Evangelical Adjacent
Reflections On The Peak of Church Youth Culture – And Where We Are Now
Dear Friends,
Surely, in some youth leader’s closet, there are pictures from Spring 2003 and 2004 Youth Quake events I went to in New Jersey, but I don’t have any. Those were the peak years for Youth Quakes around the U.S., though, as this timeline describes, and those events deeply shaped me as a young teen. In fact, 20 years later, this scrap of fabric featuring the 2003 conference logo (and which is way more orange in person) still stands in as a reminder of those events, a patch that will eventually get stitched onto my very wholesome punk vest (it also includes a Precious Moments patch). The theme of that year was Head To The Heart -
The second year that I attended a Youth Quake, the theme was A New Creation, drawing on this coming Sunday’s epistle from 2 Corinthians: “So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!”
Now, one of the many downsides of being formed by a defunct youth event from the early aughts is that, just as I have no pictures of it, much of the associated media is also lost to the abyss. I frequently find myself singing tracks from the traveling ministry band – Captive Free (the Northeast branch) – that I can’t find anywhere online. And that includes the track that includes this “New Creation” text.
Attempting to find the song I remember on YouTube yielded this result:
It’s not quite what I was going for, but it’s better than I would have expected, and pretty entertaining as Christian children’s media goes.
Mustard Seed Faith
There’s something about recalling these Youth Quakes and the particular culture of the ELCA in the late 1990s and early 2000s that feels synonymous with that particular brand of evangelical mustard seed necklaces and WWJD/FROG/etc. bracelets. Which is to say that while I’m no exvangelical, growing up as a mainline protestant in the NYC suburbs at that time was surprisingly adjacent to the world of non-denominational, more conservative Christianity.
There’s something funny about moving from the near-evangelical to being a fairly traditional Episcopalian with a rather Anglo-Catholic bent. It can make the continuity between these two parts of my life somewhat illegible. And, as I work helping both my own community and other parishes build stronger bridges to their youth, I think about the misconceptions around what connects young people to their faith, what young adults and families want from worship.
It feels not so far from this article that was shared in an Episcopal Facebook group this week – about Catholicism, yes, but also about the nature of religious traditions and belief in the face of changing social norms and pressure. Much as many young Catholics are drawn to the Tridentine or Latin Mass, I come from a context that is drawn to the 1928 BCP, to Rite I, to chanting.
Now, I’m a millennial, so I’m aging out of the youth space, but I am decidedly in the “young family” category that churches speak so desperately about wanting. And I have been successful in helping youth discern their own direction in parishes. And, as formative as it was for me, I don’t think the semi-evangelical, individualistic approach to Christianity that I was raised on still works.
Mustard seed faith – the same parable we encounter this Sunday alongside the passage from 2 Corinthians – has the ability to be individualistic, or it has the ability to be about the collective. When we think the mustard seed lives inside of us (which tends to be the message of those mustard seed necklaces), when we believe that we have faith the size of a mustard seed, we misunderstand the parable. We are invited to rest in the great flourishing branches of the mustard seed which is the kingdom of heaven. It is not inside of us, but ready for us, calling us home to community.
Pre-Season Prep
I grew up in New York City, where the school year stretches to the very end of June, so I’m a little out of step with the current perception that it’s already summer. Nonetheless, we’re all in the program transition season, so here’s a few more things I have on my radar:
I’m trying to decide what I think about the forthcoming Just Love Story Bible from the Rev. Jacqui Lewis and Shannon Daley-Harris. Jacqui Lewis is a known powerhouse and illustrator Cheryl Thuesday’s art is beautiful, but I’m not sold on the writing style. You can check out some sample pages here.
My take so far: it’s too didactic. The text does a lot of “telling” about God, rather than letting the stories do their own work. For example, following the story of the Annunciation and Visitation, the text reads,“Here is another surprise. Children can be leaders in this movement of love and justice. Every time you love on your family and friends; every time you are kind to strangers; every time you are good to your body—you are part of this movement too. It’s how you love God with everything and love your neighbor as yourself. Love, period. That’s what this movement is all about.”
It also rewrites central texts without actually making them more accessible. Sure, the Magnificat is a little complicated, but rewriting it with vocabulary like “tyrants” and the “callous rich” doesn’t actually further open the text to children who are still in the storybook Bible demographic. All-in-all, I think there are much better options, but I’d love to hear what you all think!
Roger Hutchison just announced that we’re getting two new Sparrow books! If you’ve been around for a minute, you know that I adore Sparrow’s Prayer, and I can’t wait for Sparrow’s Easter Garden and Sparrow’s Blue Christmas. They won’t be out til 2026, but much like Sparrow herself, I can’t quite contain my excitement.
Elizabeth Riley, a recent ECF fellow focusing on the intersection of the Church and social media, has written a book based on a beautiful practice she’s been sharing called “Rage Prayers.” Out this fall, I can’t wait to dig into this and offer opportunities for this unique approach to prayer for our youth in the coming program year. Til it drops, I recommend dropping by her TikTok for a peak at this distinctive content. What song would you make the soundtrack to your rage prayers?
Last up for today, I’m loving the track “Saints Out of Sailors” by Flannel Graph - it’s another fun take on Psalm 23, surprising in a way that I didn’t expect. I hope you enjoy it too!
Peace,
Bird