Reaching out to our youth where they are
Father Maxim Kurlenko, an Orthodox priest in Moscow, Russia, has a ministry of outreach to disenfranchised Russian youth through his use of rap music. Another priest has a mission next to his church that resembles a night club, a place where young people gather for coffee, music, and fellowship, under the guidance of a priest who is available to serve as their spiritual father, and friend. Both these ministries have the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill, who knows the importance of reaching out to our youth, using whatever effort we can master to bring them into the Church. Such outreach necessitates being able to speak the language, and understand the culture, of today’s youth.
The thinking that our faith is something that demands conformity for the seeker, leaves large numbers of our young people closed off to the message of the Church, and keeps them from entering into Orthodoxy. Zines such as “Death to the World” present the gospel to those who have been disenfranchised by the society at large, for such ministries of outreach spring up from Orthodox youth who have themselves struggled with faith and culture. For young people rebelling against the dark aspects of our American culture, the notion of a rebellion against the consumerism, materialism and greed, of our sick society, can actually open of a door to the salvific Ark that is the Church. Being willing to embrace our youth where they are, opens the door to the only authentic institution left.
When the culture at large is embracing the complete secularization of our social system, nihilism replaces hope. Lest we abandon our beloved youth to such a bleak future, we Orthodox dare not simply wall ourselves off from the culture of the world, for to do so does nothing but commit our Church to the dusty shelves of history libraries, and we will have witnessed the death of our faith. If we truly love our young people, and desire to see them safely within the Ark of the Church, we must be militant in our outreach. To do otherwise is to allow the devil to win, and the faith will wither on the vine. If we protect the Pearl of Great Price as though it be some treasure that belongs only to the culturally refined, we will ultimately lose the treasure, and will have squandered the gift of faith. For in hording it for ourselves, we push away those who could have been faithful children of the Church.
Because so many of our young people are feeling misunderstood and discounted, a ministry of outreach is of critical importance. Saint Paul reached out to the philosophers of his time, and Christ Himself charged us to go out into the highways and byways, reaching out with the salvific message of the gospel. Can we do anything less?
With love in Christ,
Abbot Tryphon
Photos: 1) The Orthodox Christian Fellowship’s college retreat, Saint Nicholas Ranch, Dunlap, CA. 2) Father Daniel Habib of Saint John Coptic Orthodox Church in San Dimas, CA., together with a group of young Coptic Christians from Seattle, visited the monastery. As is always the case with our Coptic friends, they brought a huge amount of delicious Coptic food to share with us.
HOW? I am a sixty two year old mother, grandmother and aunt to wonderful young men who are totally disconnected from the church ….they lovingly mock and dismiss me and my Faith.
We can make a tremendous impact on young people by simply being genuine and authentic witnesses to our faith. They may not respond immediately, but the long term impact can be great. Many young people go through periods of disinterest, just as I did when I was young, but find their need for spiritual fulfillment grows as they age. It is then that they remember the parent, grandparent, aunt, or friend, who inspired them with their authenticity and genuine piety. “lovingly mock(ing) and dismissing” you now, may even be a form of denial. Don’t give up on them, but continue to love them, and inspire them.
I am sixty-two and a father. I know the pain of being defined as irrelevant. I know the pain of persevering in the attempt to speaking into the life of a teenager or young adult and realize that they literally are living in a different paradigm that renders what I am so devotedly attempting to share, meaningless and unintelligible.
These replies to your Daily Offering remind me of a time in the early 90’s when
‘ Perestroika ‘ was hovering over Russia, and a Russian naval sailing vessel visited San Francisco….a lady friend and I, along with other city dignitaries, were invited on board for a Bay sail, and I got to know a young man from Vladivostok, because that’s where my father was born. I noticed that he, still being part of the Soviet military, was wearing a Orthodox Christian cross. I asked him how we was able to or allowed to wear something like that and he told me that his grandmother had nourished him with the Orthodox faith, inspite of what the Soviet ideology was…….He was 19 yrs old at that time…..