New Waves of spirituality amongst the youth of Europe
In this edition of Vista we wanted to feature some examples of spiritual vitality amongst young people from across Europe. These are only four of many we could have chosen but reflect the diversity and dynamism of Christian youth ministries today
Reaching the groms
The extreme sports ministry Christian Surfers has been active in Europe for over eight years and has sections in Holland, France, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Ireland and the UK. There is also the potential of new missions being planted in Italy and Germany.
Their core activity is to be a ‘Christian presence and witness in the surfing communities’, and they work alongside surfing associations, as well as organizing a number of events of their own, both local and high profile.
For example, in Holland a core group of approximately 60 Christian Surfers run their own events in Katwijk and Scheveningen, and also work alongside the Dutch Surf Association in a serving capacity at a number of contests. The surfers range from the groms (young, keen surfers), right the way through to those who have been surfing for 20-30 years.
“I think one of the major challenges, particularly in some of the European countries, is to get through the ‘I am a Catholic, therefore I am a Christian’ attitude where your religion is what you inherit, as opposed to something that describes a personal relationship with Jesus Christ,” says Phil Williams, Christian Surfers Europe regional coordinator.
“In some of these countries, we have found that if you try to talk about your faith, they can respond very adversely and we have organized movie showings where people have walked out and thrown tomatoes at the screen as the gospel content of the movie is shown. That said, we have seen some good growth and heard some amazing stories of how Christ is reaching surfers.”
Phil says he is excited as they look to the future and aim to continue building a European team, to network together, and to be a Christian presence and witness among those communities, firstly as individuals, and secondly as the body of Christian Surfers.
Contact Phil Williams by e-mail phil@christiansurfers.co.uk or www.christiansurfers.co.uk
The word became flesh – and moved into the neighbourhood
Eden began in 1997 as an initiative of the Message Trust in Manchester, UK. Young people from tough urban communities were becoming Christians through their schools ministry, but found it difficult to settle in a church to be discipled. So rather than take young people out of their context, the Message began to work with young people where they were, in partnership with local churches.
Eden teams aim to bring God’s love and transformation to some of the most deprived areas of the UK, including Manchester, Sheffield, Bradford, the North East and soon to be launching in London. Modelling John 1.14 (the Word become flesh and moved into the neighbourhood) their incarnational approach includes living in the community, and building relationships and trust with the young people in these areas.
“Lots of Eden’s work is under the radar,” says Anna Thompson, Eden Network’s National Development Coordinator. “ Team members spend time hanging out with their neighbours and the kids on their street. Activities flow out of friendship rather than the other way around, sharing life together as Paul did with the Thessalonians ‘We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well,’ 1 Thess 2:8.”
“Our Christian identity is revealed very quickly - people will ask ‘why are you here, nobody ever deliberately comes here’. In these areas you are either born there or you by circumstances you find yourself here because you are the bottom of the pile. That opens up those initial questions where we can say that we are here because we believe God cares for this place even if other people have forgotten it.”
To find out more about Eden Network, and watch the documentary A story of hope visit their website, www.eden-network.org
A New Wave in Bulgaria
The New Wave movement in Bulgaria began in 2001 for as an initiative for Christian youth, and most of those who attend are aged between 15 and 25.
“Our main goal is to gather young people together and help them have passion for God,” explains Peicho Muhtarov, one of the organizers. “In Bulgaria we have very good praise and worship teams, with live concerts where the young people’s heroes are on stage. If you can give the young people their music they will stay together with you for hours and hours to praise God non-stop. ”
The annual Summer Wave, attracting 6-700 young people, is held in the Black Sea area. The week-long event focuses on teaching, music and groups where ‘young people meditate about the Word of God and pray’ as well as music.
The Spring and Autumn Wave events are held in different cities each year. Several praise and worship teams are involved in each event, and the music is interspersed with three teaching slots. Between 800 and 1300 young people attend the 10 hour-long events.
“We choose to hold New Wave three times during the year, because if it is only held one time, the young people’s new passion and fire disappears if there is not a real commitment to follow Christ,” says Peicho. “As well as helping them have passion for God, the next important goal is to watch them and to invite some of the youth in a conference to be trained how to be leaders in their generation. In the last 10 years more than 50% of the young people we trained are now involved in some form of Christian ministry.”
Youth culture in the established church
Evangelisches Jugendwerk (EJW) is the youthwork arm of the Lutheran church in Württemberg (South Germany) and is affiliated to the German YMCA. Historically, EJW has organised brass bands, children work, boys and girls groups and camps – but for more than a decade it has also planted youth churches, based on the UK ‘Fresh Expressions’ model.
“If you want to reach youth culture, you have to live the Christian faith within that culture,” says Reinhold Krebs, regional youth worker with EJW. “We feel that it isn’t enough to run a club, or to send young people out to reach their peers – we have to build up spiritual centres. Because the historical church is not reaching them in relevant ways they need to experience a Christian community within their culture to be thrilled by the gospel.”
However Reinhold is adamant that the churches still need to be part of the Württemberg Lutheran Church, which is one of more than 20 churches within the Evangelische Kirche in Deutschland (EKD).
“We now have about 210 youth services in our region, Some meet monthly, some four times a year, and some weekly or fortnightly. A lot of the young people are integrated in worship bands and take part in leading the service, creating an atmosphere where they encounter Christ. These youth churches are the first models of “fresh expressions” within our church, which is more and more discovering a “mixed economy” kind of vision for the postmodern context.”
Find out more at www. www.ejwue.de/
Junge Gemeinden - Experiment oder Zukunftsmodell by Kristina Büchle, Reinhold Krebs and Marg Nagel is about EJW’s experiences of youth churches.
Joanne Appleton