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2007-10-02 issue:

A genuine open door

Thoughts from four pastors of urban churches

by Anna Groff

Print Article

Ric Hudgens: Chicago
Living in the city is simply “cool,” one young person told Ric Hudgens, pastor at Reba Place Church in Evanston, Ill.



Ric says young people move to Chicago for graduate school, cultural life, diversity and the transportation system, which makes it possible to live without a car, attractive to many.

Ric says another young person told him that if New York City is “insane,” than Chicago is “invigorating.”

This also could be said for a service at Reba Place, a lively, intergenerational, family-oriented congregation—characteristics Ric says attract young people.

Churches near Northwestern University and North Park University tend to be dominated by graduate students, he says. But the young people at Reba Place want to see babies, families and older people.

Throughout the programming at Reba Place, the young people relate to all ages and are not segmented into a special young adult group.

“It’s not very professional here, but they feel authentic and real,” Ric says.

Young people also contribute to church life. This past winter a 90-year-old couple died. Before their deaths many young people visited them and provided meals. Ric says it brought young people comfort seeing a couple like this live for God and die peacefully.

Young people also bring hard questions and challenges, he says. They ask members at Reba Place to live out what they say they believe about economic, political and environmental issues. For example, one young person started a ministry of recycling bicycles by fixing up bikes salvaged from the police or garbage, then giving them away or selling them for a small price.

Ric says the church and fellowship allow young people to get involved immediately, and positions are not based on seniority. The church acknowledges that the young people may only attend Reba Place for several years, but that doesn’t lessen their qualifications for responsibility. In fact, Ric sees it as an investment, as young people learn skills during their time at Reba Place that later “bear fruit.” Some people may criticize young people for not giving money or enough time, but it’s worth it for the church’s future, he says.

Hugo Saucedo: San Antonio
Hugo Saucedo, Western District/South Central Conference youth pastor (Texas-based), says 9/11 and the beginning of the war in Iraq brought young people to his congregation, San Antonio Mennonite.

These people, many of them university students, did not grow up Mennonite but were looking for a community that believed in peace, especially during the war in Iraq.



These students were transient; they attended for a semester, then returned to their homes, but still a small group began. The first young adult small group started in the spring of 2002 with five people—three of whom were Mennonite Voluntary Service workers. The small group got together for meals, Hugo says. The MVSers at that time decided to stay in the city, and so did the next group. These people’s friends visited during spring breaks. The visitors experienced the city and the church welcomed them, Hugo says. This began the trend of young people moving to San Antonio.

Now 30-35 people, ages 21-25, gather weekly, and older people join as informal mentors. Hugo describes it as “a grass-roots, organic kind of thing.”

“That is what keeps people here,” he says. These kinds of intergenerational activities work best when the young people start it, he says. They see the importance of having these connections across the ages.

Cynthia Lapp: Washington
Cynthia Lapp, pastor of Hyattsville (Md.) Mennonite Church, admits to reading the alumni news from colleges and seeing names of Mennonite young people in the D.C. area she’s never seen at church. However, she’s “still impressed with the number of young people that do show up these days.”



Cynthia remembers her youth when she came to D.C. right after college at Eastern Mennonite University, Harrisonburg, Va. She had a difficult time integrating her church, work and social experiences and imagines this is also a challenge for young people today.

“People don’t really come to talk with me about it, but I assume that it’s there,” she says. “If I have a chance, I want to let people know that it’s OK to ask those questions.”

When Cynthia moved to Washington, she lived with Mennonite friends, some of whom really needed a break from church. She sensed they felt, I want to be involved, but don’t bug me.
Now as a pastor, she sees young people at church and receives email inquiries about Hyattsville Mennonite or housing in the Washington area.

Cynthia says the church’s Web site allows people to check out the church before attending—something that did not exist when she moved to Washington 20 years ago.
The older people in the congregation sometimes wonder if they should plan something special for the young people that attend. But like other pastors, Cynthia has heard that young people don’t want specific programming.

“They want to be regular participants and connect to people of all ages,” especially as they hang out with other young people all the time, she says.

Rod Stafford: Portland, Ore.
Rod Stafford, pastor at Portland (Ore.) Mennonite Church, says Portland is seen as a creative and beautiful place by many young people.



The urban growth boundaries, public transit, attention to environmental issues and opportunities for outdoor sports attract these young transplants.

“There’s a critical mass with energy and other young adults,” he says. People crave that sense of community in urban areas, he says.

People in their 20s, at least if they’re healthy, often are figuring out who they are, Rod says. In general, cities give a lot of space and opportunity to figure those things out.
Faith is one of those things.

Oregon is considered a “none zone,” the state where, when asked about their religious affiliation, more people answer “none” than anywhere else in the country.

Since Christendom is dying, Rod says, the church has to find a way to be an alternative culture in a setting that doesn’t embrace or support what we’re about. “In the Northwest there’s a head start on it,” he adds.

Rod says the “intersection of faith and life is different [here] than in a small farming community in Indiana or Virginia.”

He is aware of the many young adult Mennonites in Portland, and while not all of them regularly attend church, he says, he has connected with many of them outside church services.
“Things or programs targeted to [young people] don’t exactly work. Taking them out to dinner does,” he says.

Rod wants people to feel welcome at Portland Mennonite Church, no matter where they are with their faith. When people are about 30, they tend to get married, have children and settle into a church, he says. But before then, young people are often at a “unique era and stage in life.”

Growing up, he found it helpful to know he always had a home with parents who supported him. “It offered constancy when I was trying to figure out who I was,” he says. “[The] Mennonite church can serve that purpose.”

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