wfn.org | Catacomb Project will take young people into 21st century

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

March 8, 1999 News media contact: Tim Tanton*(615)742-5470*Nashville, Tenn.
10-21-71BP{125}

NOTE: Art is available with this story.

A UMNS News Feature
By Tim Tanton* 

Teen-agers around the United States will step across 2000 years on Dec. 31,
entering the new millenium while immersed in the catacomb setting of
first-century Christians.

However, these contemporary catacombs will be equipped with computers and
housed in churches, and the young people will be able to raise a more joyful
noise than their persecuted forebears did.

The Catacomb Project is an initiative being developed through the United
Methodist Publishing House's youth market business unit. Its goal is to
reach 100,000 teen-agers through a study course centered on the Bible's Book
of Revelation. 

The concept is catching fire outside the United Methodist Church too. Other
faith traditions, such as Lutheran and Episcopalian churches, are interested
in participating, said Eric Skinner, who helped guide the program for the
Publishing House. The Catacomb Project is crossing denominational lines. 

"The Catacomb Project itself is a 'portal event' for the study," said Samuel
"Skip" Parvin, an Orlando, Fla., United Methodist pastor and primary writer
for the project. "The intention of it is to get the youth in the mind frame
of what it would have been like to live as a persecuted Christian ... in the
first century."

The program will be centered around "lock-ins" held in local churches or
other sites around the country, with spooky, catacomb-like settings, Skinner
said. Youth leaders will cloak the evening in as much mystery as possible,
gathering the kids together but not telling them their destination. They'll
go to a room in the church where they don't usually meet - a dark,
candle-lit "catacomb" without Bibles or other tools of faith. Throughout the
night, they'll discuss what it means to be Christian, questioning and
reinforcing one another's beliefs.

"They are told Christianity is illegal," Parvin said. "Now you need to
reconstruct the faith." The young people are asked what Scriptures, hymns,
creeds and sacraments they remember.

But there'll be a lighter side too. The event will include food, fun and
games. In a live, online chat session, youth will talk not only with other
young people around the United States but also with peers worldwide.

"There are a lot of churches that have some high-tech kids, and that's how
they express themselves," Skinner said.

Some of the discussion will focus on the persecuted church worldwide, so
online links will be established with churches that are experiencing
adversity, Skinner said. The young people also will talk about persecution
in their own communities, exploring how they can stand firm in their faith
when they're not in a Christian setting, he said.

"To understand the Book of Revelation, you have to understand the
persecution mentality," Parvin said. Many early Christians had their rights
suspended and suffered imprisonment and death.

"The key to all of this for me is that Revelation is not a document of gloom
and doom; it's a document about hope," he said. "God is going to win in the
end."

In addition to studying Revelation, the program examines what Jesus taught
about the end of time, Parvin said. Christ told his followers not to worry
about when the end would come, but to focus on carrying out his
commandments, the pastor said.

The lock-ins will occur on New Year's Eve. Besides churches, lock-ins also
will be held in homes and select public places. The immersion experience
will end the next day at dawn - the dawn of a new year and a new millennium.
The youth will join in worship, praise and celebration.

"We have gotten cooperation and excitement from every area in the Publishing
House," Skinner said. The creative services unit and the Cokesbury
bookstores are fired up about it, he said.

"This is not business as usual, so we approach it in every aspect as a
different type of project," he said. That means going outside the Publishing
House for talent also.

For example, Parvin is pastor of Tuskawilla United Methodist Church in
Orlando, and author of Reel to Real. Steve Byrum, a professor in
Chattanooga, Tenn., and speaker on the Book of Revelation, co-authored the
book for youth that is central to the Catacomb Project.

The Nashville, Tenn.,-based design team includes Publishing House staff
members Tony Peterson, Crys Zinkiewicz and Cindy Caldwell; and Terry Carty
at the United Methodist Board of Discipleship.

The Catacomb Project has been promoted at recent events, such as
FaithOdyssey in Chicago.  The official launch will be at Youth '99 in July.
Young people attending Youth '99 in Knoxville, Tenn., will be able to walk
through a catacomb and see what one might have looked like for a
first-century Christian. Youth leaders are reacting with enthusiasm to the
project, Skinner said.

"A lot of folks are talking about it," he said. "Word of mouth (advertising)
is really good."

The event is being designed for seventh- through 12th-graders, Skinner said.

The book for youth and adults, Parvin's Unlocking the Mysteries: 150 FAQs
(frequently asked questions) About Revelation and the End of the World, will
be available in April. Individuals or groups can use it and the study guide
before or after the Catacomb event. 

The leader's guide, Revelation: Unlocking the Mysteries With Youth, outlines
six sessions and a catacomb experience.

The Catacomb Project started out as just a book project, Skinner said, but
it "didn't feel right. It was business as usual."

Publishing House President Neil Alexander came up with the idea of involving
100,000 youth, Skinner said. Alexander "initiated this broad thinking that's
got us so fired up."

The Catacomb Project's World Wide Web site, at www.catacombproject.com, goes
live March 25. For more information, contact Zinkiewicz, at (615) 749-6220
or czinkiewicz@umpublishing.org; or Peterson, at (615) 749-6319 or
tpeterson@umpublishing.org. You can also visit Cokesbury online at
www.cokesbury.com or call 1-800-672-1789.

# # #

*Tanton is news editor for United Methodist News Service.

______________
United Methodist News Service
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(615)742-5472