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Author: Daniel Weir
We are too comfortable with the question mark.
I’m a mainline Lutheran, relatively progressive young adult, and I serve my congregation in a lay leadership role. Like so many in the mainline protestant world, I’m more than a little comfortable with a little bit of theological ambiguity and I’m more than a little uncomfortable with an abundance of moral certainty – especially the kind that the “theological right” offers.
I often hear congregation and church leaders wonder aloud how to attract and keep young adults in our mainline protestant congregations. Nobody in our denominational world seems to be doing a very good job of it, it seems. I think that the enemy is us. The young adults at my congregation are active, and comprise a significant number of seats on the congregation council, but my congregation is like just about every other mainline Lutheran congregation: there are fewer people in the pews, and they’re getting older.
The other day, I and a few associates attended a vibrant Anglican congregation that meets Sunday evenings on Capitol Hill. Despite having recently planted two congregations elsewhere in the DC area, the pews were full. And they weren’t just full; they were filled with people under the age of 40 who came to church, it seemed, to get questions answered. Nearly every person there was young, many were very well educated, and nearly all are climbing successful and prestigious career ladders.
That doesn’t sound like your average congregation of the ELCA, ECUSA, PC(USA), UMC, UCC, ABCUSA, etc.
I can’t help but reflect on some possible reasons why. The priest offered a leadership and theological certainty that too few congregations offer. He challenged the congregants to be what is most noble in their lives, and to be virtuous in their personal lives not only with regard to the intimate details but with regard to the systemic ethical implications of their professional responsibilities. The priest boldly proclaimed, in effect, “Here I stand! I can do no other!” in a way that invited the congregants to stand together, to be better people, and to honor God! (Nota bene: the priest never asked, “Do you stand here? Shall I?”) He offered no question marks, except in the service of answers.
Timothy Dolan, the recently appointed Archbishop of New York, said in the May 11 Wall Street Journal that “a young person will not give his or hear life for a question mark. A young person will give his or life for an exclamation point.” The Archbishop has a point. We often hear question marks behind the word church, but we hear fewer exclamations about what it offers.
Dolan gets it like the parish on Capitol Hill gets it. If you’re reading this, you’re probably reading it because you want to know how to get a certain type of people to become active in church. And, you probably take pride in your congregation for its social ministries, its political principles (whatever they may be), its musical ministry, maybe even its education ministry. What distinguishes those things from the social, political, musical, and educational opportunities young adults can find via Google?
If the answer isn’t readily apparent to you, then we’re in more trouble than we know. Our congregations must not be social clubs. We offer something incredible. We proclaim that God permanently threw God’s lot in with objectively messed up humankind, taking on human form to relate to us in our brokenness. We proclaim that God – God – suffered the worst that humankind can offer. And, we proclaim that despite being murdered by a cruel mob, God demonstrated power over death by returning to life, bodily, from death itself! We must proclaim that with exclamation points!
Can you imagine the message of saying this with question marks? “I believe in something that sounds preposterous; at least, I think I do. I may. I don’t know. Maybe it depends on what you believe. I don’t want to scare you away. What will get you to come back next week?”
<Yawn>
Young adults like me don’t have a lot of time, and we’re not going to waste what little time we have on something that comes with no convictions.
Yes, some people need to be guided. Some people need gradual introductions. Some people come to our congregations from places of hurt, and that hurt was often inflicted by the Church itself. But these are cases where it is most important to boldly proclaim that God lives, that God is love, and that we will be God’s love to you. We need to lead with exclamation points. Proud, un-equivocating, bold, ceaseless exclamation points.
I will always love the questions, but the questions must be functional. They must give us new questions and a promise that in God, there are answers. In God, there are exclamation points.
Photo courtesy of Pencils and Pixels (rights)
May 16th, 2009 at 3:11 pm
We are too comfortable with question marks – and you have offered me an image and perspective I had not thought of before. We are afraid to upset folks, to cause a stir, to lead – yet that is what we are called to do if we are following Jesus Christ. Jesus did all of these things fully and without timidity. What would happen if we did just that? Transformation! Engagement! Relevance! Life giving relationships! Thanks Daniel!
October 12th, 2009 at 9:27 pm
As a recent transplant in the DC area, I have been struggling with finding a new church home. The frustration that I have been confronted with is exactly what this blog is addressing. I have been attending a UCC church, and I find that the only thing the congregation offers me is a social club full of question marks. It’s a very nice social club, I admit. I like the people, I like the pastor. But it’s not spiritually thrilling, to put it mildly. I’m going to continue my search for a congregation that means something, but I’m afraid of not finding the answer.