Picking a Young Adult's Brain

My son, Perry, and I had an interesting conversation on a morning run during his visit with us. Things turned to church as we passed between two sprawling ecclesiastical campuses. He asked how many people went to them. I was not sure, but guessed that a few hundred probably did. Then I asked him what sort of church he would attend since to this point his religious practice has been his own apart from a church. His answer was illuminating.

I would be interested in a church that did meet in church. I’d like a church where we met somewhere over a beer or coffee and talked about faith.

My eyes lit up because we have that kind of church. WordHouse floats around Mid-Town, doing just that—talking theology over a drink or a burger. 

Then, he continued.

I would like a church that did it’s faith—one that went out on the street, not preaching, but doing things that were compassionate and merciful.

I immediately thought about Loaves and Fishes that routinely is in the streets, helping the homeless and others left behind in our money-driven society, taking Jesus’ mercy directly to the neediest of all.

But, as often happens in casual conversation, the topic switched to something else. Still, I was grateful for the chance to hear what a 24 year old thought. Perry grew up in church as a preacher’s kid, took in the message of Jesus, but then never found a church that really met the way he believed. Faith seems to be a verb for him. The traditional congregation gathering on Sunday morning seems to passive for him. He was deeply shaped by mission trips our congregation went on while he was growing up. Hurricane relief in the Mississippi Delta after Katrina and a foray into Central America formed his faith experience. He loved a mission trip that really engaged with the people served, entering their lives, not with preaching so much as a lived gospel of medical care, homebuilding, and so on. I know this experience guided into his work, both teaching English abroad and working with severely developmentally challenged children and adults. His core is hands-on interaction with people in need of care, comfort, and compassion. He would join a church that did so.

Sometimes when we hear such voices, we grow defensive—we do all of that, don’t judge us, come and see, then you’ll know! I know I have reacted thusly to him when he offers his critique of my work. 

But something else happened on that run. I listened. I heard a young person who is faithful simply asking for a community in which to be faithful. His faith is not the same as some of us from previous generations. The way it is expressed is not the same. The practice is not the same.

I think there is room for a whole variety of churches, gatherings, fellowships, and groups within the faith community. The model we use most often, though, is one developed in the great church revival after World War II—Sunday morning worship, Sunday School, youth group, occasional fellowship gatherings, and occasional mission projects. As we seek to meet new generations, the impetus will be upon us to be creative, imaginative, and outwardly seeking as we engage the world around us. That is actually quite exciting.