Each Wednesday Tim Carson shares the wonderings of heart and mind and the inspirations and quandaries of the spirit. You are invited to wonder along with him through the telling of stories, reflections on faith and observations on the events that shape our lives.  

Tim Carson

 

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Wednesday Wonder
May 6, 2015

 

Yes, it's graduation time! Lots of school graduations of many kinds, from High school to College.  And because the church mirrors some of the cultural form around us - like school semesters and breaks, for instance - the culture sometimes shapes us more than we know.

 

For instance, for those churches that lapse into it Christian education may resemble moving through grades in school more than, say, an unfolding spiritual formation. The name itself, Sunday School, unintentionally falls into that hole. The meta-message for young people is that Christian education is something from which you graduate. That means that unless otherwise grounded, the end point of going through a Christian education program is "graduating" out of church at the end. I have completed my coursework. I'm done.

 

That is exactly what happens to lots of youth and young adults. It is the result of creating a church program that looks like a school program alone, especially when ungrounded in other fundamentals, like regular participating in the whole multi-generational community of the church and spiritual life in the family. That includes worship, fellowship events, shared common service. When the youth have remained isolated in youth activities without broader participation in the Christian community they are highly prone to this "graduation" from church at the end of the trail. They have not been formed in the larger life in the church. In fact, they don't know how to share an adult spirituality in the church because they have never witnessed it, never seen it modeled for them.

 

Similarly, the parents who have made some commitment to "get the kids to church" but have not themselves grown in discipleship, service or commitment are also likely to "graduate" out of church right along with their children. If the only thing connecting them to the Christian community has been their children, when their "education" has come to an end they will leave with them. As a matter of fact, the children and youth sense when parents attend church as quasi PTA members or room parents, dutifully bringing the cookies until they don't have to anymore. They also know when their parents are there living the faith for themselves.

 

Graduation.  It's tricky business in the church. We never want to unknowingly create a state of affairs in which young people equate graduation from school with graduation from church. We don't want them graduating from church at all, at least not forever. And it's the forever aspect that is becoming more common and haunts me most.

 

What we want to offer in the church is a Rite of Passage, not a graduation. We want to encourage passage through into the next stage and not graduation out as a completion. 

 

@Timothy Carson 2014

 

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Broadway Christian Church
573.445.5312   www.broadwaychristian.net