Missing Generation workshop tomorrow – happy thoughts requested
July 25th, 2005 by AjTomorrow is a day Iíve been preparing for, praying over, thinking about, pestering others, and anticipating for at least six months: itís the day I facilitate (not lead – when I think about ěhaving all the answersî, I freak out – but if I think about moderating a group conversation, the stomach knots subside, and thatís a good thing) my workshop called ěThe Missing Generation: Where Have All the Young Adults Gone?î Please pray that this will be a time of encountering Christ in very real ways, particularly with a concern towards meeting young adults (it’s not a “get them back” thing, but rather a “find them where they’re at” thing).
Hereís a structure I have loosely planned for the two-hour time:
The Missing Generation: Why Do They Leave?
Northwest Yearly Meeting of Friends Churches Annual Sessions 2005
Tuesday, July 26th – 1:00-3:00pm – Lemmons 14
ěPart I – A whole generation (age 18-38) is virtually absent from our meetings. Exploring this worrisome trend. Part II – What we can and must do to be relevant in todayís society. How can we get them back?î
Desire: to create space for the Spirit to speak to us concerning young adults
Opening
Welcome
Introductions [community]: keep it casual, like meeting friends for conversation at a bar or cafe, perhaps go around the room and share names, ask an ‘icebreaker’ question depending on size of the group
Sharing Insights: exploring the worrisome trend of lacking young adults
Ask folks to share their passion/compassion for young adults [sharing of journeys]
Things to work in if no one asks
-
What would the ëidealí church look like?
- Community, prayers, teaching, Bible reading, meals, spiritual disciplines for discernment, going out, incarnational (Acts)
- Intergenerational: youths being apprenticed by older members (holistic teaching: how to live/how to work/how to pray/how to be in a family/etc.)
- Church walking alongside youth, speaking blessings and strengths (Karen) and empowering them to go out into the world
- Christ-centered: moving from being rooted in Christ, in the Spirit, in the Word
- Way of life/living – all that we do flows from being rooted in God
- Encounters culture but is not dictated by culture (because it is a culture)
- Encounter healing/wholeness; provide space to be brought into Godís light
-
What does our church look like?
- Inward-focused: materials used to better church rather than going out and being missional
- Segregated: youth in youth group, adults in ěareas of similarityî groups
- Makes decisions based on business model rather than discernment using spiritual disciplines
- Worship is once-a-week activity/feeding chosen based on style-preference (tend to think of ourselves/live as Christian Americans rather than American Christians)
- Activity-oriented
- How do they differ?
- Culture versus activity
- Intergenerational versus segregated
- Christ-focused rather than me-focused
- Simple/organic/missional/incarnational living
- Way of living versus things to do
-
Where are young adults worshiping?
- A lot are in emerging churches (explain – give examples)
- Why are they there? Because they like the format, or because they sense that these churches are seeking authentically after God?
- Emerging church misunderstandings: youth may seek to worship in ëalternativeí ways, but they also enjoy traditional: what theyíre seeking is authenticity
- Sharing what those expressions might look like in our Yearly Meeting (any New Works successfully drawing young adults?)
- What are assumptions about how young adults are living/where they are at?
Break
Deeper Explorations: what we can do to be relevant in todayís society (not just for young adults, but for society as a whole, but with a compassion for young adults)
Sum up what we talked about in the previous hour; point out some highlights/noticings
Talk about using spiritual disciplines to discern Godís will for our actions- informational versus formational learning (information increases knowledge; formational changes the spirit)
Do Group Lectio Divina around Mark 6:30-44 [spiritual disciplines, being rooted in the Word]
Rejoin in larger group
Have group speak out what theyíve noticed in others [blessings]
Share practical advice as we go out [equipping]
Closing
Point out how the workshop has been structured like conversations/worship gatherings that young adults tend to resonate with
The Group Lectio Process
Prepare
Take a moment to come fully into the present. Sit comfortably alert, close your eyes, and center yourself with breathing.
1. Hear the word (that is addressed to you).
First reading (twice). Listen for the word or phrase from the passage that attracts you. Repeat it over softly to yourself during a one-minute silence. When the leader gives the signal, say aloud only that word of phrase (without elaboration).
2. Ask, ěHow is my life touched?î
Second-stage reading. Listen to discover how this passage touches your life today. Consider possibilities or receive a sensory impression during the two minutes of silence. When the leader gives the signal, speak a sentence or two, perhaps beginning with words I hear, I see, I sense. (Or you may pass).
3. Ask, ěIs there an invitation here?î (for you).
Third-stage reading. Listen to discover a possible invitation relevant to the next few days. Ponder it during several minutes of silence. When the leader gives the signal, speak of your sense of invitation. (Or you may pass.)
4. Pray (for one anotherís empowerment to respond).
Pray, aloud or silently, for God to help the person on your right respond to the invitation received.
If desired, group members may share their feelings about the precess after completing these steps.
Norvene Vest, Gathered in the Word: Praying the Scriptures in Small Groups (Nashville, Tenn.: Upper Room Books, 1996), 27. Used by permission of Upper Room Books.
Supper for Five Thousand
The apostles then rendezvoused with Jesus and reported on all that they had done and taught. Jesus said, “Come off by yourselves; let’s take a break and get a little rest.” For there was constant coming and going. They didn’t even have time to eat.
So they got in the boat and went off to a remote place by themselves. Someone saw them going and the word got around. From the surrounding towns people went out on foot, running, and got there ahead of them. When Jesus arrived, he saw this huge crowd. At the sight of them, his heart broke–like sheep with no shepherd they were. He went right to work teaching them.
When his disciples thought this had gone on long enough–it was now quite late in the day–they interrupted: “We are a long way out in the country, and it’s very late. Pronounce a benediction and send these folks off so they can get some supper.”
Jesus said, “You do it. Fix supper for them.”
They replied, “Are you serious? You want us to go spend a fortune on food for their supper?”
But he was quite serious. “How many loaves of bread do you have? Take an inventory.”
That didn’t take long. “Five,” they said, “plus two fish.”
Jesus got them all to sit down in groups of fifty or a hundred–they looked like a patchwork quilt of wildflowers spread out on the green grass! He took the five loaves and two fish, lifted his face to heaven in prayer, blessed, broke, and gave the bread to the disciples, and the disciples in turn gave it to the people. He did the same with the fish. They all ate their fill. The disciples gathered twelve baskets of leftovers. More than five thousand were at the supper.
Posted in NWYM | No Comments »