Becoming a "Greenhouse of Hope" ...

Forming People Who Will Change the World
Pastor Rick Barger

As Epiphany people, God has called us together and breathed life into us for specific purposes that are expressions of God's mission to and for the world. Mission, then, is not something that a church may do. Mission is the church. Epiphany is God's mission to and for the world.

In discerning why God has called Epiphany to be who we are and where we are, by the Spirit of God, we have collectively come to an insight that we are to be a congregation that "cares about kids." I believe that the most worthy calling is one that invests in others to be the best they can be, and I believe that God calls us to give our children our very best. Our very best, as Epiphany people, is to have our children so grasped by the resurrection of Jesus from the dead and what it means that our children's own vision of what they will do with their precious lives will be attuned to God's purposes for the world. We are called to raise up world changers.

As Epiphany, we must become the environment -- the incubator -- that feeds, nourishes, and forges people who will grow up and change the world. As persons who have been grasped by a distinct story that gives life to the world, we do have hope for the world to offer. Our biggest hope for changing the world is our young people.

Being Sacredly Formed

"We have grace to share." That statement emerged early in Epiphany's discernment process. Grace speaks of a God who exudes love, forgiveness, and acceptance of all, and the unshakeable hope of the empty tomb that once held our Lord Jesus Christ. Grace serves as a response to the stressed situation in which people live and how we can truly experience God as God really is.

Being sacredly formed means to own and live out our identity as persons created in the image of God. It is the ultimate freedom. It is where life and purpose and the hope for the world are all found. The prototype is Jesus. When we want to know what life in the image of God is we look at Jesus. If we want to know how God intends for us to live, we imitate Jesus. We become his disciples, which means that we do what Jesus does.

The calling and identity of the church is to be a "witness to the recurrection" (Luke 24, Acts 1). This is not about being eyewitnesses; they all died in the first century. So this is not about reporting facts. As witnesses to the resurrection, our lives, individually and as a community of faith, disclose the changed situation and triumphal bursting forth of life, hope, joy, grace, courage, and love made manifest in the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. We live knowing that God finally gets what God wants in the end. Instead of being bystanders, we are co-creators with God.

If the "end" is the redemption of all creation, to be "co-creaters" means that we participate in the present as if the future is happening right now. We work to wipe tears. We work to end suffering. We work to bring people together. As we do, we are being formed in the sacred image of Christ.

Adults Are Key to Sacred Formation of Youth
Critical Findings About Youth and Religion

Between August 2001 and December 2010, professors Christian Smith (University of Notre Dame) and Lisa Pierce (University of North Carolina/Chapel Hill) led a comprehensive national study of the religious state of youth in America. This National Study of Youth and Religion (NSYR) surfaced critical findings that many suspected but needed solid research to verify. Some important findings:

1. Our youth are not hostile toward religion or church. Their relationship to the faith of the church is actually somewhat benign.
2. Our youth have a positive view toward faith. They simply don't give it much thought. "It's basically a nice thing."
3. The church and the Christian faith are seen as a feel-good experience that really demands nothing of its adherents.
4. In America, we have "divine whatever-ism." What one believes is not really that important as long as there is some sincerity to it.
5. Only one in twelve American youth practice Christianity in a way that faith is important in their lives. In other words, faith is not very important to 92% of the youth population.
6. The 8% for whom fath is quite important reveal levels of personal vitality, success, and a sense of purpose that Jesus would name "life."

However, the real problem that the study exposes is quite alarming. The fundamental reason for the lack of a durable and vibrant faith among our youth is that such a faith is lacking in their parents. If we are going to be serious about our youth being sacredly formed, their formation begins with the formation of their parents and other key adult asset-builders in their lives.

Greenhouses of Hope: Congregations Growing Young Leaders Who Will Change the World, Dori Grtinenko Baker, editor

Almost Christian: What the Faith of Our Teenagers is Telling the American Church, Kendra Creasy Dean

A New and Right Spirit: Creating an Authentic Church in a Consumer Culture, Rick Barger