Sunday Letter

Dear Friends

On Monday we held the final interviews for the post of Youth Pioneer.  Despite our present circumstances, we had ten applicants initially and we then interviewed four and finally reduced it to two who came to Chard for a final interview.

Our final pair are both strong candidates with many gifts and a real heart for young people.  We have one more stage to go through and then we will be in the position to make an appointment.

This is an exciting and hugely important appointment for us.  I know that many of you long to have young people coming to church and look back to the past when this was the case.

We are, however, in vastly different times.  Most of our young people have grown up in a secular society with little or no exposure to religion or faith of any kind.  Their own culture is dominated by technology and social media and the way they communicate and form social groups is different to the way we would have experienced.  Added to that, their culture, and the pressures on them to conform to it, is constantly changing and moving at a pace that leaves most of us breathless. 

For many of our young people their futures are also uncertain.  Jobs for life are now the exception and they face a future which will require them to constantly acquire new skills if they are to remain employable.  Housing is unaffordable for many.

Against this background, the church needs to find new ways of reaching and engaging young people.  They are simply not going to come to us, so our Pioneer will be out in our communities meeting the young people where they are.

The old ways of doing church are no longer relevant or attractive to most of our young people, and we will not attract them to our Sunday services as they are now.  In fact, Sunday mornings are no longer suitable for young families or young people as they have so many other commitments.  We must move beyond thinking that ‘church’ is the Sunday morning services or that it must happen in our building.  Church is the body of Christ, and not bricks and mortar.

As a community we need to pray that the person we eventually appoint to this vital new post will be someone who can genuinely and authentically engage with our young people and help bring them to the knowledge that they are loved and that their lives are worthwhile.  We also pray that they may come to know Christ and the true freedom that knowing him can bring.

Please pray for our two candidates as we make our final decision in the next couple of weeks.

Blessings

Ann