
denominations represented at the event have lost members or at the very least
arent attracting people in their 20s and 30s by and large, but then
quickly asserted, Whats at stake isnt denominational membership. Our goal isnt to make more Presbyterians or
Episcopalians. Whats at stake is the
Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Over the course of the events four
days, leaders shared practical tools for evaluating young adults needs, starting and
maintaining a young adult ministry, incorporating a broad range of music and worship
expressions, leading a mission trip or work camp and using technology including e-mail and
the World Wide Web.
As skills building proceeded, a pattern of
values emerged, including inclusiveness of race, class, age, gender and so forth rather
than an approach built on cultural homogeneity or segregation by age group, for example.
In worship and workshops, participants
explored how to express the Gospel in fresh, contemporary ways while remaining rooted in
and enriched by the mainlines historic faith traditions.
Participants sampled a wide variety of
resources, from rock and reggae to contemporary praise and the offerings of the Taize
Community in France. Christopher Grundy,
associate pastor of Plymouth Congregational United Church of Christ in Lawrence, Kansas,
who wrote the Come to the Feast celebratory theme song, led a workshop on
writing contemporary music for the mainline churches.
Speakers explored the tension between a
culture that values consumption, individualism and self-seeking and young adults
yearning to make a difference.
Pauline Muchina, a Kenyan Anglican who this
spring earned her doctorate from Union Theological Seminary, described the pressure to
network only with those in a position to help my cause, to think, Can
this person offer me a job? But
our faith calls us to share with others who arent necessarily able to give
anything back to us, she said.
Rodger Nishioka described an Omaha, Neb.,
congregation that once a month moves its 9:15 a.m. worship service to a Habitat for
Humanity work site. After a 20-minute service
and plenty of good coffee, worshipers work for two and a half hours. That service attracts double the number of
young adults, he reported, and challenged his audience, If your church doesnt
make a difference in your community, why bother?
The following denominations and other
ministries were represented at Come to the Feast: American Baptist/Baptist, Catholic, the Christian
Church (Disciples of Christ), the Church of the Brethren, Episcopal/Anglican, Evangelical
Lutheran/Lutheran, Presbyterian Church USA/Presbyterian, United Church of Christ, United
Methodist, Unitarian Universalist, African Methodist Episcopal, Onesimus Christian
Ministries (India), and the World Council of Churches.
-end-
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