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Two scenes, new to many people, yet
probably the liveliest and most exciting sector of 'church'
today: youth churches, or better 'churches in the youth
culture'. What are they, what is their aim?
The global culture
In Jesus' day, there was an international
Graeco-Roman culture, with transport and communications;
'the time had come', and the Gospel could spread rapidly
because of this culture. Today, the situation is similar:
starting with the Rock'n'Roll revolution, assisted by
Hollywood and expanded by the Internet in the 90's,
a global youth culture has developed, supported by the
four pillars music, film, Internet and commerce. Kids
in Zurich, Bombay, Santiago, Los Angeles, London or
Jakarta have more in common with each other than with
their parents; they listen to the same music, consume
MTV, wear the same clothes and watch the same movies
- if not in the cinema, then on DVD. They don't allow
themselves to be pressed into programmes: hanging out
with their friends is their main spare time activity.Half
of the world population is under 25 years old, and they
are probably the largest 'unreached people group', with
the main difference, that they are not in some distant
land, but are the present and certainly future of our
society. Attentive Christian leaders have realised that
it is not possible to reach this culture with traditional
churches, even with the best youth programme and concerts.
They have started to set young people free, sending
them to plant churches in this culture. "New Generation
Churches" in Sweden, "Tribal Gathering" in England,
the "Jesus Revolution" in Norway, the Rollorama in Thun
(Switzerland), the ICF in Zurich and the Kraftwerk in
Dresden are examples of targeted youth churches. Similar
movements are starting on all continents - proof that
the church is alive in all times and cultures.
The gentle pioneers
Just to make it clear from the start:
this is not something new for Christian teens. Most
youth churches are not very interested in existing Christians,
but understand themselves as 'advance into the youth
culture'. Whereas traditional churches often become
an instrument for gathering Christians, youth churches
are concerned with being sent to bring salvation to
their 'lost generation'. Practical transcultural evangelisation
is the reason for the existence of youth churches.
Cultural revolution?
It's about more than a new style, different
music or another language. Those familiar with the youth
culture believe that we are in the midst of a cultural
revolution as happens perhaps only once every 500 years.
The transition from the industrial age to the information
age and the break between the modern and postmodern
have brought forth a new culture, a new way of thinking
and feeling, and the present teenage generation is the
first to have grown up completely in this new culture.
Karsten Wolff, leader of the 'Kraftwerk', an intercultural
youth church in Dresden, explains: "I don't see it primarily
as focusing on youth church, but on building tomorrow's
church today. That can't be done with yesterday's means.
Today's youth will be the society in five or ten years!
I believe that we are about to experience a massive
change in our paradigms of church and Christian lifestyle."
In the words of Andrew Jones, an expert in American
New Generation Churches: "It's not about the difference
between young and old - that has always been present
- and not even about special churches for young people,
but about 'churches into an emerging culture'." Even
in the USA, where churches are generally at best modern,
but hardly post-modern, 'between 1,000 and 5,000' churches
for the new generation have been started in recent years,
according to Jones. Dieter Zander, for example, previously
youth pastor at Chicago's Willow Creek, has moved to
San Francisco, where he is building a small, relational
youth church.
Some examples
In May 2000, leaders, strategists and
visionaries from 20 nations on five continents met for
the first time in Sheffield, to gain an overview of
the global phenomenon 'youth church'. Some examples
from this Consultation and my work with DAWN in Europe:
Tribal Generation, Sheffield, England
From the outside, St. Thomas church,
in a suburb of the industrial city Sheffield, is an
Anglican church like thousands of others: dark grey-brown
bricks with a small lawn. The church is something special,
though: twenty years ago, the local Baptist and Anglican
churches merged. Through a number of crises and a spiritual
revival in connection with John Wimber in the 80's,
the result became a home for several hundred young people.
When their premises became too small, they searched
the city, and settled on the Roxy, Sheffield's largest
disco, right in the centre. Today, 2,000 people attend
the services, and the church has planted 18 so-called
'clusters': groups of four to six cells. In addition,
the 'Tribal Generation' movement (reminiscent of the
Biblical tribes and Celtic Christianity) is spreading
throughout England and Ireland. (www.tribalgeneration.com)
KRAFTWERK Dresden
A few years ago, doctor and counsellor
Karsten Wolff started studying the Bible with a small
group, including an ex-junkie and a punk. The group
grew, and formed a commune. From these small beginnings
grew KRAFTWERK, initially as 'godly bar' and then youth
church. Today, the church has 80 members and 40 visitors.
