Syndal Young Adults :: 2010 Vision

Posted on | February 5, 2010 | 4 Comments

I realise that not all who read this blog are “Young Adults”, neither do you all attend Syndal Baptist Church… but for those who fall into those categories… there are some exciting things that I would love to share with you!

I’ve just started my forth year here at Syndal. In that time – we’ve tried many things, some of which have worked, others of which have been less successful! What I have sensed that we lack is a sense of vision.

I’ve observed that there are a LOT of Young Adults who call SBC their home. More than 200 people aged between 18 and 35 connect either at a Sunday service, a small group, or a chance to serve. That is a BIG group! Yet – I hear often that people feel we are small and declining. I would challenge that perception by saying that I feel we lack Unity… not size.

I’ve been asking God to isolate His vision for the Young Adults of Syndal down to a single word. Its something I’m doing in lots of areas of my life at the moment and I highly recomend it. I tend to be a bit of a wordsmith – meaning that most things come in threes and I take great delight in finding strategies that either rhyme or all start with the same letter! The “one word vision” challenge I’ve been pursing is helping to clarify lots of things. I’m learning that vision is seasonal, vision leaks, and that visions need to be fulfilled in some way.

The vision for “Unity” amongst Young Adults at SBC came firstly from frustration – I literally lay awake at night worrying about how many 18-25s we lose from the church. I can handle them leaving SBC, even leaving “the church” more generally to an extent … but I have observed too many times, too many young adults for whom leaving church also represents “leaving” Jesus Christ. Too many young adults at SBC feel isolated, disconnected and unsatisfied with their experience of community here.

The vision for “Unity” came secondly from me repeatedly reading about the importance of Unity in the bible. I’ve known this for years… but sometimes when random readings all point in the same direction – I sense a reason for it. 1 John, Joshua, Acts and John 17 have been the books \ chapters I’ve read over the past three months that have spoken into this.

The third source of this vision for me, is that our generation has enormous potential and a responsibility that I feel we are not fulfilling as well as we could be. Around 125 different young adults are “involved” in ministry at SBC – either leading Tribe, Fuel, Creative Arts \ Music, being part of the Host Teams or helping at Foodbank. This is amazing – and worth celebrating in an era where many bemoan the Gen Y for being self focused. However – I feel that serving together can become even more fulfilling and effective if we raise the bar on Unity even further.

I’ve asked some wise people about this Unity vision I have – and they’ve raised some good questions about it. Its true that Unity is more the product of pursing a shared vision than a vision in itself (read Alan Hirsch’s book “The Forgotten Ways” and you’ll get what I mean). BUT … For a season, sometimes you need to focus on the means and not the goal. For this season – everything we do for Young Adults at Syndal Baptist church will have the goal of increasing our Unity.

My vision is that every Young Adult feels both welcome and invited to be a part of the community here… and as if they matter to it.

My vision is that every Young Adult feel a part of something that is amazing, and much bigger than themselves. Churches are meant to be the BEST experience of community that a person could experience – yet, I’m not silly enough to think its the reality for all.

My vision is that every Young Adult be active, not just “involved at church” (although I think that is a key way to feel like you belong) but by living every second of their lives like it, and the people they encounter…  matter.

My vision is that our Unity becomes so attractive, that we grow simply through people feeling connected well – and thus feeling confident about introducing others and inviting them along.

There is more I see… but that might do for now!

I’d love to hear from you if you’ve read this… especially SBC Young Adults and hear more of your vision for our generation here at SBC.

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