Home / Featured /Young Adult Voices / The faith life of a 20-something in DC
This article is part of an ongoing series called “Young Adult Voices.” This series gives young adults who are either in congregations or searching for a congregation a voice to express their cares and frustrations about the Church. Because many of these young adults are trying to find places of welcome in Washington area ELCA congregations, the articles are anonymous.
As a single mid-20′s young adult in Washington, my life consists of any number of things: from taking steps to advance and begin my career, to keeping up with friends from college who are spread all over the country, to working on a social life here in DC- my time, and especially the time on the weekends, seems to bleed away before I know it. And, as a single mid-20′s Christian young adult-this has created an interesting dynamic in my faith life.
I consider my faith to be an extremely important part of my life, but with life the way it is for me right now, I might not always be able to attend Sunday morning services with the regularity that I did as a youth growing up, or that an older generation might find more “normal.” The reasons why are numerous; being out of town, having visitors in town, work commitments and, yes, if I’m being honest, sometimes just being lazy (among a variety of others), -but the key is that just because I might not always be at church doesn’t mean that I don’t consider having a faith community to be important-on the contrary, I consider it extremely important.
A shared community of believers is something wonderful, and while relationships and friends provide some of that community in my life, I nonetheless feel connected to the congregation I attend here in town, even though I’m not always there on Sunday mornings. And the way I feel connected is through the other opportunities that are available to partake of the church community: the young adult activities at night, the service opportunities, and the personal relationship that I’m working on creating. But even more significantly, I feel more connected to that congregation when that community has actively reached out to me and made me feel that I’m wanted.
Its those times when I have been at church, or other events, and people have approached me about coming to coffee hour after the service or attending a young adult’s event that I’ve really felt connected to that community. And even more specifically, its not just those times when someone simply mentioned it to me, but when someone has taken the affirmative steps to facilitate me being a part of that community – whether its been a simple offer to grab coffee after the service together or to meet up at an event happening later in the week – its been those times when someone has taken the extra step that I’ve felt the most connected. And those efforts, little though they may seem at the time, are the reason I want to make this church community a bigger part of my life, the reason why I’ll continue to attend church activities, and reason why I’m starting to feel more at home and a part of that place-even though I might not always be around on Sunday mornings.
image by PHOTO.WORKS (rights)
October 7th, 2011 at 3:38 pm
“But even more significantly, I feel more connected to that congregation when that community has actively reached out to me and made me feel that I’m wanted.”
Love this whole entry – especially that sentence. I think the reaching out part is what my congregation needs to work on. It’s a very individual thing, but it can be encouraged by staff and in services as well.
Thanks!