03 July 2012
Young Christians tackle embarrassment surrounding faith
Poverty, ethical living, sexuality, and dating
non-Christians and are among the issues young Methodists want to
talk about, the Methodist Conference heard today. The Conference
also heard that a number of nine-to-13-year-old Methodists were
coping with problems such as bullying and feeling embarrassed about
being Christian.
In a report received by the Methodist Conference in Plymouth,
young Methodists told older members of the Church about the need
for the Church to be a place where younger Christians can go with
their worries. Feedback from the 14 to 17-year-olds who attended
the 3Generate Children's and Youth Assembly in Cleobury Mortimer
last year showed that their age group was keen to debate gender
imbalance in churches, and the need to create a safe space in
churches to talk about sex, climate change, violence and injustice.
The Conference agreed to urge the Church to encourage young people
to become part of 3Generate and to promote the work of the Children
and Youth Assembly.
The report was presented to the Conference by Sam Taylor, Youth
President, who said: "The voice of young people in the Methodist
Church is growing and we need to have the skills and knowledge in
place to make that voice effective in challenging and changing the
Church. We want to see more and more young people becoming
part of 3Generate and we want the Church to keep communicating that
3Generate is one of the best ways to do it. 3Generate is a good
model of participation because we get children and young people
involved in planning and initiating it and that makes them feel
empowered as part of a church community."
In 2010 the Youth Assembly passed a resolution agreeing to support
young people wanting to learn more about what was happening in the
Holy Land. This year Sam Taylor and a group of young Methodists
shared what they had learned from a week-long visit to Israel and
Palestine with other young people across the Church. "The former
President of Conference, Revd Alison Tomlin, and I travelled with
six young Methodists to sample a bit of what life is like in the
Holy Land," Sam said. "We visited both sides of the wall, met
people of all ages, and were blown away by what we saw.
"It was the definition of an emotional rollercoaster; going from
laughing to crying, to being filled with anger, to being filled
with hope. Coming home and being able to share our experiences has
been a real challenge, but it's also been amazing to see people get
just as fired up as us about wanting to make a difference there.
This is just one example of how we're responding to the needs of
children and young people, and how we're making a difference on a
number different levels in the Church."
Notes:
1. Photos of the debate can be found here.
2. Interview with One Programme Participants (young people invovlved in Church life) can be found here.