The Lausanne Global Conversation is on the World Wide Open Network
المؤلف: Peter Houston
التاريخ: 21.09.2010
Category: الشهادة الشخصية, الأطفال والشباب
What follows are a few thoughts on church growth, the place of young people and my denomination. (If you belong to another denomination you may end up agreeing with some of the challenges…) It links in with several conversations on the need for local churches, and denominations as a whole, to be outward facing and life affirming (see Outward-facing, life-affirming and well-informed: only the best will serve our cities by Rod Green).
Being Anglican is to acknowledge that the history of the denomination sets a precedent for developing a form of Anglicanism that has not yet existed. In the pursuit of fresh expressions of church one cannot hold onto traditions because they are explicitly “Anglican”. The Anglican Prayer Book, the Anglican Eucharist and even the concept of Anglican sacred space has always been dynamic and changing. Today’s youth do not need therefore to be brow beaten and disciplined into becoming “good Anglicans.” (That’s not what really matters…)
Being Anglican is to appreciate the breadth and richness of the various traditions that come together under one roof. It is not to advocate an “out with the old and in with the new” philosophy, but to embrace both old expressions as well as fresh expressions of church. The old wine skins are perfectly good for holding the old wine. Older forms of Anglicanism are necessary for the nurture and worship of Christians who have grown up in the Anglican Church. It may also be an important vehicle for reaching out to and evangelizing the many nominal or cultural Christians for whom the outward form of Anglican ceremony still provides a sense of predictability and security. But new wineskins are needed for new wine. A new form of church is required to reach a new generation.
Being Anglican at this juncture in history is to accept the hard truth that God is not obliged to keep our churches alive. The New Testament churches Paul planted in Corinth, Philippi and Emphasis are no more. God let events overtake them. In form, structure, worship-style and practice, they have ceased to exist, except in echoes here and there in some of our present-day churches. If God let those churches die, God can let Anglicanism die. However, God has seen to it that the message and witness of the New Testament churches planted by Paul has been faithfully transmitted. It lives on today in yet another generation of believers. The point is not Anglicanism, or any denomination for that matter, the point is the continued transmission of the Gospel of God to the world.
Being Anglican, therefore, is to be urgently reminded that:
In as much as the Church continues to faithfully, effectively and persuasively convey the message in both word and deed that salvation has come to the world through Jesus Christ, God sustains that part of the Church by his Holy Spirit. If young people are encountering a living God in our churches that is more awesome and substantial than the high of drugs, the mystery of sex, the affirmation of good grades, the security of wealth, and the acceptance of friends, then God continues to honor and enliven that space. And then…there is hope for reaching our young people.
Should the church become more concerned with being a holy-huddle, defending its own form of club-membership and outward appearance, God may and often does let us become the victim of our own religiosity, inflexibility and inwardness. Church membership declines and the denomination or a particular local church fades away to exist as a struggling remnant.
What does the future hold?
Note: I invite you to reflect on your own church’s strength and weaknesses in proclaiming the Gospel. I critique my own denomination because I am part of it (and committed to it) and I prefer not to point fingers at others since that just gets ugly and even petty!
كلمات مفتاحية: Rod Green, Chris Wright, Outward-looking, Life-affirming, Whole Gospel, Youth, Holy-huddle
مشاهدات: 5406
تعليقات: 7
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محاورة نشر تعليق
الولايات المتحدة
I think that all churches and denominations are going to have to work on how they reach young people. They are going to have to move from being a "holy-huddle" to being a community willing to go out and meet young people where they are. I think young people are ultimately looking for a place where they are welcomed, accepted, and loved.
14.03.2011
الولايات المتحدة
@ abenfield:
I agree and I think we all want a place to feel like home. Our churches should offer an environment that support honesty, community and sharing life with each other like Jesus did.
15.04.2011
الأرجنتين
As a young anglican deacon I can just say ¡AMEN! to this article, thanks!!!
"whatever it takes to proclaim the gospel of Jesus in all its fullness to all generations, especially to the young, the marginalized, the outsider, and the un-churched"
Brilliant!! By the way, I live in Argentina and I am reading The Mission of God by Wright, very good too.
Send you a hug, and thanks for the article, I am looking forward into reading more of your articles! Cheers!
Rev. Nico
23.09.2010
جنوب أفريقيا
@ NicoHildingOhlsson:
Thanks, Nico,
I also blog at http://petersprogress.wordpress.com/. You’ll find some overlap between my Lausanne blogging and my own blog. Some difference too!
I’d love to hear your testimony about being called into leadership AND the Anglican church in particular. Younger Anglican ministers are fairly scarce in my neck of the woods. What’s it like your side?
Cheers
Pete
24.09.2010
ماليزيا
"If young people are encountering a living God in our churches that is more awesome and substantial than the high of drugs, the mystery of sex, the affirmation of good grades, the security of wealth, and the acceptance of friends, then God continues to honor and enliven that space. And then…there is hope for reaching our young people."
This is exactly what we’re trying to achieve in our church where young people DESIRE to be a part of the youth group because it gives them HOPE, JESUS and FRIENDSHIP...and this is what they "should" want and need more than anything or anyone else! That’s our heart for them as Youth Leaders.
What they need are people who will understand them at their level and MENTOR them into spiritual growth and maturity by the Spirit of God, not adults/parents who constantly judge them and force them to change based on their personal experience and values of what a "good Christian" should be without first being the example that will influence and motivate the youth to lead a life pleasing to God and to search for Him with all their heart.
22.09.2010
جنوب أفريقيا
@ Anita_B:
Why don’t you write up your experience of what your church is doing and share it as a Lausanne Conversation testimony? I’m sure it will bring us much encouragement!
23.09.2010
مصر
Thank you Peter. I am Roman Catholic and I fully agree with what you say. There are a lot of similarities between the 2 denominations as well as what our church needs to be reminded with in terms of what it means to be a true follower of Christ.
21.09.2010
الأرجنتين
Muchas gracias Peter por esta perspectiva en pensar y repensar la vida de la Iglesia
21.09.2010
يتوجب عليك تسجيل الدخول أولاً لكي تتمكن من نشر تعليق. إذا لم يكن لديك حساب، يمكن التسجيل الآن (إنه مجاني وسهل!)