Youthwork After Christendom

challenge.

1

Introduction

A family friend has a favourite joke. A woman hears on the radio a report of a driver going the wrong way down the M1. Concerned that her husband is on that particular motorway, she calls him on his mobile phone to warn him of the danger. She tells him to be careful as there is someone driving down the carriageway in the wrong direction. He replies, ‘There isn’t just one person, there’s hundreds of them!’

Sometimes youth workers can feel that they are driving the wrong way down a multi-lane motorway with everything else coming at them from the opposite direction. As well as the challenges of working with the young people themselves, with all their energy, hopes, dreams, hurts and frustrations, they find themselves facing the expectations of the church, the anticipation of the minister and the full might of the Parochial Church Council, deacons, leadership team, or whatever other model of church government manifests itself. Added to this, there are often demands from parents who may have transferred their own obligations and placed youth workers in a surrogate role. Then often youth workers also have to cope with the stress that comes from their own desire to fulfil God’s mission and calling and build the kingdom in an increasingly secular and hostile world.

Of course, it’s not all bad news. Youth work can be one of the most rewarding of all the ministries. Many churches invest significant time, energy and resources into reaching out to and working with young people. The analogy of the motorway, however, reminds us that it’s not an easy job and that the context for doing youth work is changing and demanding.

Gone are the days when all young people knew the Christian story. Christian young people now find themselves in a minority among their peer group and often end up on the margins. Young people have left ‘Sunday’ church in vast numbers over the last few decades. The church has an ageing population and in percentage terms, church attendance in the UK by the 10- to 14-year-old age group is the lowest of any age range.¹ Church attendance in the USA reveals a similarly worrying trend. According to a survey by LifeWay Research, seven out of ten 18- to 30-year-olds who went to church as teenagers had stopped going by the age of 23.² Associate Director of LifeWay, Scott McConnell, comments, ‘It seems the teen years are like a free trial on a product. By 18, when it’s their choice whether to buy into church life, many don’t feel engaged and welcome.’

Evidence of interest in spirituality among young people is at best unclear and at worst not very encouraging.³ Youthful mega-churches pervade some highly populated urban environments, but vast areas of the country have little or no Christian witness and no communities in which young people can share and express their Christian faith in anything like a culturally appropriate environment.

Christianity is now just one faith option when making life choices. The many others range from more traditional religions to a whole range of ‘isms’ – consumerism, materialism, hedonism, nihilism – that have taken on an almost pseudo-religious status. The following comment is typical of many from youth workers who are wrestling with the changing dynamics of faith, Christianity and young people:

When I look back at my own days as a young Christian, things were different. We went to the church youth club to learn. We were up for everything to know more about God. Am I just looking back at things with rose-coloured glasses? Did we give the youth workers such a hard time that it made them pull their hair out, like the young people I know now do? Things now do seem to be very different. I run a youth group and I love the kids, but all they seem to want to do is run around the building and break the furniture. It’s really hard work.

Of course, when looking back, there is always a danger of the ‘grass was greener’ syndrome. However, the array of anecdotal evidence that we receive from older youth workers does imply that things have changed. Notwithstanding all this, encouraging stories are emerging of young people finding faith, living out their beliefs, influencing society and developing new forms of church.

This latest book in the After Christendom series focuses on the role of Christian youth work in the future.⁴ It seeks to explore the influences that the Christendom period has had on the way Christian youth work is currently undertaken, and draws on perspectives based on current work with young people to examine what might happen in the future and offer contextual models for effective mission and ministry with young people. While painting a picture of young people and the culture they live in, we cannot hope, in the space available, to explore in detail the vast cultural changes that have taken place in recent times. Many good books on this subject are already available.

The distinctive nature of this publication is its focus on working with young people in the context of a changing spiritual landscape, and its desire to challenge the impression that ‘the Christianity of the land and the Christianity of the New Testament are alike’.⁵ Indeed, the probability is that work with young people will exemplify all that is current in culture as they are very often at the forefront of cultural change and, indeed, frequently determine such change. It may also be that those young people who are Christians, and those who work with them, have already embraced the new epoch of post-Christendom as they seek to reconcile their mission and calling with the world around them. We have talked to youth workers and young people about what they think and have included their thoughts throughout the book.⁶

What is Post-Christendom?

The first book in this series provides a full and detailed exploration of post-Christendom.⁷ It is beyond the scope of this book to repeat this, but for the purposes of providing a reference point, the following is offered as an historical summary.

