Restructuring the Church, Restructuring the Conversation
Review of Reframing Hope: Vital Ministry in a New Generation, by Carol Howard Merritt (Herndon, VA: The Alban Institute, 2010)
By Cynthia Coe
Finally, I thought as I read this book, somebody “gets it.” In Reframing Hope: Vital Ministry in a New Generation by Carol Howard Merritt, a Presbyterian pastor born in 1971, the voice of Generation X finally gets heard.
This is a voice leaders of mainstream churches need to listen to and act upon. Generations Xers – those born between 1961 and 1981 – are no longer “slackers” or “kids.” These are the adults now aged 29 to 49 who may or may not bring children to church, may or may not turn in a pledge card to your parish, may or may not have anything to do with institutional religion.
Yet Merritt is not looking to throw out the old in favor of a whole new world. She is, in fact, quite deferential to and appreciative of the church-that-was, the church our parents attended, supported, and worked in as dedicated volunteers. She just wants you to know that things really and truly have changed in this young 21st century, and she wants church leaders to please recognize these changes and appreciate that things cannot be done “the way we’ve always done them.”
One big factor that is different now than it was in the late 20th century is the amount of time women can and will spend volunteering for the ministries of the church. I could make a case that this is a much bigger game changer for the church than women’s ordination. Merritt graciously points out that in times past, women worked tirelessly for their local churches – teaching Sunday School, cooking meals, serving on the altar guild, making hospital visits, you name it.
This rich source of woman-power just is not available for these tasks these days. Parishes still are blessed to have many women answering the phones, bringing delicious dishes to potlucks, singing in choirs, and other vital tasks. But look around, and you will likely see that most of these women are 50+ years old and likely older. My own parish once had a huge Catechesis of the Good Shepherd program, with handmade materials, well-trained teachers who took literally hundreds of hours of training, and conscientious volunteers willing to teach every single Sunday. That was ten years ago; now, young mothers are lawyers, businesswomen and single moms who must work – they just are not going to put in the time teaching Sunday School like the full time moms of just a short time ago.
Another reality of the 21st century is, of course, the internet – a technological advance nearly as important to the way the church functions as the invention of the printing press. For any church leader still wondering whether to put resources on the web or still asking parishioners to sign up for classes by penciling in one’s name on a sheet of paper in the church office, Merritt will lovingly explain how most adults now function.
A chapter on the mostly evangelical “megachurch” model is also quite interesting. Merritt, who grew up in this environment, looks back on recent history to describe the megachurch model as a “shopping mall” and “consumer” mindset that might not have worked, that appealed to seekers but didn’t take them much farther along in their spiritual journeys, and is probably on the downslide. Her observations will be affirming to smaller congregations, which actually have a built-in advantage in providing the community and in-the-flesh interactions young adults crave.
These are all issues churches need to face. As a mother of teenagers, one of whom recently told me “I don’t want to go to church; it’s all just old people,” I would hope that churches would heed voices such as these and make efforts to reframe their ministries for the 21st century. As Merritt points out in her fresh and very readable new book, Christianity is still very much about hope and a hope that is much needed these days; it’s a vision and picture that still speaks to new generations. It just needs to be re-framed to fit current realities.
Cindy Coe 