New Voices: By and about young adults

I hear many people bemoaning the many young adults who are leaving their churches. I want to tell a different story.

Two other young adults and I organized an event at James Street Mennonite Church in Lancaster, Pa. We called it “Open Spaces: Young Adults Talking with Young Adults about the Future of the Church.” We offered young adults good conversation, fellowship, free pizza and the chance for their voices to be heard. More than 80 young adults voluntarily spent their Saturday evening at a church talking about the church.

Free pizza is great, but these young adults showed up for something more.

As planners, we hoped to have at least 30 people attend, which would have allowed for fruitful conversation. The actual turnout was so significant that I was forced to consider the meaning of what had happened. I don’t want to be too hard on naysayers who give anecdotal evidence of young people leaving church. I see it happening among some of my friends, and I’m familiar with the work of people like David Kinnaman, who documents the attitudes of young adults towards the church in his book UnChristian.

While these concerns should be taken seriously, a few observations from our January event should temper the pessimism that too often permeates conversations about young adults and church.

First and foremost, the presence of over 80 young adults at a Saturday night conversation about the future of the church tells us something. By showing up, those young adults delivered a clear message: “We are here, and we care about the church.”

If the presence of those young adults at such an event was not enough, let me share a second observation about the content of the conversations. Carmen Horst, associate pastor of James Street Church, gave an effective explanation of Open Space Technology, which is a way of creating a safe and welcoming environment for specific conversations that fall under a general topic (i.e. the future of the church). The Open Space process and Carmen’s explanation opened up the opportunity for conversations about controversial topics. She even gave freedom to talk about homosexuality and immigration, acknowledging these as especially contentious issues in today’s church.

However, a fascinating thing happened. As individuals from the group suggested topics, no one brought up these highly divisive conversations. Instead, the conversations that emerged were hopeful and full of life and vision. In fact, the conversations embodied Lancaster Conference’s 2020 Vision: We see new life.

The topics named were these:

• Perfection—strived for, not achieved;
• Transitioning from youth to young adult;
• Evangelism;
• Staying relevant in the midst of changing society without compromising beliefs;
• Ethnic and gender diversity within congregational, conference and denominational leadership;
• Discipleship;
• Creativity in church;
• Living peacefully with others in the church in the midst of differences;
• Relationships among urban, suburban,; and rural congregations;
• Mennonite vs. church—what matters?
• Technology in the church.

What does this mean? It doesn’t mean the young adults who participated in the conversation don’t hold beliefs about the best way for the church to respond to challenges related to homosexuality and immigration. In fact, these young adults would probably engage rigorously around discussions of biblical interpretation or social and church policy regarding these topics. Instead, the topics suggested that evening say something much more profound—young adults imagine a church that can be relevant to a changing culture, and they would much rather dream together about the future of the church than muddle around in debating divisive issues.

My final observation from the evening is how the event has impacted the conference as a whole. I was amazed by the energetic buzz it created. People who were no longer young adults wanted to come and observe. Those who could not attend requested notes. Leadership bodies in Lancaster Conference wanted to hear reports of what had happened. Young adults even showed up early to the event, and many remained after it concluded to continue conversations.

As I hear fearful accounts of young adults leaving the church, I suggest an alternative narrative of the future. Perhaps by creating more open spaces, we will continue to see new life.

Jon Heinly is youth minister for Lancaster (Pa.) Mennonite Conference and Lancaster Mennonite School.