Wolff: "We've identified 25 different youth cultures
in Dresden, 12 of which are represented and expressed
in our church." The KRAFTWERK regularly stages spectacular
events, such as a 'Jesus Love Convoy' in Street Parade
style. (www.kraftwerkdd.com)
Jesus Revolution, Norway
Stefan Christiansen was a successful
youth pastor in Oslo's largest church, but always thought
in larger dimensions. He quit in August 1997, and, with
his wife Anne, founded the Jesus Revolution - "a movement
with the vision of starting a revival amongst youths
throughout Europe, by sending out a large army of courageous
young preachers and church planters." Today, Jesus Revolution
is represented by action groups in 300 of the nation's
schools, and mobilises thousands of young people each
year for camps and outreaches. They are starting to
implement a European church-planting strategy. Stefan
Christiansen: "The Jesus Revolution builds on the conviction
that young people are ready to react to the Gospel when
it is brought in a form which they can understand."
In 2001 and 02, Jesus Revolution has planted churches
in Barcelona, Marseille, Milano and Munich, and more
will follow. (www.jesusrevolution.no)
What are the attributes of New Generation Churches?
New Generation Churches are a colourful,
varied scene. They develop from existing churches, in
which they remain integrated (as in Sheffield), form
new independent churches (such as the KRAFTWERK) or
from evangelistic movements such as the Jesus Revolution.
Behind these external differences are clear common attributes.
Here are some of them:
1.They value relationships above all
The 'Builders', the generation after
World War 2, lived mainly according to the pattern 'behave,
believe, belong': behave correctly, believe the right
thing, then you belong. Fellowship, spending time together,
belonging: the church is a lifestyle, not an event.
An interesting comparison between the churches of three
generations can be summed up with the words "behave,
believe, belong": The 'Boomers', the 60's and 70's generation,
changed the order: 'believe, belong, behave'; faith
and vision form the basis of belonging, the right behaviour
comes last. The 80's and 90's generation lives clearly
according to 'belong, believe, behave': belonging is
most important. Faith is not understood as dogmas or
creeds, but as relationships - relationship with Jesus
and close relationships with each other. New Generation
Churches often have house-church-like cells as their
foundation, with large music and worship events.
2."Bring the church to the people, not the people
to the church"
Instead of inviting people to church,
New Generation Churches go into the surrounding culture.
Martial arts, dance, music, skating, video - whatever
the kids do, the Christians are there: in the disco,
the gym, the bar or McDonald's. Karsten Wolff: "It is
time to stop rejecting and bedevilling the culture in
which we live. It is time to go into the culture, saving
it from abuse, perversion and self-destruction. Jesus
did not come to create a new Christian sub-culture;
he lived in his culture, with the prostitutes, thieves,
lepers and outcasts. He came to save the people and
the culture in which they lived from that which destroyed
them."
3.They work internetionally
That's no typo. The visions and aims
of the leaders of such churches are generally international.
Jesus Revolution's Stefan Christiansen thinks in European
dimensions. Sweden's Magnus Persson is working on the
vision of creating 24-hour Christian youth centres in
every European city. Sal de Terra, a Brazilian youth
church, sends workers to England. Dresden's Karsten
Wolff describes his aims: "KRAFTWERK's two focuses are
to build a stable, working model of 'Church in the Youth
Culture', and to start a movement of networked new churches
in the youth culture in Germany and throughout Europe."
Some 35 groups from Germany, England and Switzerland
have formed 'Interface', where they share their experiences.
Network instead of hierarchy - that is the cooperative
style. Teamwork, "try it", organic thinking, "don't
be afraid of chaos", "practise, not theorise", "just
do it". Such values are characteristic of young businesses
and is a trademark of the New Generation. The Internet
plays a decisive role in the spread of youth churches
and movements, comparable only to the meeting of the
Reformation and the printing press. 24/7 prayer, for
example, became a Europe-wide phenomenon within a few
months mainly because of the Internet (www.24-7prayer.com).
I described the virtual heart of St. Thomas in Sheffield,
their homepage, above. Mike Breene: "Today's teens view
the Internet as their possession. It is their world."
That's why he emphasises "This site belongs to you.
www.tribalgeneration.com is a place where new movements
can offer their services, and Christians and above all
non-Christians can meet."
