WHOOSH :: Thom Chu's blog on the UCC Youth and Young Adult Ministry Assessment

Using facebook to reach out to youth and young adults

Sat, 27 Feb 2010 19:12:51 GMT

As a demonstration of the power of online organizing, I put together a test page for my workshop at Web University, which is taking place February 26-28, 2010 in Phoenix. I was unfortunately snowed in with the winter loop-the-loop Noreaster in New York, but I'm conducting my workshop online via GoToMeeting.com. It will be a good experience!

At 9:00am Eastern, I set up a simple fan page and activated my network of supporters, which include 517 members of the UCC Youth & Young Adult facebook group and my own personal network of over 1,000 facebook friends, many connected with the United Church of Christ.

Within 5 hours, we have acquired 53 fans--I am using a crowdsourcing approach to draw out best thoughts and experiences from this diverse base of participants. We will keep this test page online as a space to continue the conversation and sharing.

I am using this myUCC blog post to demonstrate how you can syndicate (subscribe) your blog entries onto your facebook. Once you've set it up, you can "forget it" and it will automatically post as a Note on your facebook page.

That's it for moment! Happy facebooking.

Older Than Jesus, But Still Too Young for the UCC

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 23:19:56 GMT

Hello everyone,

Thom, who has been amazingly gracious, will be transitioning out of this blog, so I have created a new blog here at the UCC to keep the conversation going: "Older than Jesus, But Still Too Young for the UCC." This is where I'll continue the occasional series that I started this summer courtesy of Thom. However, I'll double-post here the newest column in order to smooth the transition. As always, I look forward to being in conversation with you. Peace, RW

_______________________

How Camp Worship Could Be a Model for Worship in the UCC (or a model for why no one will be left to worship in the UCC)

This summer I participated in many discussions about how UCC young adults have learned to "do faith" at camp, and about, unfortunately, how our attempts to meaningfully render that into our experiences at regular church have not been very successful.

Perhaps this has to do with the way that worship takes place at camp: people are usually dressed as about informally as can be, given the high dirt/water/brambles quotient of being at camp. The worship area is usually outside and quite simple, including a few rough-hewn benches and a cross near water and among trees. All of the traditional trappings of a Sunday morning do not exist. The worship music tends to consist of one person with a guitar and who leads the singing from a camp songbook or from memory. There is often no sermon—instead members of the camp usually share experiences or thoughts on a theme from the week at camp. Camp services tend to be short, music filled, and intense. Music is a very important part of camp—usually this is expressed in everyday vespers in the morning or evening—and as such is part of the daily fabric. It fits into the warp and woof, the flow of the week, of our time there. It is as necessary and as comfortable as the meals.

This is how many UCCers learned how to do faith, how to make faith a part of our lives, how to explore faith and spirituality in a safe yet challenging place, and how to connect faith to social justice. It may be that parents (and sponsoring churches) appreciate this on some level; their kids might deepen their connection to god and/or spiritual practice in an environment unlike Sunday morning church. The hope is, of course, that kids will return from camp enthusiastic about their spiritual practice and will continue that energy by going to church on Sundays.

Some do, many try, and most give up. A small number of kids do return from camp with a stronger commitment to traditional faith practice which they are able to translate into traditional church life (unfortunately, even this possibility is currently dwindling, as in many UCC conferences, camps and outdoor ministries are threatened by budget cuts and by small- minded demands that camps make more money by becoming less camp-like). Many and most who have learned how to do faith at camp, however, find the traditional UCC worship service fairly unreflective of or open to our camp experience. We thus embrace the refrain which I have heard for years, and which was repeated constantly during a recent young adult retreat at Pilgrim Point in Minnesota: that the only time we ever go to church is when we go to camp. When we do attend an actual church, we tend to be disappointed in the experience. I recently reconnected with a musician friend who was always the camper ready play music, to accompany singers on a variety of instruments, to make up songs on the spot, and to inspire others on skit-night. It was clear to many that his gift was music and the ability to share it. Yet as an adult now, he doesn’t attend church—he does not feel that the UCC churches he’s gone to speak to him or that his gifts are welcome.

At camp, it is not a question that all comers are welcome in whatever attire and with whatever acoutrements they need: pajamas, coffee cups, sleeping bags, or slippers. It is not a question of whether music from the 20th and 21st century is played or sung, but whether someone will hook up an Ipod dock for the service. It’s not a question that campers are an integral part of worship (all parts, not just the lectionary). It is not a question that at camp, different worship styles than those contained by sanctuaries predominate, or that there are liberal and wide-ranging experiments with aspects of different faith traditions, and it is not a question that camp worship happens within (not outside of) the worlds of nature and people, and it is not a question that ecstasy occurs during worship.

So why is it a question at many UCC churches? Why, when a camper fresh from the water and full of the good news that is faith in the UCC community, does she deflate so suddenly upon entering a traditional UCC worship service and space?

I promise that it is not just the music, though some I have spoken with would like to banish all organs to the camp-fire.

