New ways of doing church?

Yesterday I went back to Bromley Baptist to check out one of their cafe church services. Interesting concept - get rid of the rows of chairs and sit people round tables, do quizes and serve drinks. I liked it - felt nice and relaxed, gave me the chance to catch up with people I'd not seen for a while.

Two things in particular struck me during the evening. The first was just how familiar the whole thing felt. But familiar because it reminded me of the Sunday after church youth group sessions I used to run! I've had this sneaking suspicion for a while that most adults would really benefit from "doing church" in a similar way to the way young people are used to doing discipleship, and I think last night proved my point. Lots of chatting and discussing in small groups, use of music and visuals, quizes to impart information and plenty of theological reflection on the issues at hand.

But the other thing that struck me was the amount of information that was communicated during the evening. The theme of the evening was stem cell research and genetic engineering (!!), a subject about which I, and I suspect most of the other people there, knew little or nothing about. So much of the focus of the evening was on providing basic information about the issues, piquing their interest enough to want to go away and find out more. But then there was space to reflect on the issues, to talk and enchange ideas and theories.

As a well trained professional youth worker I've had it drummed into me that effective youth work is about listening to young people, responding to their real needs and questions rather than the needs and questions we think they have. And I think all that stuff is really important. But as someone with a heart for discipleship, currently working in a situation where a large proportion of the young people I work with have little or no Christian frame of reference, it strikes me that sometimes we need to be giving young people more "information" about what it means to live in the reality of a relationship with Jesus Christ. Yes, we need to model that stuff in the way we live but actually if the people we come into contact with know little or nothing about Jesus or what it means to live in relationship with him, how can we expect them to ask the kind of questions that will ultimately enable them to make an informed decision about whether Jesus has anything to offer them?

Again, last night reinforced to me the importance of balancing information and reflection. As youth workers we have a responsibility to stimulate and inform as well as listen and support. Yes, we need to hear what young people are saying, but we also need to give them something to talk about.