Recent research by Ofcom suggests significant growth in Internet usage amongst all generations between 2012 and 2013, albeit with variations according to age group. Whilst 98% of 16-34 year olds and 91% of 45-54 year-olds are online, this drops to 42% amongst the over-65s. A further key difference is the amount of time spent online: for over 65s the average weekly internet use is 9hrs and 12 mins, rising to 16hrs and 54 mins by the 'average British adult' and over 24 hours by 16-24 year-olds. As the headline in this morning's Metro News noted, this means that young adults are spending an average of a day a week online. This raises all sorts of questions: how are social relationships changing? Certainly for some of the teenagers I know, internet friendships are as important as face-to-face ones, and many feel a strong pressure to acknowledge a phone message immediately even if someone else is talking to them in person - the virtual world is as 'real', and commands as many obligations, as the material one. But these statistics also pose questions about how we deliver learning within a church setting. I've noticed that in some quarters there has been a marked reluctance to engage with online learning and I still regularly hear people say that where the majority of a congregation is elderly, the idea of putting anything online is a waste of time. There are good grounds for this, although those grounds are changing fast. For churches with a younger profile, there is an enormous task to harness the internet and social media for fostering discipleship and Christian fellowship, and even relatively technologically savvy churches tend only to dip their toes into this. However, at the same time, there's also a task to ensure that people continue to be able to relate face-to-face in a material as well as a virtual sense - particularly for example in resolving disputes and conflicts.
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There was a very salutary article in The Guardian on 5 February detailing the latest ONS statistics on unemployment. The jobless rate amongst 16-17 year olds is 35.9%, and 18% amongst 18-24 year-olds, compared to 6.7% amongst 25-34 year-olds, 4.7% amongst 35-49 year-olds and 4.4% amongst 50-64 year-olds. Young people have historically fared amongst the worst in periods of high unemployment (this was broadly true during the 1980s, the inter-war slump and the late 19th century), but is no less concerning for all this. A few years ago St Peter's Saltley Trust funded Workcare (Coventry and Warwickshire's workplace chaplaincy team) to do some research amongst church-related projects helping young unemployed adults, (the material is temporarily unavailable on their website, but keep checking!). But there is more to be done. What can your local church do?
We've recently heard about a new book edited by two very experienced reflectors on issues of ageing, faith and spirituality: Keith Albans and Malcolm Johnson (eds), God, Me and Being Very Old: Stories and Spirituality in Later Life (SCM Press, 2013). I'll try and review it here once I've had a chance to read it.
There's an interesting and entertainingly illustrated article in the Huffington Post from 15 September 2013 suggesting that high expectations of entitlement and specialness are at the root of much contemporary discontent amongst young adults. Such self-perceptions are not at all unique to those alive today (I'm currently reading George Eliot's Middlemarch, and there are several characters who exhibit similar traits - Rosamond Vincy is disappointed due to her expectations of her material and social standing in the community, whilst Edward Casaubon is ultimately deluded in thinking he has found 'the key to all mythologies' when in fact his thinking is not only wrong but not even terribly original). However, unhappiness due to feelings of entitlement and unusual specialness does seem pervasive at present (although Generation Y readers may wish to comment on whether the Huff Post article accurately captures what is going on for their generation).
Christian faith has a long track record of commentary on entitlement and specialness. It hasn't always found it easy to get the balance right - some spiritual traditions almost seem to divinise the self and its desires, whilst others too easily fall prey to an 'I am a miserable worm' sort of theology which can be particularly damaging to the estimated 1 in 4 churchgoers who already struggle with depression or low self-esteem. In reality both extremes are theologically questionable. A more balanced view arguably emphasises and holds in tension a view of the human person as fundamentally created in God's image and loved by God (something which should shape our identity more than any other consideration) with a view of the human person as marred by sin and in need of grace. True humility consists in knowing 'of what we are made', having neither artificially inflated expectations of ourselves or the world, nor harmfully imagining we are worth nothing. The question is: how to help people, through prayer, support, worship, and learning opportunities, to discover this strong centre in God which will prevent us from flipping and flopping between two more harmful extremes? According to new data from the Office for National Statistics, 26% 20-34 year-olds in England are living at home with their parents, an increase from 21% since the ONS began to collect data on this question in 1996, and representing a 25% increase in the overall total. Indeed, measured differently, the true figure may be higher, since the data does not include people who have moved back in with parents after being divorced or widowed, or those married or living with a partner or child but living together at their parents' home.