It is many things, but mostly attitudinal, for the very same people who send that kid to camp, who participate in outdoor ministry offerings, will tell that kid (perhaps not in words) that camp is one thing, but church is another, and this is the way it’s done, and has been done, forever and ever, amen, now be quiet.

Well, we have news for you: the “evers” are coming to an end, and like items in your rearview mirror, the end is closer than it appears: the number of younger people willing to take up the mantles of traditional church worship and organizational structure continues to drop precipitously. Let’s be clear: we don’t go to the churches that have recreated worship and spiritual community: their theology is often chimeric or scary. We want very much to participate in the life of the UCC, a church that reflects and inspires our values. But we are often frustrated in our search for the UCC church / congregation that reflects and embraces the warp and woof of our lives as young people in the 21st century.

So why is it even a question that the church needs to change? Good UCCers believe in evolution, so why do so many congregations and the church as a whole ignore evolution’s most basic lesson: change or die?

Learning How to "Do Faith" at Camp

Mon, 10 Aug 2009 19:29:12 GMT

This is a preview of a forthcoming post in my series. First, however, I want to thank everyone who posted comments here. I am deeply grateful for your honesty and your willingness to share your thoughts and feelings. It sounds like there is a lot of frustration and questioning out there.

I have just returned from a young adult retreat at the Minnesota Conference camp, Pilgrim Point, in Alexandria, MN. It was very centering and rejuvenating time. As it happened, our Saturday afternoon discussion evolved from a discussion about everyday spirituality (the theme of the retreat) to our experiences in the church. What strikes me from this group discussion (and from smaller discussions throughout the weekend) is that many of us learned to "do faith" at camp, and our attempts to meaningfully render that into our experiences at regular church have not been very successful. My next post will explore this. Look for it in early September.

In the meantime, there is one matter of urgency: Pilgrim Point has been a sacred and life-saving space for many many people in Minnesota for the last 50 years. Unfortunately, it may not survive past this year, and needs your help. Two campers made this video, and you can watch it here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFUq0lDdKjQ

We Live in a Postmodern World and the UCC Should Know Better: Young Adults and the Future of the Church

Mon, 27 Jul 2009 13:49:48 GMT

Guest Editorial by Rebecca Weaver
Rebecca grew up in the Pacific Northwest Conference and received her B.A. at Pacific University, a U.C.C. school in Forest Grove, Oregon. She earned an M.F.A. in Writing at Hamline University in St. Paul, MN. in 2001 and is a PhD candidate at the University of Minnesota. She sang in choir and was involved in worship in her local church as a child, went regularly to camps and retreats, was a member and chair of her conference’s Youth and Young Adult committee and served a term on the UCC’s national Y/YA council while in high school. As a member of a local UCC church (blended UCC/Presbyterian), Rebecca worked with youth. She is not currently affiliated with a local church, but joins in fellowship with the Twin Cities’ “20s and 30s” group.

Thom Chu and Rebecca began a discussion when she tried to fill out the Youth and Young Adult Survey in the Spring. Out of this discussion, Thom invited Rebecca to post an editorial here at WHOOSH.

In 1992, I sat in a meeting of what was then called the Council for Youth and Young Adult Ministries of the United Church of Christ. The discussion turned to how to keep young adults in the church, especially after college. Since I was only 16, I didn’t follow this part of the conversation that well. After all, it wouldn’t apply to me for a long time.

Seventeen years—a long time—later, the conversation does apply. Unfortunately, as evidenced by the survey responses that Thom has posted here, the UCC’s problem with attracting and retaining young adults still exists. The question now becomes: what can the church do to solve this problem, and why hasn’t the church done it?

Individual churches have tried a number of strategies aimed toward bringing young adults into the church (and keeping us there), such as providing stripped-down “chapel” services on in the evenings or early mornings, allowing us to carry coffee cups into the sanctuary, incorporating new music or art into services, and hosting potlucks. Yet sadly, the national church policy and approach lags behind individually stellar examples. I am not suggesting that the church should institute a nation-wide young adult activity spree. Instead, the change needs to be attitudinal.

The church needs to change its attitude and orientation toward a whole host of concerns important to young adults if it wants us to come—and stay—in. The exchange that prompted this series of guest editorials is a case in point. I am almost 34, and consider myself a young adult, based not on my age, but by my approach to the world, my engagement in youth culture, and my lifestyle. Yet the church draws the line firmly at 30. When I tried to fill out Thom’s survey this Spring, I truthfully stated my age, and the system would not let me fill it out. It assumed that because I was over 30 and am filling out the survey, I must be a minister or a youth worker. I tried and tried, but couldn’t fill out the survey and be honest at the same time. I didn’t want to lie. I emailed Thom, and our exchange was telling:

ME: I figured out the problem. I truthfully answered the age question (the first question); I am 33 and consider myself still YA. But apparently, if I'm 33, the survey thinks I must be a volunteer or minister! I then experimented by saying my age was 26, and got to the survey you were talking about. So, is this easily fixed, or should I lie about my age? Also, don't you think that says something about how the church sees its young people?

