God at the party

We recently started a series on faith and culture with our 14+ young people at church. Over the next four weeks we'll be exploring what it means to be a Christian in a sexualised, a hedonistic and a media driven culture. This mini-series will be conversational and we'll be asking the young people for their input, as they know youth culture better than we do. Expect more on this but here are a few initial thoughts.


The 'Skins' Culture
In my experience the media tend to do a pretty good job of defining a culture, and then adding 20% to make it more interesting or controversial. One of the more recent media snapshots of youth culture is the Channel 4 tv show 'Skins'.

The show follows a group of sixth formers from their first day at college until their last day, when they step out into the big wide world. Each episode follows a different character and the writers use the characters to unpack and explore issues that young people face. I've watched them tackle mental illness, death, substance abuse, eating disorders and they’ve done loads of stuff on identity.

A personal favourite of mine was the J.J episode in Series 3 (Episode 7) where they tackled the issues that autistic children and their families face, especially when the young person is trying to navigate their way through mainstream education. Having worked a little with autistic young people, I found this deeply moving and very close to the mark.

The negative side is really obvious from the first moment of the show. This show is definitely not for kids, but it acts as a great social commentary to those interested in young people. The characters live a hedonistic, not a care in the world lifestyle.  No matter what the situation, their first instinct is to please themselves in whatever way they can. They drink when they want to, take drugs when they want to, they say what they want when they want, they sleep with whoever they want. As long as they are happy, in that moment, nothing else matters.

This type of culture is strongly influenced by a philosophy called ‘Existentialism’. Existentialism is a way of seeing the world as a series of independent moments and nothing matters other than the choice you want to make in that moment. In this philosophy,  life is just a series of moments that don’t relate to each other. There are no reasons. There is no purpose. In Existentialism, life is just random events, so enjoy the moment for what it is and take no responsibility for the future.

'Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. 

Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily 

recognise what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it.’ (Romans 12:2 / The Message)

Of course the Christian view of the world is at odds with the Existentialist view. In it's simplest form, the verse above, which is our baseline verse for this series, points out in no uncertain terms that God does have a plan for you, firstly to be transformed, but then to be a part of God's work in transforming the world around us.

God at the Party
You don’t have to look very far in the gospels to see that Jesus liked parties and I love the image of Jesus 'reclining at the table' in Matthew 26. John records that Jesus’ first miracle was to turn water into wine at a wedding (John 2). I'm also always reminded that Jesus was consistently drawn towards the most non-religious people of the day. The disciples were made up of a lot of very colourful characters. Matthew was a crook, Simon and Andrew were working class lads that lived by the sea. These were not exactly the quality you would expect of the divine. Yet these people were his best friends and closest followers. They were the one's that really grasped the kingdom and went on to shape the world.

The gospels also show us that Jesus spent significant amount of his time at parties and having meals with these kinds of people. He was able to go into these situations and hold his integrity. He didn’t lose his calling or get drawn into their way of behaving. He went for a meal with a crooked businessman, but he didn’t buy into the scam.  He stuck up for a woman that slept around, but he wasn’t tempted to be just another guy that takes advantage of her.

Jesus moved towards these people in love, and was able to hold on to his integrity. He went into these situations but they didn’t break him, he didn’t compromise, in fact he turned them round into opportunities for healing, teaching and forgiveness.

I think that God wants you and me, to do the same. Yes we should  be careful not to fall into traps that harm us. Yes we should be sure that we can hold our identity and integrity. Yes there will be times to flee from a situation, relationship or habit. But God sends us into the world, into our schools to hold our integrity, and bring about the same transformation Jesus did.

So I won't be telling my young people not to go to parties. Instead, I'll be telling them to take Jesus with them as their plus one. Or maybe, just maybe, he's already there.

Reflections from our latest Youth Alpha...

The following is an article written for our church magazine

'Jesus is far too important a figure to be left only to the theologians and the church'

J. Pelikan

Nicky and I delivered our first Youth Alpha course in the summer of 1996 and this was the first time we had ever been given any teaching responsibility. We had a small group of 12 and 13 year old young people and from what I can remember, it went really well. Two of that group are now in full time ministry, one of which is in Africa managing a programme for orphans with HIV.

As we run our Youth Alpha programme at Emmanuel, I’ve been reflecting on how youth culture has changed since my first adventure into Youth Ministry. Back in 1996 young people did not have mobile phones, social networks did not exist and everything seemed much simpler. The young people even had some understanding of the Christian faith and precepts such as sin were all easily understood.

Jumping forward a few years, I was introduced to a philosophical concept called ‘Postmodernism’ when studying for my theological qualification. Lecturers told me that this new way of seeing the world was emerging and that it would challenge the way the church interacted with the world. I was taught that the concepts of absolute truth, sin and good and evil are very hard for Post-moderns to swallow.

Youth Alpha courses have come and gone over the years, but on each occasion the content has moved further away from the one that the class of 96 heard and responded to so faithfully. Over the years I’ve seen postmodern thinking emerge and be established in the way that young people see and understand the world.

The Youth Alpha course we are currently running at Emmanuel is the most Post-modern group of young people that I have taken through the Youth Alpha programme. They see the world differently that I do and as a result, we’ve had to think very carefully about how we present the gospel. How do we present the death of Jesus to a group that is not convinced they’ve done anything wrong? How do we teach Jesus as ‘the way and the truth’ (John 14:5) when they are convinced that truth is what they decide it to be?

One of the opportunities that Post-modernity presents is that while truth is out of fashion, stories are seen to be of real value. As a result, we’ve spent a lot of time in Genesis, talking about Eden and God’s ideal for us. We’ve told the big story of God from the tree in Eden to the tree at Calvary. And most importantly, we’ve told the stories of Jesus. We’ve told about how he connected with people, how he lived and what he taught. We’ve tried to present the whole life of Jesus and to give the young people the space to ask questions and respond. I’ve been reminded of how the Gospel transcends cultures and even though these young people are a world apart from my class of 96, the gospel remains as alive and provocative as ever.

There is no question that youth culture has changed dramatically in the 15 years I’ve been working with young people. This generation is not just different in appearance and lifestyle, but also in the way they think and see the world. If the church is seeking to remain relevant and accessible to the world around us, we may need to do the same.