Stories of Hope

I have been traveling much of the past few weeks, visiting with family and friends; hence the lack of blogging. But I am now back home with much to process from these final summer visits. I also journeyed to the mountains (maybe "large hills" is a more apt description?) of northern Georgia for the closing retreat of the FTE Ministry Fellowship program of which I and this project (exploring the integration of Catholic social teaching and young adult ministry) have been a part for the past year. It was a refreshing experience, to reconnect with the 19 other fellows from across the country, some of whom have become good friends. 

I was also surprised and affirmed to learn how many other fellows' projects involved similar themes of social justice and young adults. One person looked at the popularity of summer church camps within his denomination, and how this powerful and influential experience in a young Christian's life might provide opportunities for teaching about social justice. Another person studied community organizing as a model for churches involved in work for justice, and a third investigated programs around the country that facilitate ongoing learning and discussions around social justice for young people. To see how my work intersected with many of my peers' projects gave me much hope that similar conversations about youth and justice are happening more and more throughout our churches.

After my involvement with the Fund for Theological Education (FTE) over the past year, I have come to appreciate the opportunity its programs provide for real dialogue with people from very different backgrounds, perspectives, and religious traditions. Our group of 20 Ministry Fellows provides a perfect snapshot - we are Presbyterian, Baptist, Catholic, Lutheran, Episcopalian, Disciples, United Church of Church, Methodist, and Evangelical, among others. It has been an interesting mix to engage in conversation and relationship. But our meetings together have not been simply superficial, feel-good, "can't we all just get along" gatherings - we sometimes disagree on fundamental points about what it means to follow Christ and be the church, and being the strong leaders that FTE identified us to be, we are generally not shy about expressing our equally strong feelings on any given subject! Yet even when we differed theologically, I still recognized a deep mutual respect for each other as Christians committed to ministry among God's people. And the places where we do agree despite our differences - like the need to involve our faith communities in work for justice and to invite more young people into the life of the church - give me encouragement that despite our seemingly constant struggles both inside and outside our churches, there are still so many ministers across the country and even the world who are committed to the social call of the Gospel.

During one of the exercises of this closing retreat for our program, we brainstormed together about a shared vision of church that our summer projects have revealed to us. Common themes again emerged - the need to go out to people and engage their stories, rather than waiting for them to come to us; to be actively involved in the issues of the day and not merely the defenders of a passive Christianity; to have hope when despair seems the easier alternative; to trust God to lead the church and to listen for the ways that the Spirit is moving among us. There is challenging, dirty work that awaits beyond such beautiful rhetoric as well, and I would be much more cynical about our collective ability to realize this vision if it were not for the real individuals I met who are more than willing to engage the reality around them and ask how it should be differently. Not just the other fellows in this program, but all of the ministers, pastors, organizations and young adults I met with this summer. Many people shared their stories with me - the challenges they see facing young people and the church, as well as their hopes for what the church could be. As I begin to write the summary of my findings this summer, my challenge is to find how to share these stories of hope with others and to discern where all of this work is leading me next...