6 minute read
Webinars
We created a four-week webinar series to share our findings. Each session contributes to our overall goal of helping churches create a paradigm shift that centers young adults as vital members of the congregation. Summaries of those webinars follow. The series included the following webinars (To view the webinar, click on the title):
1. Creating a Culture of Radical Hospitality
by Dr. Reginald Blount
2. Alienated and Ambivalent
by Dr. Karen Mosby
3. Justice Evangelizes, Brunch Heals
by Dr. Dori Baker and Gina Robinson
4. Relationships, Community, and Connection
by Dr. Jennifer Moe and Bri Crumbley
This webinar session focused on two themes that emerged from our Holy Listening research:
Welcoming and Accessible: Interviewees found communities where they felt accepted being themselves –places where they felt truly seen.
Relevant and Relatable Leaders: Interviewees value pastors who take time to cultivate relationship with them. They hope pastors will be approachable role models they can emulate and with whom they can connect. In light of these two themes, we explored the question:
“What does it mean to create a culture of radical hospitality with young adults?”
Radical Hospitality is…
1. Offering hospitality in a radical way
2.
3. Provoking practices that exceed expectations, that go the second mile, that take welcoming young adults to the max. Not simply kind or polite - it is transformative.
Key Insight
Young adults need to know that they are not alone; that when they face life’s joys and challenges, they are surrounded by a community of love and grace!
Recommendations
To offer radical hospitality, congregations can:
•Sense a calling and responsibility to pray, plan, and work to invite and help young adults feel welcome and supported in their faith journeys
Surround young adults with grace
Become a school for love, where people learn from one another how to love.
Strive without ceasing to exceed expectations to accommodate and include others
Realize good intentions are not enough! Radical Hospitality requires Practice! Rev. Dr. Reginald Blount Associate Professor of Formation, Leadership and Culture Director, Garrett-Evangelical Young Adult Initiative reginald.blount@garrett.edu
Webinar 2: Alienated & Ambivalent
This webinar sought to voice and explore some of the negative experiences that young adults in Phase 1 of our project had with Christian congregations.
These experiences led to their uncertainty about your congregation’s behavior and practices. learn how to embody divine hospitality and practice justice. your community, and in the world.
owning the label of “Christian” and feeling hurt by churches. The webinar also suggested action steps for churches who are interested in rebuilding relationships with young adults.
Key
Recommendations •
Identify young adult conversation partners; young adults to serve on congregational governing boards; and young adults you will pray for regularly. Work toward better aligning your congregation’s statements with Use biblical and theological resources to help congregations Embrace the prophetic witness of young adults in your church, in
Insights
As we listened to young adults from Phase 1 of this project, we learned that:
1. Alienation arises when churches “do hateful things” to young adults and/or their family members and they act in ways that have “deadly… impact on LGBTQ people.” 2. Alienation from God and others can occur when young adults witness “hypocrisy in people who call themselves Christian, but will go drop bombs or are misogynist or racist.” 3. Ambivalence about the label “Christian” stemmed from the “baggage” and “negative connotations” associated with being called a Christian in this country.
Rev. Dr. Karen E. Mosby karen.mosby@garrett.edu
Webinar 3: Justice Evangelizes, Brunch Heals
This webinar shared insights related to a theme that emerged from Holy Listening:
justice evangelizes. Congregations that interpret the gospel through the lens of contemporary social issues such as racism, mass incarceration, sexual orientation, gender justice, poverty, and climate change appeal to the young people to whom we listened. The young adults in our study want to be involved in churches where they can find like-minded sojourners committed to enacting their faith by working for the betterment of the world. We learned about a church that experienced a groundswell of young adult engagement after discerning the need to show support of LGBTQ neighbors by hanging a rainbow flag. Now, several years later, that church hosts an intergenerational, inter-racial, LGBTQcentered Sunday school class. Another story surfaced the power of ”brunch culture” as a way young adults are enacting church: breaking bread together, creating an atmosphere of authentic sharing, and supporting one another in their struggles over a shared meal.
During the webinar, youth minister and doctoral student Gina Robinson shared excerpts from her research on Black girlhood, and in doing so, exemplified how young adults are doing justice work at the intersection of church and academia. She seeks to curate spaces that help Black girls cultivate faith-filled, practical responses to the injustices they face in the world.
Recommendations
Pay attention to where young adults are already investing their energies Come alongside cultural movements that serve spiritual needs of those Jesus would call “the least among us.” Define spirituality broadly, keeping in mind that God shows up differently to each generation
Key Insight
Christian Innovation is bringing the healing power of Christian community to specific pain points in the world through reclaiming and reimagining ancient practices.
Rev. Dr. Dori Baker bakerdori@mac.com www.doribaker.com
Gina A. S. Robinson
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Webinar 4: Relationships, Connection, & Community
During our interviews with young adults, several of them mused on what it means to have community in their congregation. Community is sometimes a tricky word –it feels like something that we know when we see it, but can be hard to define. One of our young adults said “I definitely feel connected to not only God here, but to the people of God, which is one of the more important things for me.” This young person looks to their congregation not only as a place to encounter God, but to be together with God’s people. Another young adult said they resonate with the idea of community with connection, and even love:
I’m able to witness what’s happening when you look around the room and everyone is just in there, we’re all connected and we’re there for the same purpose, and I think it’s, it’s love. A key component to community and connection for young adults is the sense that there is a shared purpose among those in attendance. Their feeling of belonging and having strong connections and relationships was very important. They explained:
If I didn’t show up on a Sunday, people are blowing my phone up saying: Where you at? Are you coming at all? That makes me feel good. That core groups of people who I know I can talk to about my outside life.
For young adults, their congregation is a place where they can talk about their “outside life,” (likely work or relationships outside of church). They feel comfortable sharing who they really are with their church friends. They feel good knowing that people in their church care about them and notice when they are not there.
Key Insights
1.
2.
3. Community is found in shared purpose. It matters that people notice when you are not there. Being able to be who you really are in a community of faith is essential.
Dr. Jennifer Moe Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary jennifer.moe@garrett.edu
Bri Crumbley Gilead Church Chicago Bri@gileadchicago.org BriSparkles.com
