Over the May long Weekend the group of youth,
young adults and leaders who gathered at Sorrento Centre for the Young
Sojourners weekend wrote an epistle to the Church. You'll find the complete letter here:
To the Church of
God in this place, to those who have been made holy to God in Christ Jesus, who
are called to be God's people.
Grace to you and
peace from God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
We write to you as
a body of young people called into life and witness, a people of faith who are
vibrant, varied and passionate. We write to you as the Church, in thanksgiving
for youth leaders who understand, adults who act like kids, for dancing, for a
community with a deep history, where people of all generations meet. For Jesus
who is present in youth and Church gatherings. By these we are united as the
Body of Christ.
We implore you,
continue in these good works. Do not segregate people by age, keeping young and
old apart from each other. Bring people together in work and worship as one
body. As young people, we feel pressured by other people's expectations, but
not welcome to come as we are. We feel called to use the breadth and depth of
our own God given talents and gifts, however the invitations are few.
While we have
gathered at the Sorrento Centre this weekend we have explored the themes of
freedom and heroes in the context of the Church and our lives. As part of that
exploration, we watched a music video for the song Free by Rudimental feat.
Emeli Sandé. In the video a young person who is being bullied finds freedom
through the invitation of a falconer and by witnessing the flight of a hawk.
Within our Church
communities there are falconers who've left their mark on our lives. Some of
their actions have been small, seemingly insignificant, but they have helped us
take flight.
These people have
reached out to us with their many gifts, taken our hand and guided us.
The actions and
attributes of these leaders have brought us full inclusion and healing. They
have awakened hope in us and helped us listen to God's call. Through the shared wisdom of all
generations and all understandings we can imagine the Church and through
cooperative action we can live out God's call.
We have many
interests, talents and passions through which we can be of service for the
building up of the Church. We want to be invited in.
This is how we
wish someone would invite us to participate:
We want to be
invited into worship. We want to be creators and not just consumers of worship.
We want to sing, act, dance, draw, write, compose, and make worship that is
creative and engaging. We want to preach about how God is active in our lives
and about where God is inviting us all into the story. We can read and serve
alongside ministers of all ages. We can make a worship space that is
aesthetically inspiring and beautiful.
We can make bulletins for worship. We can play and chose the music that
we use in worship. We want to explore with you what contemporary and relevant
worship could be: to bless pets, to invite older people to make crafts with us
as a part of the service, to have disco church, to use rap and comedy and
drama.
We want to be
invited into outreach ministries. To serve at the Mustard Seed, community
meals, to build relationships and be an encouraging presence to people around
us. We want to create new opportunities for community outreach through learning
about each others' projects like cafes in Church basements and the blessing of
the wheels for emergency response vehicles and personal transport.
We want to be
invited into programs. We are interested in many different things and we want
to learn. Don't assume that we aren't interested or aren't able to participate.
We can lead VBS and Sunday School and redefine mission trips.
We want to be
invited into spiritual formation. We want bible studies that take our schedule
into consideration – before or after school. We want deeper spiritual formation
that addresses difficult questions and doesn't seek to give easy answers. We
want to engage in the ancient practices of our faith and actively learn through
pilgrimage.
We want to be
invited into organization. We want you to acknowledge that young people also
have diverse perspectives on faith and life – THERE IS NOT JUST ONE YOUTH
PERSPECTIVE. We want to be involved in decision-making and how the Church is
run, in creating policies and not getting bogged down in politics. We want to
be asked to participate because of who we are instead of being the token young
person.
We want to be
invited into fellowship. We want more cookies and more community lunches and to
help make them. We want more festivities. We want to be invited to the Seniors
tea and we want to do kitchen duty. We want to gather for fellowship outside
the Church – to go on camping trips and fishing trips. We want to be together
for youth group every week.
Why is this
important to us? Because when we aren't included it's hard for us to worship
and to live out our faith. Because we feel we have a lot to offer and to teach
others. It is important because the Church keeps shrinking when young people
aren't invited to contribute. We have ideas that nobody else has thought of and
we need an opportunity to share them. When we are invited to participate we
feel a sense of belonging and a sense of community. This belonging is important
to us and it helps us become who we are called to be. The Church is not just a
place for adults, it is a place for everyone, for people from generation to
generation.
Signed,
The young people
and young adults gathered for Young Sojourners 2014