THOM: Thanks for your message. According to the UCC (and other church bodies, including the National Council of Churches) the answer is that you do not meet the definition of young adult, ages 18-30. It has been at times up to 35, but with age-inflation, we had 38 year-olds asking the question you are. The invitation and introduction texts are pretty clear on the definitions.

ME: hmm. So what does the church do with people like me, people under 40 (and sometimes over), without children, who see themselves as YA? This isn't a facetious question, as I served on the national youth and young adult council, and I left my previous church about 3 years ago because it didn't know what to do with its young single non- procreating people. I'm thinking I'll fill out the survey, but with a stated caveat about my age in a text box.

THOM: Thanks for the message--you're welcome to do exactly that, but the message is that at your age, you aren't considered young anymore. Your single status is a related issue, but not specifically a focus of the survey.

ME: this is fascinating, as the "20s and 30s" group here in the twin cities has been having this exact conversation! And my recently-turned 30 friends in Portland are having this same problem with their church. Very interesting. If I do end up doing the survey, I'll make sure to do it with the perspective that I had three years ago when I left the church where I was a member.

This is when Thom graciously invited me to post a few guest editorials here. I have spoken with a number of fellow young adults, many of whom feel fairly disenchanted with our experiences in UCC churches across the country. Our disenchantment springs from a number of different issues that we do not see the church addressing in meaningful ways, and we see this as a crisis, not only for our own spiritual lives, but for the life of the church itself, as we might be its future members. I’ll explore these in greater detail in future editorials, but I will list them here (not in any particular order of importance) now:

**worship service styles that feel archaic to young people and baffling     to new-comers
**old or stylistically stale music
**churches not knowing how to “plug-in” young adults without children     into the life of the church
**churches assuming that singles join churches to find marriage     partners
** a lack of programming or scheduling geared to fit youth lifestyles
**too much reliance on traditional family structures and life-paths
**a failure to use the arts as vital components of worship and     programming (rather than just as decoration)
**an inability to take advantage of our gifts, energy, experiences, world     views, and time
**a reluctance or refusal to take advantage of the strategies that     emergent churches, in their embodiments of our postmodern     realities, use to bring many young adults in (despite many emergent     churches’ conservative, superficial, or scary theology)
**an overly doctrinaire and hierarchical approach to policy and     decision-making

and lastly, the UCC’s failure to make use of its heritage of intellectual expansiveness, spiritual openness, political progressiveness, and commitment to social justice in presenting itself to the public and to potential new members (who share that expansiveness, openness, progressiveness, and commitment). This is a particularly sore point for many fellow young people I’ve spoken with. On the rare occasion advertising for a local UCC church appears (likely in traditional media), there’s usually a picture of a hundred-year old church building. What, exactly, is that supposed to say to us?

Over the next few months, I’ll be posting editorials that examine many of these issues in depth. In the meantime, your comments and questions are highly encouraged and welcomed!

Today's online survey response from a youth member of the UCC

Sun, 28 Jun 2009 18:44:12 GMT

Everybody would belong but everyone would know the boundaries of where they should belong. such as separate middle school and high school. it is very important to me that people respect each other and know that even though someone may laugh about something that they are sad later. something that would be good to focus on is to make sure that the youth are respected by the adults of the congregations. this does not happen much.

Bald-faced plug for the "Just Neighbors" curriculum

Sat, 27 Jun 2009 05:39:24 GMT

I'm thrilled that there was a mention of my presentation to Youth@Synod yesterday featuring "Just Neighbors," a 9-session video curriculum designed to help people to understand poverty and homelessness. The 200+ youth were very attentive even after a day of hands-on service and we were able to dig into some complex issues of poverty by doing a simulation of creating a family budget for a working-poor family trying to make ends meet. In the end, we realized that the lack of health insurance, sufficient food and housing supports, and a low minimum wage was trapping people into terrible circumstances. Amazing work!

If you are interested in finding out more about the curriculum, check out http://www.familypromise.org/program/just-neighbors

Today's online survey response from a young adult in the UCC

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 19:52:52 GMT

There needs to much more fellowship with Young Adults at the National level of the UCC on down to congregations. I am always disappointed that there is not anything planned for the General Synods like there are for the Youth. We need people in charge of organizing activities at the national level. Studies have shown that Young Adults want to feel like they belong in ther congregation and or church. When there is not a strong push for young adults to join and partipate in church, they wont most of the time. This mainly applies to the people who did not grow up in church, whereas the people who did grow up in church can go either way.

It would be great if the UCC had a National Young Adult Event like the youth have. I think we activites like that, the UCC will find they have more involvement from Young Adults. Additionally, this could mean more people joining the UCC, which is always great.

We advertise in media outlets with out Still Speaking Campaign, why not do this for Young Adults. We could advertise in media outlets that are frequented by or the main consumer group are young adults.
Young Adults should be defined as anyone over 18 who feels they are a young adult, up to what ever age that is for the individual. That way it is inclusive for anyone and not limiting people with a maximum age.