Edward the Confessor and 21st Century Christianity

I caught up with the BBC's The Normans on iPlayer. I hadn't realised that the Normans were descendants of the Vikings. Nor had I realised that the invasion of England was due to a dispute about who was England's rightful king in the wake of Edward the Confessor dying without children.

Edward the Confessor's reign was very successful. A flourishing economy and a very organised, efficient system of government (and taxation) made England a leader in Europe. Hard to believe that it had all fallen into enemy hands within twenty-five years.

Edward also had a reputation for godliness; the Catholic Church eventually beatified him. Unfortunately, his childlessness, was it seems, a direct consequence of the spirituality that made him a candidate for sainthood. Rumour had it, that, though married, he remained a virgin. His spirituality, which undoubtedly at least partially accounts for his success as a ruler, robbed him of a successor. Ultimately, the lack of a natural successor not only undermined the achievements of his reign, but was central to the fall of England into the hands of the Normans. Edward the Confessor, to the detriment of Anglo-Saxon England, didn't have an Edward the Successor.(For our Scottish readers, the Scots decided to partner with the Normans, with the result that Scotland became a cosmopolitan economic powerhouse in the 11th century).

And my point? Well, it's quite simple: the church can enjoy success and have a reputation for being deeply spiritual, but completely forget that unless we have a "next generation" we're only a few decades away from decline and possibly even oblivion.

I do get concerned when I attend conferences or meetings that are considered "cutting edge" and there are only a handful of teens and twenty-somethings present - and sometimes none at all. I worry about the impact of time heavy, programme dependant discipleship approaches and approaches to spirituality and how this impacts young parents with young children. I have to ask myself continually "Are we presenting discipleship and Christian commitment in a way that is setting people up for failure?" Is it possible to be so caught up with our revelation of what we think the Holy Spirit is doing that we don't even notice that most of the people at the party - like me - are mid-life plus?

I know that there are lot of good things happening amongst younger people today. However, I do have this feeling that if we don't frequently remind ourselves of the need for a next generation, the topic could easily drift of the agenda.

So there you have it. Edward the Confessor made me think on my day off. Perhaps his celibacy within marriage will be of some profit after all.

Winter in June

Apparently contemporary art really has lost its way. It's in its death throes, according to one commentator .

For some of us, the question is more likely one of "Did contemporary art ever look like anything other than something in death throes?" However, setting aside our cultural prejudices and preferences for a moment, there is something worth noting here: people with a more secular outlook are - perhaps - beginning to realise the signs that we live in an age of decline.

I suppose I was intrigued by the above article because of a talk I had heard at the conference referred to in the previous post. Sy Rogers, in one of his talks, gave us some very thought provoking reasons as to why we as a society are now in a winter season. Societies, he argued, go through seasons - spring, summer, autumn and winter. Winter was a season, sent by God, to purge us and set us up for a new springtime. I had never heard this idea before, but it actually made a lot of sense. We're in a winter season and even our most celebrated artists' productions have the marks of winter.

What was also intriguing was how societies came out of winter seasons. Sy talked about a "hero generation" rather like the generation that fought WW2. Those born in the 80's and 90's are potentially that generation. (It was a little hard to accept that one is just a hardened old Gen x-er child of the 60's).

So we listened to Sy's talk on the Friday and headed off home the next day to raise up the "hero generation".

Unfortunately, most of the hero generation isn't in church or even close to it, or at least that's what the latest British Church Growth stats indicate. There is a relative absence of teenagers in the British church. 80% of under 15s and 75% of 15-29s are not church members and 59% of British churches have no-one in the congregation under 19.

The obvious answer would seem to be found in building strong youth works and making youth evangelism a priority.

I am sure that is part of the answer, but I don't think it is the whole story.

A few weeks before conference, I was given a book which had some real insights and presented some compelling research about youth and family ministry.

For a start, it argued that a strong youth ministry can be a very positive thing, but in the long run function as an orphaning structure. What was meant was that once the young person had left the youth group they didn't naturally fit into church life because the only relationships they had built were within the youth group. Now I would never have thought of that!

On that basis, therefore, it would appear that it is equally important to embed teenagers into the general life of the church.

It's one thing to recognise what teenagers have to offer and give them opportunity, but how do we help them become "successful" Christians and "successful" in life? In a Christian home a rhythm of life that includes eating together and praying together helps in the process. But what about those who don't come from a Christian background. They need a cloud of witnesses people who'll cheer them on, encourage them, believe in them.

If you're older than 29 and reading this blog, why not find a teenager or twenty-something to cheer on? You might just be playing your part in helping us through the winter season.

The Gathering 09

Over the last few years Serious4God has held an event called The Gathering. Its aim is to bring together young people from all over the country for worship and teaching. At one Gathering event in recent years over 1000 young people made a first time commitment to Christ.

The above is the third of four video promo trailers for the event. Together they all make a mini soap. I'll post the fourth instalment closer to the event.

This year the event is being held in Telford. You can check out the details at the S4G website. Some free downloads from last year's event will give you an idea of what you can expect.

You can find S4G director Mark Pugh's blog here

The Gathering 09 takes place over the weekend 13th - 15th March 2009 at the Telford International Centre.