I recently asked for suggestions on new forms of Christiane ducation
and youth ministry, which were used ina presentation I made to a task
group of the National Assembly of the Untiing Church looking at the
future of the teaching ministry of the church. Somebody asked me if I
would post what I’d said after I’d finished it. The following is a
summary of the major points I made in my presentation about what I saw
as some of the major implications of media-cultural change for the
future education and youth work of churches.

1. Go back to the future. While the present time is confusing, it is
not without signposts or indicators. This doesn’t mean going back to
literate basics. Rather we can learn from similar periods of major media
shift in the history of the Christian tradition. Also there are many
indicators that electronic media are involving a recovery of many
characteristics of earlier primary oral cultures, overlaid onto print
culture – we can learn a lot from how Christianity is nurtured within
oral cultures.

2. Rethink the core of Christian faith The overload of information
means that people are using different methods for selecting and using
information. This requires a clarification of the basics of Christianity
that are to be communicated/lived out. But in contrast to previous cores
of abstract ideas and theology, the new core needs to be experiential,
life related, emotionaly appealing, and easily recalled (memorable)
rather than abstractly theological or doctrinal.

3. Take seriously the context of consumer culture Whether we like it
or not, we are positioned by our culture now as consumers – we need to
accept that rather than attack it and begin to address the question,
what does it mean to be a Christian consumer (in contrast to earlier
questions of Xn citizen, Xn subject, Xn slave, Xn ruler, etc.) and how
do we address people responsibly as consumers. As processors of
excessive information, people approach information differently than
previously: their criteria of consideration is not "Is this
true?" but "Is this attractive? Is this useful? Is this
accessible?" We need to frame our communication of faith
accordingly.

4. Faith must be embedded in youth popular culture. This does not
mean an uncritical or indiscriminate endorsement of all popular culture,
but a respectful and appreciative incorporation and use of popular
culture in the elaboration of what faith means and in our expressions of
faith practice.

5. Become more sensory rich and stimulating Prior to our passing
print-era, medieval churches made intentional use of the visual arts in
their nurture and expression of faith: wood and stone carvings, massive
stained glass windows, evocative architecture, tapestries, frescoes,
paintings, dramas, verbal rhetoric, candles and incense, bells and
smells – church was the best multi-media show in town. That largely
disappeared in word-dominated Protestantism – we need to get the
multi-media back.

6. Take seriously the autonomy of youth spirituality. For better or
worse, the emerging generation has grown up with a culture in which they
have had to chart their own way, make their own choices, put together
their own life’s journey. This involves a tentative and pragmatic
relationship with social institutions. Either we try to coerce them out
of that and suppress their choices (fundamentalism) or we take that
autonomous journey seriously and support and equip them in it – Jesus as
the journeying companion rather than the feudal lord.

7. Encourage and develop new forms of Christian community Our brick
churches served a form of geographical community and social week that
has increasingly limited relevance. The emerging generation is socially,
geographically and culturally nomadic – (chronologically as well – as
Jeremy noted well, try planning ahead with a casual work roster). This
requires radically different forms of community that will form apart
from suburban churches, not necessarily within them.

I’d be interested in responses and discussion.

Peter Horsfield
Electronic Culture Research Project
Commission for Mission, Melbourne.
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