Jim Kenney's picture

Jim Kenney

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Fishing on the Other Side and Youth

The following was posted on United Future.  I invite your comments.

 

Include Youth and Young Adults - We exist!

As a young person in the United Church, I have been part of dozens of conference and presbytery wide youth retreats, integrative youth programming at Conference Annual Meetings, planning teams, committees and youth gatherings. I've also been told, to my face, that there are no youth in the United Church, that the youth are not interested in the Church, and that we probably don't know what was going on. As a youth, this was always discouraging and frustrating. I was experiencing an abundance of excited and educated youth in the Church constantly, but no one else seemed to be able to see that.

The Fishing on the Other Side document mentions the word 'Youth' only three times: Twice as examples of possible processes within youth ministry, and only once in reference to the actual youth of the church. This reference to youth is only to say that there are not many of them, and that the numbers are shrinking further. As co-convener of the Young Adults and Youth Committee in the Conference of Manitoba and North-Western Ontario, I can assure you that there are plenty of active, involved and enthusiastic youth in the United Church. When they are acknowledged, they can come together to achieve marvelous things. It is this acknowledgment of our existence, opinions and capabilities that seems to be the problem.

This model in the comprehensive review would make our YAAY Committee and all of the youth ministry we provide impossible. In our conference, many of our most successful youth events happen at the conference level and presbytery level. Because our population is so spread out, we depend on the connections of conference and presbytery to reach congregations in order to reach the youth of the conference. Without conference and presbytery structures, the YAAY Committee and the Cambian Youth Council, to name just a few, would cease to exist. These are some of the most vibrant ministries I've ever had to pleasure to experience. They would become a logistical nightmare under the new structure, to the point where I believe they simply would not be possible.

The United Church has mentioned time and time again that the youth and young adults are the future of the Church, and that the Church needs to reach out and foster authentic relationships with young people. Youth have been stated repeatedly as a top priority, and yet this model does nothing to help us. In fact, it feels like we are being wiped out.

When young people are given the opportunity to become involved, they rise to the occasion as much as any adult would, perhaps more.

We are here, we are eager. Give us that opportunity.

 

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Tabitha's picture

Tabitha

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Good points!

spiritbear's picture

spiritbear

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Truth is that in most mainline denominations "youth" means anyone younger than 65. It's been a battle between the pre-war and post-war generations for 50 years now and the post-wars have largely lost and given up (with a few exceptions). Does worship in most mainline congregrations look anything like what would be meaningful to the generations that grew up in the 60's and later? And if the church can thumb its nose a those generations (and the financial resources they bring), then what hope is there for the latest cohort of "youth"?  There seems to be a widespread assumption that those reaching their "senior" years over the next decade are largely similar to the seniors who have formed the backbone of the church for the last 100 years. Sadly, that's not the case, and mainline churches have acted as if the middle-aged would eagerly wish to embrace the same model as their parents embraced. Will the new "seniors" (now that they can put behind them the raising of their families and keeping up with the demands of work) find their role in the church?  Doubtful, considering that they don't even have a subsidiary group such as YAYA where they can find their voice.

 

It's not that the youth of the past weren't invited to "become involved". It's just that most of the input was ignored or turned down. The lesson of those times is that "involvement" isn't enough -  there must be a willingness to accommodate as well. And that needs to be present in every congregation, or at least every one that wishes to be faithful to its future. Whatever Presbytery or Conference (or whatever succeeds them) decides, it will have little impact unless taken up by congregations.  So if the "franchise" model doesn't work for so many, is the answer to try a "corporate-owned" strategy, ie. "church" of a different format that isn't tied to one congregation, but may draw from across a presbytery, and perhaps making use of local facilities on a rotating basis? Or in other words, pooling resources (in this case, "youth") to begin something more appropriate. I doubt that would happen, if only because that requires time and energy in the upper courts of the church that I simply don't think are there.

chansen's picture

chansen

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To be fair, the church is not the only place that youth are ignored, so she shouldn't feel like it's much better in secular institutions.

 

I'm no expert in UCCan structure, but she seems to be saying that the only way to gather enough youth for anything worthwhile is at the prebytery or conference levels. That's still not the best argument against changing the structure of the church, as there could still be events held for youth from a geographical area, but it is telling about how hard it is to hold so much as a UCCan youth game of ping pong.

 

What I want to know is, how does Katie want to help out? If I was in her shoes, I'd just go and do or say something. If the local minister and/or congregation doesn't value your input, speak louder. Point out to them that if you leave, the mean average age of the congregation goes up by 5 years. Make them feel uncomfortable in their unwillingness to engage. Piss them off a little.

 

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