i went to APCE* a few weeks ago and saw a video that made me totally flip out. Many, if not most of my close high school and college friends were non church (or synagogue or mosque)-goers even if they were believers. i got to seminary and became a non church-goer for awhile. i've had dozens of conversations with my friends and with my youth about what it means to a church attendee/member. In large part, i think the shift is away from the institutional Sunday morning formal gathering and towards a looser, less formal community gathering in smaller groups and oriented toward fellowship, community nourishment and service. Church going may be evolving for my generation into church being and church belonging. In spite of this though, many of my generation and younger do not even want to belong.
Out of these conversations have come questions and challenges about the importance of belonging to a community of believers. The answers i often give revolve around our individual needs and needs of the community. You need the nourishment and encouragement, the accountability and the perspective of other people in order to grow and be sustained. And even if you're the only person who ever lived who can grow on your own, than the community needs you, someone needs you to grow in their own faith. Even if you don't need church, it needs you.
But there's another concern. "i've seen the Church. i know what it is." i've talked to plenty of people who have been hurt by or are afraid to be hurt by the Church. i've talked to those who think they don't deserve to be there. The video i saw gave so many of the same answers i've given people for years and answers my wisest friends have given me. My hat is off to the filmmaker and to the church that released this video. It went viral on YouTube, and it did so for a reason. My hope is to release a similar one for Wellshire some day. We have budding filmmakers in our congregation. So here it is...
Out of these conversations have come questions and challenges about the importance of belonging to a community of believers. The answers i often give revolve around our individual needs and needs of the community. You need the nourishment and encouragement, the accountability and the perspective of other people in order to grow and be sustained. And even if you're the only person who ever lived who can grow on your own, than the community needs you, someone needs you to grow in their own faith. Even if you don't need church, it needs you.
But there's another concern. "i've seen the Church. i know what it is." i've talked to plenty of people who have been hurt by or are afraid to be hurt by the Church. i've talked to those who think they don't deserve to be there. The video i saw gave so many of the same answers i've given people for years and answers my wisest friends have given me. My hat is off to the filmmaker and to the church that released this video. It went viral on YouTube, and it did so for a reason. My hope is to release a similar one for Wellshire some day. We have budding filmmakers in our congregation. So here it is...
*APCE - Association of Presbyterian Christian Educators, an organization and a conference that meets annually.
2 comments:
Good choice of videos this week!
great video, mind if i share?
Post a Comment