The early church was characterized by the refusal of believers to bow to the Roman authorities. This resulted in a martyrs’ church. Persecution was widespread and Christianity was essentially a subversive and underground movement. It didn’t possess dedicated buildings for worship, and it operated on the margins of society. Its leadership was very much focused around the fivefold ministry gifts declared in Ephesians 4:11. Mission was key and a grassroots’ approach underpinned everything that happened.

In 312, when the Roman emperor Constantine converted to Christianity, everything changed. In 313, Constantine and his co-emperor Licinius announced the toleration of Christianity in the Edict of Milan, and the Christian faith moved from being a persecuted faith to being the official religion of the Roman Empire. Buildings became central to worship, leadership hierarchical and institutionalized, and church allegiance essential to ensure success in society and survival under an oppressive regime. From being a faith of the heart, Christianity became a faith of necessity. These changes had consequences that in many parts of the world have influenced the church right up until the present day.

To be specific, the following provides a helpful working definition of post-Christendom:

Post-Christendom is the culture that emerges as the Christian faith loses coherence within a society that has been definitively shaped by the Christian story and as the institutions that have been developed to express Christian convictions decline in influence.⁸

These changes are illustrated by the following transitions, which are taking place as we move from a Christendom to an increasingly post-Christendom paradigm:

• Movement of the influence of Christianity from the centre of life and society to the margins.

• From a majority, Christians are becoming a minority group, force and influence in the western world.

• In Christendom, Christians felt that the world was their home. Our world view had shaped culture and dictated how things were done. We were settled. In post-Christendom, Christians are sojourners, who are aliens, exiles and pilgrims in a culture that no longer feels like home.

• In Christendom, Christians enjoyed many privileges, but in post-Christendom we are one community among many pluralistic others.

• The Christendom stance used to be able to exert control over society. Influence only occurs now through witnessing (conversing) about our story and its implications.

• Movement from a perspective of maintaining what we have and the (supposed) Christian status quo to an emphasis on mission in a contested environment.

• Developing churches that in Christendom were in institutional mode to those that once again become a Christian movement.⁹

Gibbs and Bolger reflect further on these changes:

[Post-Christendom is] exemplified by pluralism and radical relativism. Religion is understood in terms of its sociological and psychological significance, discounting any claims to divine revelation and absolute truth. Furthermore, the church as an institution has lost its privileged position and increasingly occupies a place on the margins of society alongside other recreational and non-profit organisations.¹⁰

We will explore the implications of these changes through the lens of youth work and consider the consequences, challenges and opportunities for future work. To help our understanding of what has happened to Christianity and the changes it has undergone from its early roots in the New Testament experience through the establishment of Christendom over the subsequent centuries to the dawning of the post-Christian era, we might use the analogy of soup!

Cooking historians suggest that soup is perhaps one of the oldest forms of food known to humanity. The idea of a liquid food containing various combinations of meat, vegetables, beans, stock and water can be traced back to the Bronze Age. Since then soup has undergone a whole series of developments and processes:

♦ fresh ingredients prepared over the fire in a cauldron

♦ ingredients prepared in buildings

♦ ingredients prepared and canned

♦ ingredients prepared, condensed and canned

♦ ingredients dehydrated and put in packets

♦ ingredients microwaveable

♦ return to ‘fresh’ soups.

The versions of soup found in tins are very different from freshly-prepared soups, while those that end up in dehydrated packets bear little resemblance to any other incarnations. A recent examination of the ingredients of a packet chicken soup boldly claimed that it contained 0.5 per cent chicken powder! Throughout these developments, people have continued to make ‘real’ soup. However, some have preferred the convenience and even the taste of the more processed products. Recently, we have seen an increasing demand for the ‘real thing’. Although this may be mass-produced, it is marketed as fresh soup, prepared with real food and containing no e-numbers, artificial colourings or preservatives.

We might draw some parallels here with the development of Christianity. It started off as an authentic honouring of all that Jesus intended, with the early disciples implementing a radical, socially-controversial, subversive, charismatic, serving-and-pre-ferring-one-another faith. Over time, debates about power and political influence, cultural change, use of the faith for people’s own ends, association of the faith with respectability, government and education have changed it so considerably that at times it has borne little resemblance to the original.