4.Discipleship and activation are central
Youth churches don't want to be consumer
offerings. Sweden's Magnus Persson is convinced: "If
we offer youths a concert or other top event, it will
be 'out' very quickly. They may come once or twice,
but then it's over. But if we build a church with them,
make it their church, we will engage them long-term."
Discipleship is accentuated, not simple teaching, following
the pattern "I do, you watch - I do, you help - You
do, I help - You do, I watch".
5.Radicalness
The inner core of New Generation churches
is certainly the radicalness of their vision, which
reaches deep into their soul because they use their
generation's tools to express themselves, combined with
a strong feeling of belonging. Karsten Wolff again:
"The 'church in the youth culture' is no new fashion
in the Christian marketplace, but rather a radical attempt
to bring God's love to predominantly young people in
a relevant and understandable way. It's an attempt to
move the core Christian message back into the centre;
it's not about Christian events, buildings, belonging
to a particular confession, music or clothing style,
long hair, short hair, dyed hair, no hair, ear- and
nose rings in or out or whatever other external forms;
it's about relationship. Relationship to God, who made
us and has a good plan for our lives. In one sentence:
'God created us, we messed up, and through Jesus, we
get another chance.' That is the most important message
in the universe, and we dare not confuse it with the
packaging."
Perspectives and a dream
New Generation Churches challenge established
State and Free Church Christianity. They take their
sending into their society seriously, try to bridge
cultural divides and, because of that, are a refreshing
alternative in the church scene. Children of Christian
parents are having growing problems with traditional
youth groups. They sense instinctively that there is
a great divide between their experiences and the church.
Of course, there have always been and there will always
be youth revivals. Every decade of the 20th century
probably experienced its own small revival among the
youth, always coupled with a healthy radicalness and
some tensions between it and the older generation. Why,
then, expressly youth churches? Isn't it enough to expand,
improve, modernise and update the offerings in existing
churches? The reasons are simple: First of all, Europe
simply does not have enough churches. The task of "Discipling
a nation" can be defined in various ways, but the truth
is that with somewhere between two and five percent
active Christians and the total social marginalisation
which they experience, we can hardly speak of the task
being fulfilled. Simply put, we need masses of new churches
in every geographic and social area in Europe. That
cannot be denied. The other reason is that for the last
50 years - in contrast to other generations - youths
have their own, totally different, culture. I was recently
shocked to notice that I, not yet 50 years old, have
practically no contact with youths outside my own family.
We live in separate worlds, speak different languages,
think differently and are probably happy if we can leave
each other in peace. Occasional encounters are mostly
tense. Youths used to be 'little people'; today, they
have practically all privileges, money, (probably) more
mobile telephones than adults, and travel alone around
the world. In short, they have their own culture - one
in which they can make themselves understood all over
the world (mainly in English), but hardly speak with
people ten or twenty years older than themselves. This
culture needs its own churches, just as foreigners in
our own nations need their own churches. But that is
only half of the story. The other half is that they
need fathers, mothers, grandfathers and grandmothers,
whereby they can probably relate better to loving grandparents
than my generation, the self-willed 'Boomers'. They
need encouragers when the daily life in their exciting
church becomes dry and tiring. In the youth churches
which I have so far seen, there were always a few elder
but young at heart members with a love for the kids,
and who were much loved in return. The question to my
generation, predominantly the leaders, remains: do we
have the courage to set young people free, even if they
tear the normal church and denominational structures
apart? Do we trust that Jesus can build church with
them? Do we have the humility to step back and believe
that God can build his Kingdom with very young people?
If I remember rightly, someone did that 2,000 years
ago in Galilee...
My dream is...
Five or six churches get together, set
their best leaders between 18 and 30 free, with $30,000
'venture capital', and tell them: We want you to build
a church for the new generation in our city. We will
pray for you, cover your backs spiritually and help
you with advice, but we won't tell you what to do. You
may make mistakes, and we will take responsibility if
things go wrong - but for God's sake, do something!
Wouldn't that be fantastic? I have the impression that
such a step would be an immense blessing to all established
churches, because they could discover what a church
looks like which is relevant for the coming culture.
In the coming years, people will think and communicate
differently, have different values and develop new lifestyles.
Youth churches may look like a workshop for the future
at the moment, but they will be the norm in ten or twenty
years.
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