JourneyOnline
The Progressive Spirituality Network continued its Conversations on Spirituality with a session titled “Perspectives on Spirituality from Generations X and Y”, in February.
The group meets at West End Uniting Church on Sunday evenings and is committed to exploring emerging spiritualities, the boundaries of belief, ethics, and spiritual experience especially in the light of contemporary knowledge.
Speaking with a panel of three Generation X and Y’ers (those born in the 1970s and 1980s) the group discussed the relevance of organized Christianity in the lives of twenty and thirty year olds.
Kim Preston, an art teacher, said church became irrelevant to her when she hit her teenage years partly because it was not a place that encouraged private spiritual contemplation. Now working at a church-run school, Ms Preston said her creative arts department strives to help the students discover their own spirituality through creative exercises and personal reflection.
She spoke of the spiritual intelligence and insight of young people. Ms Preston said one of her year 10 students said the reason she was having trouble with her art project – to develop a personal symbol – was because ‘she hadn’t met herself yet’.
Jonathan Dingle a young engineer and a Christian spoke about the difficulties of working in an environment that was largely critical of mythology and spirituality. “You lose the art of soul searching in engineering,” he said.
Mr Dingle said young people are often too preoccupied building careers to explore their spirituality. He said from the outside, organised religion can look more like a social event than a focus on spirituality.
“Questioning isn’t seen to be popular. Spirituality shouldn’t be a comfortable place all the time.
“Young people want to be challenged. They need the church to challenge them, the world and the church itself.”
Mark McDuff, the third panel member, was brought up in a conservative church environment but as a teen the church and indeed the Bible lost significance in his life and was “not enough” to sustain his quest for spirituality.
Now, as the father of two young children, Mr McDuff thinks about spirituality for his children. He said that modernising churches by putting in PowerPoint projectors and drum kits is not necessarily the answer to making organised religion relevant in young people’s lives.
There was an overwhelming sense that young people want to be listened to as whole people. They yearn to be significant. These people want to ask questions. Why am I here? Why do I believe that?
The impression from young people present was that they could ask questions to a certain point but, if they questioned too far, they were not seen as Christian.
The overall feeling was that church as it is may not last, but the story will. The story will have validity.
For more information on the Progressive Spirituality Network and to see a program of upcoming events, visit www.progressivespirituality.net
Photo : Mark McDuff and Kym Preston talk on spirituality for Generation X and Y at West End Uniting Church. Photo by Mardi Lumsden
