{"id":670,"date":"2009-01-22T22:08:00","date_gmt":"2009-01-23T06:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/?p=670"},"modified":"2009-01-22T22:08:00","modified_gmt":"2009-01-23T06:08:00","slug":"young-evangelicals-and-the-presbyterian-church","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/?p=670","title":{"rendered":"Young Evangelicals And The Presbyterian Church"},"content":{"rendered":"

I suspect that many of you, like me, are regular readers of the blog Tribal Church<\/a> by Carol Howard Merritt.  (If you are not, I highly recommend it if you want an honest look at where the church is among young adults today.)  And if you have not carefully read today’s entry<\/a> I encourage you to have a look.<\/p>\n

Carol uses the change in the presidential administration as a vehicle to touch on two important themes — one in the general religious landscape and one in the PC(USA).<\/p>\n

The first point Carol mentions is that your typical young “evangelical” probably does not fit the stereotype from a few years ago.  While “social evangelicals” have been around for a while, with organizations such as Evangelicals for Social Action<\/a>, Carol says that today:<\/p>\n

Well, there is a new passion for social justice, for living out the
\nwords of Jesus. And I cannot help but notice the Joshua Generation\u2014the
\nyoung Evangelicals who cannot swear allegiance to Christian Right, who
\nare finding their own way.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

and<\/p>\n

There are a swarm of young Evangelicals who are wandering right now.
\nTwenty-six percent of young Evangelicals support same-sex marriage.
\nThey no longer have a spiritual home in the congregations of their
\nyouth.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There is a group that is between the traditional descriptions of the evangelicals and the progressives.  She asks “Can these young evangelicals call the PC(USA) their home?” That is my paraphrase of her question.  What Carol says is:<\/p>\n

Often, when I\u2019m around denominational types, things are said that
\nmake our denominations inhospitable for people who grew up Evangelical.
\nI guess I should just spell it out. Because I love my church, I need
\nto let you know that if we want to reach out to a new generation, we
\nwill need to learn to accept Evangelicals or ex-Evangelicals. You may
\nnot agree with me, you may not have had the same experience, but still,
\npersonally people communicate to me regularly, \u201cYou\u2019re not one of us,
\nand you never will be.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Carol points out three places where the younger generation is challenged<\/p>\n