A fascinating revelation...

Today one of my singing buddies at worship said something like, "When I looked around today I think the average age was 40; this is the YOUNGEST crowd I've ever seen in worship." We had a TON (well, ok 26) of children today - and our littlest guest was baby Josie born just three months ago to Christina and Charlie. The last time I saw baby Wyatt he was still crawling and now his is a big boy - and big brother, too. It was sweet.

This revelation is important to me for two reasons. First, we have been on a quest to bring the spirituality of the mainstream Protestant church to a new generation. This is a way of being church that respects serious thinking, embraces paradox and questions while giving people space to be themselves as they grow into community. Not everybody understands this way of being the church: some want to JUST be an individual - for good or bad reasons - and find they don't resonate with meeting God in a horizontal way. Some yearn for the assurances of fundamentalism - the sometimes "one size fits all" theology that has been so popular in these uncertain times - but we firmly reject that, too. As Carol Howard Merritt notes in Tribal Church, our type of church gives people maximum space to build community while also encouraging responsibility. I can see clues that we are on the right track in reaching out to our target audience and being faithful in the process.

Second, at a stewardship conversation after worship, EVERYONE gets that we are talking about encouragement and invitation rather than guilt or wooden obligation. Each week, a different person from the congregation is going to share their story related to a theme (i.e. invitation, mission, dedication and thanksgiving.) During the second week of the campaign, four members will take over the sermon spot, too. I can't wait to hear what they come up with because each person grasps how important this new/old hybrid really is.

Today's music was a microcosm of the shift God has been helping us embrace: there was traditional Protestant hymnody alongside contemporary Celtic chant; there was a choral offering in polylharmonic Latin right next to Leonard Cohen's "Anthem" as well as South African freedom songs and spontaneous and liturgical prayer. To be sure, our spiritual and numerical growth has not been staggering - about 10-15% each year - but it is evident that we are starting to connect with our target group of young adults 25-40 in a new and creative way. I am grateful.