Emerging Spirit @ The United Church of Canada Emerging Spirit @ The United Church of Canada

Issue 2

November 2005

WELCOME

Why I Attend The United Church

"My girlfriend is the minister and I am trying to support her in any way I can, even if it means going to church."

—an anonymous 30–45-year-old, in response to the question, "What draws and keeps you at the church you attend?" Fill out our on-line questionnaire and tell us what attracts you to church—and what doesn't.

Making Impact

by Lesley Harrison

My first month as Coordinator of Welcoming Ministries has been a month filled with definitions and explanations: What is Emerging Spirit? What do we mean by welcoming ministry? Could we really make an impact?

This column will bring you updates on Emerging Spirit's work to strengthen and develop welcoming ministry strategies to help United Church congregations become more inviting to those between the ages of 30 and 45. Throughout the church, congregations are exploring and developing resources to engage and welcome those in this age group. Emerging Spirit wants to learn, to test, and to understand the best practices of this work that are being put to use in the United Church. We want to engage, explore, and develop new resources with you.

To do this, Emerging Spirit is launching six Impact Teams in different locales across the church. Each team will be comprised of clergy and lay people, with the majority of the members being in the 30–45 age range. Impact Teams are currently forming in Vancouver, Calgary, Winnipeg, Toronto, Ottawa, and Halifax.

[read more…]

THE BUZZ

So, where are the 30–45-year-olds?

We are extremely grateful that so many people have taken the time to respond faithfully to this question (and many more) that Emerging Spirit presented on the back cover of the October Observer.

The strong response to Emerging Spirit's first questionnaire reveals some intriguing insights, profound thoughts, and inspiring passions. As you might imagine, the responses we've received are as wildly diverse as this age demographic itself.

We urge you to fill out the questionnaire if you haven't already done so, as well as your friends, family, and congregation to do the same.

In November, The Observer will carry a follow-up ad that extends the invitation to conversation for a while longer. After that we will gather and analyze these responses and see what they have to teach us.

In the meantime, take a look at a sampling of the responses. There's something very exciting and challenging going on here.

For more information on Emerging Spirit, see our website.

WELCOMING MINISTRIES TOOL BOX

The following tools may be helpful to you as you consider how your congregation can be more welcoming to people in their 30s and early 40s.

The Postmodern Parish: New Ministry for a New Era
by Jim Kitchens (The Alban Institute, 2003)

Power Surge: Six Marks of Discipleship for a Changing Church
by Michael W. Foss (Augsburg Fortress, 2000)

When immersed in the hard work of helping a congregation discern its mission in the midst of rapid and profound change, I quickly lost that sense of needing to find the perfect resource. "Could I make it work?" and "Would it help shift the conversation to a new place?" were basic but persistent criteria I used when examining any new resource.

Quite different language and styles mark Jim Kitchens' and Michael Foss' books, and yet both proved helpful in providing a common language so that larger discussions about the church and mission could take place within the congregation.

[read more…]

Alternative Worship: Resources from and for the Emerging Church
by Jonny Baker and Doug Gay, with Jenny Brown (Baker Books, 2004)

Jonny Baker, the co-author of Alternative Worship, spoke this past spring at the Morph Project 2005 in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The Morph Project drew people together to explore transformations in being church that embody liberative, just, and life-giving realities. This book does the same.

The foreword and introduction offer the reader a history and practice of "alternative" or "alt worship" and the "emerging church." Emerging church is the term used to describe a post-Christendom movement that explores alternative forms of worship and ways of being the church. It is an expression of church that does not discard "old" or traditional practices but rather incorporates many contemplative spiritual traditions of Eastern and Western Christianity with multi-media imagery from contemporary society.

[read more…]

Colossians Remixed: Subverting the Empire
by Brian J. Walsh and Sylvia C. Keesmaat (InterVarsity Press, 2004)

When we talk to leaders about Emerging Spirit, much of what we hear reflects a clear awareness that the church needs to change if it hopes to become more relevant to people between the ages of 30 and 45. Yet people are also very conscious of the risk of selling short the gospel in the attempt to reach new ears.

How can leaders communicate the good news of justice, truth, love, and transformation to an audience that has largely been raised in a postmodern context that has worked to deconstruct these concepts? Can the gospel be presented in an effective way to 30–45-year-olds living in a post-Christian, postmodern nation like Canada without watering it down or catering solely to consumeristic expectations? Indeed, what does the gospel have to say that is relevant to the lives of those in this audience?

Colossians Remixed is a brilliant resource for those who find themselves confronted by such a challenge.

[read more…]

All titles are available from UCRD.

Tell us what you think! Post your own comments about these books.

Do you have suggestions for resources that can help congregations strengthen their welcoming ministries to people between the ages of 30 and 45? Let us know!

Pulsetaking

Below are samples from some of the e-mails Emerging Spirit has received. Go to the PulseTaking section of our website to see the complete versions of these letters and more.

from Paul Newman, Sooke, BC
It concerns me that the church is reaching out with the agenda of "meeting the needs" of the young adults. This priority misses the main point of the church which is to meet the needs of the world that are not mainly synonymous with the needs of the affluent middle class who are typical United Church people.

[read more…]

from Paul Ivany, Norval United Church, Norval, ON
Great to see the UC really doing something positive like this! Actually asking people about the church and why the church is or is not connecting with them on their spiritual quest. What a novel concept!

[read more…]

from Christina Davis, Kingston Presbytery, ON
Authentic welcome means more than new people to pay the bills so we can continue doing what we have always done. That is reality in far too many of our churches. Is there any will to plant new faith communities where the people are, such as in new neighbourhoods, etc.?

[read more…]

from Adam Gerhard, St. Mary's Road United, Winnipeg, MB
Give me worship that speaks to me, music that moves me, a community that I see myself in, people that I relate to, tools that I can use, and a faith perspective that I can take into my every day life. Equip me. I want to get something out of worship, and if I don't then why come on Sunday?

[read more…]

Author's name withheld by request.
Your ad on the back of The Observer caught my eye, as I turmoil over the decision to leave my church. A member of the United Church since childhood, with some time abroad and in different forms of worship, and now at the age of 34, I am in dismay and outrage at my church's professed "vision for change" and its enactment.

[read more…]

from Drew Leverette, St. John's United Church, Georgetown, ON
Our minds understand that we need to attract new believers, but the greater challenge is nourishing our hearts and revitalizing our spirit to make it so. We need to keep in touch with you and your project and determine how we can get involved.

[read more…]

from Ed Cawley, Reston Pipestone Pastoral Charge, Reston, MB
I recognize deep spiritual longing in my generation. I also see very little ill will towards the United Church. Rather, if people have heard of us, they are more likely to remember us as open-minded. But for the most part, I believe GenX has found the United Church to be like a foreign culture—unfamiliar words and music, strange rituals; nice people to be sure, but not our people. And this is from folks who have entered into our gatherings. Many, if not most of my generation have not even had that experience. For these people, the cultural barrier is immense.

[read more…]