This analogy inevitably risks gross oversimplification and should not be taken too far. It is clear that throughout the Christendom era many have sought to find and promote ‘authentic faith’. There are, however, some interesting parallels. The resurgence of interest in making ‘real’ soup came at a time when for many the product had ceased to be attractive and people had given up on it. But just as the end was in sight for soup, a few people began to look again at what it was and is all about. They took those original fresh ingredients and began to make great soup again. They gave it a modern and culturally appropriate twist, packaged it in a way people could relate to and sales have taken off. Not only has this approach been successful, but it has spurred others to go back even further in their search for authenticity and to make their own soup. The very radical soup-makers now even grow their own ingredients to ensure that everything that goes into the soup is fresh, free from additives and genuine.

Similarly, people have begun to reject some of the more packaged versions of Christianity that have been on offer in western society and the numbers ‘buying’ it have fallen to an all-time low. There is a clear need to take action if the current decline is not to continue. Perhaps it is time to go back to the original recipe and take a fresh look at what our ‘product’ is really all about. This is what many are beginning to do.

2

Christendom, Youth Work and Young People

The story of Eutychus helps focus our thinking.¹ Eutychus was the victim of one of the apostle Paul’s long sermons. While Paul was droning on, Eutychus dozed off, fell from the window where he was sitting and plunged down three storeys into the street below, ending up dead. His name means ‘fortunate’ and he was. Paul responded to the situation with a quick prayerful declaration and Eutychus came back to life.

This story parallels the experience of many young people in today’s church. Paul’s sermon, however eloquent and anointed, did nothing for Eutychus. We have seen several generations of young people nod off as we have assumed a Christendom mentality and approach when they have increasingly had a post-Christendom mindset.² This cannot continue. What worked in the Christendom era and might have been appropriate for that time, no longer works for the vast majority of young people.

So whose fault was it that Eutychus fell? His, for not staying awake and paying attention? Paul’s, for going on for so long that he bored Eutychus to death – literally? Or those who did the risk assessment on the suitability of the building for an Alpha course? Casting blame, even if it were possible, serves little useful purpose. What the story does illustrate is that every situation can be seen from a number of different viewpoints. The following illustrations, thoughts and theological reflections are just a number of perspectives on what is a complex subject. The examples are designed not only to highlight the impact of Christendom upon youth work, but to provide material for reflection and further thought. The influence of Christendom is very clear in some respects, while in others it is subtle and harder to define. It is important to emphasize that Christendom cannot be viewed in isolation. It exists alongside other powerful cultural dynamics such as modernism, postmodernism, globalization and constant change. Thus, although we offer the following illustrations, we do not wish to attribute all of the issues to Christendom alone, and we seek to tease out some of the other key influences and backdrops to each.

The Mindset?

The vicar began the assembly with a rhetorical statement: ‘You all know the story of Noah and the ark.’ The problem was, the young people didn’t.

A vicar came and did our assembly today. He talked about the Levites. My mate wanted to know why he was talking about jeans (12-year-old).

In this post-Christendom culture, the biblical narrative is no longer the big story by which society and communities operate, but only one of many stories. Youth workers increasingly find themselves working with young people who have little or no understanding of the Christian story. Interestingly, although this is the case in most areas, there are still pockets of communities, normally in working-class, less mobile areas, where children continue to be taught Christian values. In particular, this appears to happen where grandparents have a strong influence. Here they may still bring their grandchildren to church and pass on the stories. This, however, is not the pervading culture in which we operate.

The difficulty is that many people in churches, particularly those who have grown up in a church culture, have still not realized that this huge change has taken place. Within the context of church services, it is to be expected that worship, biblical teaching and approaches to prayer should assume some foundation of Christian knowledge, but in our experience, Christians working in schools and undertaking mission and evangelism in non-church contexts often still expect to be building on an existing knowledge of Christianity. Similarly, many youth workers we talk to struggle to find resources and materials to use with young people outside of and on the edge of church because very many of the resources produced continue to assume some pre-existing biblical knowledge, or are enlightenment-oriented or book-focused.

We see evidence of these assumptions in some of the reactions Christians have had to recent research into young people’s spirituality. The research concludes that young people no longer have an interest in spirituality per se and are largely uninterested in spiritual things.³ However, this is met with incredulity by many Christians, who interpret the wearing of crosses, for example, as interest in spirituality.

The danger of these assumptions, which are caused by a failure to take into account our changing culture, is that for many Christian young people the end result is dualism. Aware of their peers’ lack of interest in Christianity, they often find themselves in a difficult place as they try to bridge the cultures of the church and the ‘outside’ world. They can easily begin to live by one set of standards in a Christian setting and by a different set for the rest of their lives.