Youth Summit

In October 2012 we ran an event called the ‘East Riding Youth Summit’ in partnership with Beverley Minster and the Diocese of York with the aim of bringing young people and church leaders together to discuss how the church can adapt to welcome in more young people.

We hope to have the full report on our website soon but in the meantime here is the article about the Youth Summit from the Diocese of York website (Original article)

‘Jesus Christ IS relevant to young peoples’ lives, but the church may need to change to show it.’

In October a group of young adults and teenagers gathered for the East Riding Youth Summit at Beverley Minster to share their visions of the church that would reach out to their peers. They wanted to see a church that held fast to everlasting truths, for example by campaigning against Jesus’ name being taken in vain, but that was also not afraid to change in order to be relevant to the modern world over issues such as women bishops, homosexuality and ensuring all social groups were represented in the church. What they also made clear was their desire for a church that was a living example of the Christian faith, which was outward looking – serving and welcoming the whole community not just other Christians.

The event was organised by Mark Tiddy and Lee Kirkby, two church youth workers from the East Riding, and joining in with the whole process were the Bishop of Hull, the Diocesan Secretary, Peter Warry, and the chair of the Church of England Youth Council, Kat Witham. But why was an event like this necessary? Mark, who works for South Cave parish and the Hunsley Christian Youth Trust, said,

“I wanted to run the youth summit because too often young people have very little input into how everyday church is run when actually we should be including them more and more. So the idea was to give an opportunity for young people and their church leaders to actually set aside time to listen to each other. I found the day really encouraging, having the opportunity to sit and listen to young people sharing their experiences and opinions on church was fantastic. Young people have so much to offer the church and the level of discussion really echoed this to me.”

Jon Steel (the East Riding Children and Youth Co-ordinator) said, “Some people may wonder why we should do special events like this for young people when other people don’t get such priviledges! I think young people are a particular resource to the church which we must not lose. If we have to do something different to help them be heard then let’s do it. It benefits them to be heard but it will benefit the rest of the church even more if we listen to what they have to say.”

One of the key things that the young people talked about was what they thought the church could be providing for them and their peers. The most common response described the safety and security of a loving ‘family’ environment, one that offered acceptance, peace, love, support, forgiveness, where young people can make mistakes and work out who they are and what they believe. In this environment, they suggested, they will be able to find the purpose and direction and guidance that many of them are looking for. But they made clear that the first step was ensuring a loving and caring reception for them rather than judging and excluding them. Only then would the church show that Christ is as relevant to the lives of people today as he has ever been.

The young people also had a clear sense of what they brought to the church. The most repeated themes here were their energy and enthusiasm coupled with a fresh outlook, a different perspective and new ideas which carried with them a challenge to change things. Afterwards Mark highlighted that “we all need to realize how much young people have to offer the church as well as how much they can be offered by the church. It is really encouraging to see all the things that young people have to offer and all they can get from their churches.”

The challenge to the church to be ‘relevant’ is one that is often heard – and not just from young people. But how do we work out what this means in practice? Perhaps the first step is engaging in exactly these sorts of discussions. If we don’t stop to listen to each other about the issues we are facing in our lives then we won’t be able to see the relevance of the gospel to others – except in terms that make sense to us. The added benefit of better appreciating the situations that young Christians face every day is that the rest of us are better placed to support them in that.

On the day, the Bishop of Hull thanked all those who had taken part and contributed so well. Later he said: “I was really pleased to be invited to attend the Youth summit and… I was left with three main thoughts, amongst others. First, the way in which those present were willing and able to speak of their own personal faith was encouraging and challenging. Secondly, those working with children and young people still do so largely unappreciated and inadequately resourced. We so easily say that children and young people are the church of today and not just of tomorrow, but in practice our priorities seldom indicate that.”

Finally Bishop Richard highlighted the need for those on both ‘sides’ of the age gap not to make generalisations and assumptions about each other. “It is vital to address questions, pressures, beliefs, expressions of worship etc from the perspective of young people as a whole. On the other hand, it is as wrong to deal in generalisations regarding young people as it is to do so about old people, or men and women, or ethnic minorities. We must appreciate our diversity at the same time as rejoicing in our common humanity in Christ.”

The East Riding Youth Summit followed on from an event held in July when three local General Synod members sat down to listen to what young people thought about some of the big issues facing the Church of England. They talked openly about women Bishops, homosexual clergy and the Anglican Covenant as well as the wider question of how the church can connect with more people their age. The hope of all those involved is that these events will be followed by more so that young Christians will feel more involved in the church and its decisions but also so that their visions, dreams and insights can be shared with the wider church family and help shape our mission.

Kat Witham summed up the day, “It was exciting to be with a diverse group of people who know that they are the church and who are so passionate about bringing Christ’s hope and love to their communities. What really struck me on the day was young people’s desire for the church to be open, real and honest but not perfect. A comment that I heard repeated during the event was that the church needs to be a place where we can share mistakes and learn together.”