wfn.org | Lambeth 'Youth Day' highlights concerns and ministries of young

["Lambeth98" <storm@indigo.ie>]

ACNS LC075 - 3 August 1998

Lambeth 'Youth Day' highlights concerns and ministries of young

by Lisa Barrowclough
Lambeth Conference Communications

The world's Anglican bishops came face to face with the energy
and enthusiasm of the young, Friday (July 31), in a series of
events highlighting the way the church deals with young people.

Under the banner of a "Youthful Spirit," planners of the day
organized an energetic and fast-paced session aimed at
encouraging bishops to listen to the voices of the young.

Cheerleaders set pace

Lambeth's 'Youth Plenary' began with an up-beat performance by a
London-based troupe of cheerleaders, the Ascension Eagles.

The Ascension Eagles, a group of young people aged seven to 18,
hold English and European championship titles as cheerleaders.
They are also an outreach project of Ascension Church Centre in
inner-city London. The troupe practiced three times a week in the
parish hall in the lead-up to Lambeth. 

Dressed in red and white uniforms and waving pom-poms of the same
colours, the Eagles marched in to the beat of the South African
song "Siyahamba" ("We are marching in the light of God"). The
performance brought audience members to their feet, clapping
their hands, swaying to the beat and snapping photographs. 

Bishop David Moxon of Waikato (Aotearoa-New Zealand), who chaired
the session, thanked the cheerleaders and thanked God for "what
He can do with the lives and energy of young people."

A slice of youth life

The pace of modern youth culture was captured in a fast-paced
video titled "The Connected Generation." Produced in the style of
a music video-clip, the tape took the bishops on a tour of
international youth culture. 

In a collage of images, it became clear that the Internet is the
communication channel of choice for the young. Computer-generated
voices revealed that the word "God" appears on the World Wide Web
33,351 times. The video's challenge to the bishops: talk to the
world's young people in the language of their culture.

Next, the Rev. Dean Borgmann, a professor of youth ministry in
the United States of America, challenged the bishops to follow
Jesus' pattern of breaking into new sub-cultures. 

Jesus "not only entered human culture, but was determined to
reach the sub-cultures," Dean Borgman said. "Let us discover what
young people are doing in the name of Christ," he said, "and
let's help them do more!"

Dean Borgmann argued the bishops should adopt a model of youth
ministry that is "incarnational," and a style of youth work that
is "relational." 

Participants were then invited to listen in on a 'coffee table
conversation' between Bishop Lindsay Urwin of Horsham (England)
and three youth workers -Yazeed Said from Palestine, Rachel Beleo
of the Philippines and Pete Ward, youth advisor to the Archbishop
of Canterbury. 

Mr. Said told the bishops that young people in the Holy Land were
a tiny minority and were currently wrestling with a search for
their identity. Ms. Beleo urged the Anglican leaders to "make the
symbols (of the church) relevant" for young people, because "this
understanding gives them a deeper appreciation for what they
believe." Mr. Ward said his experience with youth ministry showed
up the hunger among young people for worship. 

The tangible and mystical elements associated with the Eucharist,
as well as the fellowship, are appealing to young people, he
said. "The way we've wrapped it keeps them out."

Remembering Dunblane

Next, a dramatic presentation linked the Biblical story of the
feeding of the five thousand to a circle of candles arranged by
children and youth of Dunblane, Scotland, outside the school
where 16 children and their teacher were shot dead in 1996.

"They have constructed their own ritual," Pete Ward said of the
spontaneous act of mourning by Dunblane's young people. "It's not
so different from what we do, but it's theirs." 

The play was written and performed by 'Against the Grain,' an
ecumenical and multicultural theatre group. 

A second video presented the voices of Anglican youth leaders who
met at an international church forum last year in Wales. In a
series of video-postcards, the youth leaders sent messages to the
bishops of the Lambeth conference. "We need encouragement," said
one. "We need support and assistance." Another challenged: "The
Church has to go where the people are - to the pubs, the schools
and the streets." 

The session returned to the "coffee table," where participants
shared in a conversation between five bishops. Bishop Urwin
talked with Ann Tottenham of Toronto (Canada), Simon Makundi from
Mount Kilimanjaro (Tanzania), Moses Ponniah from West Malaysia
(South East Asia), and John Ellison from Paraguay (South
America). 

Bishop Makundi commented that young people "do wonderful things,
if we only trust them." Bishop Ponniah outlined the successes of
his Diocesan Youth Council. Bishop Tottenham, a former principal
of an Anglican school, pointed to this unique opportunity "to
tell young people about the faith and help them live it." Sadly,
she indicated, "this is an opportunity we haven't always seized."

In contrast, Bishop Ellison explained that in South America
"young people don't need to be persuaded to believe in God - they
just want to know what He's like." In all these matters, Bishop
Urwin pointed to the need find "a balance between freedom and
proper order" in the ministry provided for young people in the
Church. 

Challenging the bishops

To end the plenary, a practical challenge came from Bishop David
Moxon: "Brothers and sisters," he said, "those of us who have
been called to walk in the footsteps of the apostles have a
particular responsibility to nurture the young." The bishops were
encouraged to "return to your diocese resolved to meet personally
with a group of young people to listen to them to ask them about
their hopes and vision and the way they understand the world, to
pray with them, to open the scriptures with them, to break bread
within six months of this conference." This, he said, "should
become a regular part of your ministry."

The "youthful spirit" inspired by the morning's plenary session
was carried into the evening, when a youth band from the Diocese
of Chichester (England) led the evening prayer service. Bishop
Urwin's comment that "there will be no sermon tonight," brought
about thunderous applause from the congregation who then listened
attentively as the band's young guitarist shared the story of his
growth in faith. 

Coming 12 days into the Lambeth conference, the energy of the
'Youth Day' was "just what we needed," one bishop said after the
service.