Why do we put our youth in a box? On Thursday night, I attended the opening of the 131st General Assembly for the Ottawa diocese, and heard Bishop Chapman’s charge to the synod. He had some interesting comments to make about the presence of youth in our churches. To distill it down, he was suggesting that we need to see church for what it is - as a more inter-generational experience – a place where children, teens, parents and grandparents, seniors and singles – all gather to worship. In that context, the Bishop suggested, we need to stop thinking about this group of members, and that group. Do youth sometimes want time on their own? Absolutely, he agreed. (I think the youth I serve would prefer their parents join the all-nighters at our annual leadership retreat.) But for the most part, youth need to be treated as full members of the church. Perhaps we don’t need a “youth” council member; we need our young people to sit on council. We don’t need youth worship services – we need worship services that integrate everyone. And maybe, especially if our numbers are small, we should be re-defining Sunday school into inter-generational education. Just ask your youth where else they hang out with people of different ages, outside of the church? I bet there aren’t many places. And we can both learn from each other, as Bishop Chapman observes. But that only happens if we come into the space that church provides as equal members.
We heard these same sentiments from our youth at Assembly this past summer. Our youth are tired of the tokenism we offer them in the life of the church. They are tired of the entertainment slots we give them at our gatherings. They want to be integrated into the life and purpose of the church the same way everyone else is. They don’t want to be ‘youth delegates’. They want to be delegates.
Consider the motion on the floor of the Eastern Synod Assembly this past summer that spoke to increasing the numbers of youth at Assembly. I spoke against that motion. We do need a larger young adult contingent at our Assemblies. But changing a number in a constitution will do little to make that happen. I applaud the energy and excitement people have for youth, just as I applaud the motives of the mover of that motion on the floor of Assembly this past summer. We need that energy, excitement and positive motivation to move youth and young adults more fully into the life of the churches we are a part of. That takes work. But imagine what our communities would look like if our youth and young adults were leading worship regularly, leading committee work, serving on council, elected as delegates to Convention and Assembly.
We have heard our very own Bishop Michael Pryse voice the same invitation that I heard from Bishop Chapman this week. Perhaps it is time for us to use our energy and excitement to build up the inter-generational life of Christ’s Church.
We heard these same sentiments from our youth at Assembly this past summer. Our youth are tired of the tokenism we offer them in the life of the church. They are tired of the entertainment slots we give them at our gatherings. They want to be integrated into the life and purpose of the church the same way everyone else is. They don’t want to be ‘youth delegates’. They want to be delegates.
Consider the motion on the floor of the Eastern Synod Assembly this past summer that spoke to increasing the numbers of youth at Assembly. I spoke against that motion. We do need a larger young adult contingent at our Assemblies. But changing a number in a constitution will do little to make that happen. I applaud the energy and excitement people have for youth, just as I applaud the motives of the mover of that motion on the floor of Assembly this past summer. We need that energy, excitement and positive motivation to move youth and young adults more fully into the life of the churches we are a part of. That takes work. But imagine what our communities would look like if our youth and young adults were leading worship regularly, leading committee work, serving on council, elected as delegates to Convention and Assembly.
We have heard our very own Bishop Michael Pryse voice the same invitation that I heard from Bishop Chapman this week. Perhaps it is time for us to use our energy and excitement to build up the inter-generational life of Christ’s Church.
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