Even though I love my church, there are certainly things about it that concern me. One of the things that I see is that fact that we are not engaging the 20-30 year-olds in our community. Of course, this is not just a problem for our church; churches everywhere are facing this dilemma. Phil and I teach the College/Career class in Sunday School and generally only have one or two students every week. Of course, some of them are away at school, but most of them just don’t come. We’ve talked about how we could change things, but we aren’t sure how it should look, or if we’re just not the ones to be able to attract these young people. What does this mean for the future of our church specifically, and the church universal?
The other thing that concerns me is the role of women in our church. I have often found being a woman in our church a very frustrating experience over the past thirty years. I’ve read a lot about complementarianism and egalitarianism and find some validity in both positions. I read an article written by a woman who discussed her experience in martial arts. She explained the hierarchy of position in the training (based on belt color?) and the respect each student has for the others and for the teacher. She compared that to how she would like it to be in the church. I think she makes a valid point. I don’t want to run things; I just want to be respected and valued in the process.
Our church has faced some tough issues in the past few years, and I’m glad to say that I see growth in the area of grappling with controversy. We’ve been able to question each other, and disagree without being disagreeable. It is a work in progress, for sure, and I hope we can continue to challenge one another in a loving way.
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