Key issues appear to be not so much house prices per se as the affordability of getting onto the housing ladder. Unemployment also appears to be a factor - the two 'peaks' at either end of the ONS graph also correspond to higher percentages of young people who are unemployed (people living with their parents were twice as likely to be unemployed). Intriguingly, the West Midlands had the highest percentage of age English region, with 29% of 20-34s living with their parents. Younger adult men are also more likely to be living with their parents than younger adult women. The numbers decrease with age (at least one paper's headline reads 'a quarter of 34-year olds living with their parents' which is in fact incorrect) - ONS data suggests that amongst 20 year-olds, 65% of men and 58% of women were living with their parents, but this falls to 8% of men and 3% of women by the age of 34. All this is very interesting - a few generations ago living with one's parents until marriage was a fairly normal pattern for many young adults, and newly-weds often started married life living at one or other parents' houses until enough had been saved for a mortgage. As with the fall and rise in the age of marriage and childbirth, this most recent set of data suggests once again that some of the classic/popular markers of full/independent adulthood are being pushed later into one's 20s and 30s as 'young adulthood' is elongated. If you've been listening to the news this morning it won't have escaped your notice that Britain is hosting the first G8 summit specifically dealing with the growing challenge of dementia care worldwide. You can get the whole conference streamed live here and and read more about the three priorities (driving improvements in health and care; creating dementia-friendly communities; and improving dementia research) here.
In 2014 St Peter's Saltley Trust are planning to work together with the WM Region Churches' Forum to organise a one-day gathering of church-based projects engaged in work with the frail elderly and those with dementia, exploring our theology of ageing and good practice in developing worship, care and discipleship with those groups. More information will appear on this blog as plans progress - do contact us if you want to be kept informed. I've been re-reading Acts recently and have been struck again by the early churches' attentiveness to the needs of potentially vulnerable generations. In Acts 6, the dispute between the 'Hellenist' and 'Hebrew' believers over the distribution of funds, and the resultant selection of seven trustworthy men to administrate it, turns around a concern not to neglect the needs of the widows in the group. Later, in Acts 9, widows are again present in significant numbers in the church in Joppa, where Peter raises Dorcas from the dead. No doubt widows could be variously poor or rich, but in both cases lacked the social protection provided within the social context of the time by their husbands. It was a mark of the common life of the early Christian community to step in and support those who were vulnerable in that way. This is a challenge to us in the contemporary church to continue to care for those who are vulnerable through and after bereavement or who lack family support - yes, those who are elderly, but also people at other stages of life.
However, the Dorcas story in Acts 9 tells us something else in addition. Dorcas was not simply a victim, a passive recipient of the church's care. She was 'full of good works and acts of charity'. This reminds us of the importance of not simply 'doing to' potentially vulnerable individuals and groups within our churches and communities, but also of allowing them to minister to us, and to do 'good works and acts of charity' for themselves. In his 'Acts for Everyone' commentary, Tom Wright reminds us that Dorcas was just one of countless faithful Christians over the centuries who have quietly and effectively played their part, and in reflecting on Dorcas and on the 'widows' in Acts it reminds me of my own grandmother who after the death of her husband still continued to be 'full of good works and acts of charity', volunteering for a bereavement counselling service, cooking meals for 'elderly' people in her road (who were not infrequently younger than she was) and supporting her local church in all sorts of other ways. How best do our churches support, care for and resource older people who may have their own support needs but who also want to continue to make a difference in the lives of others? I've noticed a number of articles and resources about loneliness recently. Loneliness can strike at any age (most people go through periods of loneliness as teenagers, or as young adults moving to a new job or town, or witness reports recently about the number of single-person households, not least due to high divorce rates in middle age). But it's often particularly an issue for older adults living in their own home but finding it increasingly difficult to get out an about.
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation have just released a 'loneliness resource pack' with practical ideas to help individuals and groups understand and make positive responses to loneliness within their communities. Take at look here. A new issue of the US journal Lifelong Faith is now out and available for free download here. This edition focuses on generations learning and growing together and there's an interesting article by Kathie Amidei reporting findings of a survey on what helps faith development within families and faith communities. Key 'environmental' factors included a warm and welcoming environment at home and church, and a sense of belonging and being part of a faith community. A pattern of relying on faith in times of crisis, and of acting consistently with moral beliefs, were also important. In terms of specific practices, regular participation in worship, opportunities for practical service, and family discussions about faith were also significant. A further article by Jim Merhaut urges congregations to go beyond merely providing intergenerational 'programmes' into creating a culture of 'intergenerationality', and gives some practical suggestions as to how to begin to achieve this.
I think I must obsess about my job more than I thought, because I’ve noticed recently that every time I pick up my free commuter paper from the station in the morning there’s always at least one story which sparks off thoughts about one project or another that we’re currently involved in at Saltley Trust. This morning’s pause for thought was prompted by an item on a survey of 4000 men undertaken by The Gadget Show, into what men thought were the gadgets that every man should own during his lifetime, at different stages of their lives. In a list no doubt cunningly timed for the run-up to Christmas, smartphones, games consoles and an iPod dock were among the picks for teenagers, whilst power tools, a satnav and a multi-purpose pen-knife were among the must-haves for thirty-somethings. According to the survey, over-50s should look forward to owning a leaf-blower, metal detector and ride-on lawnmower (we used to suggest our Dad should get one, even though each patch of lawn was roughly only twice the length of a large lawnmower in themselves). Counting up the items on the list, I find I only own six (and sadly in most cases not the more exciting) of the twenty-four items I am alleged to need by current stage of life.
