decisions

Yesterday, I sat for 2 and a half hours on a plastic chair in a stuffy basement room full of people older than myself. I enjoyed it immensely. I sat, comfortably squished between those closest to me in age, my elders by a few years, and laughed, or commented with genuine concern and healthy sarcasm on the issues brought to light. We discussed vision, process, decision making, and our future by listening to all the voices in the room, be they spoken by an elder who has seen much change and may have much reservation or through a caring mother on the behalf of her unbaptized children. The community, the care, and the genuine respect for all influenced our discussion and our decisions as we moved towards consensus practices and future leaders.
This community gathering, yes, this annual general church meeting, was genuinely enjoyable for me to attend. That's not saying that it not get dull at parts, that I wasn't tempted to drift off due to the lack of sleep I had gotten the previous night, but only that I enjoyed being a part of a healthy decision making body.
As I reflected on the health of my church community, on our ability to listen and to understand reservations and differing opinions, I noticed that I was the youngest person in attendance. I am no stranger to the position of representative for the youth, having often been the youngest at church meetings since my baptism over 6 years ago. But I can no longer represent the youth. I have joined the ranks of the young adults, and trust me, we represent ourselves. And so, in this healthy community, in this place of genuine care and careful discernment, a community that focuses on listening to the voice of all, the voices of a very important demographic were missing. The leadership of the youth was decided without a word from the youth and the future of our church was decided with barely a word from our future leaders.
I am not sure what to make of this, and more so I am not sure what to do about it. I spent my year away and returned only for the summer. I have no illusions about the fact that this practice will be repeated again and again. While I feel enough a part of this body to make decisions about our leadership and our process, I have no voice to recommend encouraging youth to take part in the church. I heard much this weekend about intergenerational relationships, I believe they are central to church and to our church, but the lack of youth involvement in the decision making process seems almost to undermine that spirit.
And so I blog. And hope to encourage you with my description of healthy communities, and to challenge you with my observations of discrepancies and exclusions.
Peace and Prayers.