This ‘life-stages’ approach to shopping for Gadget Everyman got me thinking about lifelong learning for discipleship: what if instead of a list of material acquisitions one could compile a list of key landmarks for Christian men (and indeed woman) at different stages of life? Not exactly a ‘100 Christian experiences to have before you die’, but rather a more strategic, decade by decade approach to Christian discipleship which is tailored to the unique individual and their gifts, but informed by a wider body of Christian wisdom about discipleship and the ages of life. One of the problems of lifelong learning for discipleship I’ve been mulling over this year is how one provides the maximum opportunity for constant renewal and refreshing in the Christian journey. Churches often invest heavily in those who are new in faith (either as young people or adults), providing different sorts of opportunities for them to explore, develop and grow. And for a time this works too – there seems initially to be a rough correlation between spiritual growth on one hand, and the amount of new activity you undertake in mission and service, frequency of prayer and worship, and amount of study you do to learn more about your faith, on the other. But as Alan Jamieson notes in his wise and thoughtful book Chrysalis, this direct correlation between effort/activity and spiritual growth is for most people only maintained for so long. After a while, more does not necessarily mean more. But too often in church, ‘more’ is the only thing that we are able to provide. This is a problem when it comes to our traditional discipling structures, such as home groups. Even when good and interesting new material is covered, there can be a tendency to become inoculated against the radical implications of what we are reading and praying, because it has just become so familiar, and in our groups and our individual lives it is comparatively easy to fall into a comfortable pattern which resists the full extent of the adventure of following Jesus. That’s true for me as much as it is true for many people I’ve observed. However, I wonder how different it would be if in churches and small groups we spent a little more time setting personal or life goals with Christian discipleship explicitly in mind? This is not to argue for a primarily works/activity-based faith. Although we’re seeking to participate with God in doing great things within the world, I’m not arguing here for an achievement-based faith to parallel the acquisition-based list of gadgets for men of each generation. Some of the most important sensibilities to develop in Christian discipleship don’t rely on a great deal of activity at all (which is not to say no effort) – aiming to spend one’s thirties going deeper in prayer would be a very appropriate decadal project to set oneself and be held accountable for. However, in other cases, perhaps a different sort of focus is just what we need. Having recently decided it was time to step down from co-ordinating a church home group, I’m currently feeling quite a new lease of life in exploring other avenues of Christian commitment, some of which are taking me into what is for me quite uncharted territory. We do this all the time in other areas of life – earlier this year an older friend of mine achieved the ambition he had set for his sixth decade of life by completing the London Marathon – so why not in our faith too? Just as ‘Be Holy for I, the Lord am Holy’ needs counter-balancing with ‘My yoke is easy, and my burden is light’, so also setting longer-term goals for our discipleship and service should be accompanied by large helpings of mercy, and an assurance that we are equally loved by God whether we succeed in our prayerfully-set projects or not. There should be no guilt trip here – ‘no condemnation for those who are in Christ’. So what would this look like in practice? For each decadal life review there might be a mixture of standing items (e.g., on life goals, prayer life, what opportunities are opening up/closing off in terms of Christian service?) but also some which are specific to different life stages (for example, by 60 one would need at least to be contemplating questions about retirement even if the outcome was to decide to continue to work, if possible, into one’s early 70s; at the age of 20, a key question might be about entering the world of work – some will already have done so and others will be about to do so). A church might collectively also decide on some collective projects for people at different ages and stages – for example, to explore some of those questions about vocation and service together in groups of people in the same decade of life. (Some suggestions for the key psychological/spiritual ‘tasks’ of each age and stage of life can be found in a number of books – for example E.E. and J.D. Whitehead’s Christian Life Patterns, or Peter Feldmeier’s The Developing Christian, both of which draw on work on life stages by Erik H. Erikson, but also on biblical and theological thinking). There might even be a menu of free-floating suggestions and ideas which people might want to commit to trying at least once in their lives – for example, signing up for a mission experience trip with a reputable agency, doing something out of the ordinary to raise sponsorship for a cause which is important to the individual, or committing to a number of years volunteering for a particular aspect of service in congregation and community. To be honest, the possibilities would be almost endless provided it was prayed through and supported. What it would require from the local congregation would be a commitment of time and space to accompanying each individual on their journey through life, creating a culture of expectation that we continue to grow and develop throughout adulthood, providing stories, models and examples of how it might be approached, and some structure or system of mentoring to enable it to happen. On our 'partners' page you can read about a not dissimilar initiative - Hodge Hill's 'spiritual companions' network. Could a focus on decadal taskst work? I don’t know – but it sounds more interesting than a nose/ear hair trimmer anyway… |
AuthorsIan Jones is Director of St Peter's Saltley Trust. Archives
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