Should we hold youth meetings in church buildings?

Historic church buildings are an important British heritage, and a legacy of the established church of Christendom. But are they the best place for a youth event?

When Millennials were the young people of the day, the answer would almost certainly have been no. The arguably masculine authoritarian architecture mixed with the over-spilling soreness of growing up with GenX and Baby Boomer parents who were made to go to church by their parents have been a dead turnoff for many. This is largely why the youth events of the 90s we’re moved to school halls and community centres, and why many Millennial church plants have gone to pubs and houses.

But we don’t work with Millennials, do we?

Are GenZ as freaked out by our ancient church buildings as we were growing up? Or are church buildings just another detached source of intrigue in the same way a Mosque or a Temple would be? Are they, as Mark Griffiths might say, ‘three generations removed’ from the bitterness of the anti-church generations? Are we at risk of reading our own prejudices into the cultural whims of today’s teenagers? Are there perhaps benefits to running youth events in church buildings now?

As with all things culture and history – it’s probably not that simple! Let’s start with some important background.

History, Wealth and Power

Throughout Christendom historically, the Church has asserted itself on the landscape by imposing centralised places of worship. Back in the 4^th Century, Roman Emperor Constantine not only enabled Christians to worship publicly, but also gave them resources to do so. He returned property that was previous confiscated by Emperor Diocletian, granted tax exemptions, and built basilicas throughout the empire – often financed by pillaging pagan temples. This planted seeds that largely continued throughout Europe until now.

In Britain today, the established Church of England is still one of the wealthiest landholders with a £2 billion property portfolio and 100,000 acres of land across England and Wales. This makes up a significant portion of their £6.7 billion in declared assets. Their investments have returned almost 20% and are up from £4.3 billion in the last ten years. The Church also enjoy generous tax benefits on these holdings. Early Christendom advocated the Jewish practice of giving alms for the remission of sins which ensured a continual flow of wealth to the church that continues in some form today. ‘Even the most humble members of the Christian community were involved in this perpetual mobilisation of wealth.’ (Brown, 2013, The rise of Western Christendom: triumph and diversity, A.D. 200-1000 p.69).

The cultural conception that “church just wants our money” comes from a quantitive reality; one that is arguably an easier position to argue than “churches serve the poor,” however true it might be. Throughout the Middle Ages there was a stark contrast between the wealth within and the poverty outside imperialistic church buildings. The steps of Cathedrals today, especially in larger European cities, are still peppered with the poor and homeless.

In 2015, Housing Justice lobbied the Church of England to sell its underused properties to respond to the housing crisis, issuing a report stating, ‘The Church cannot speak out on this or any other issue without putting its own house in order.’

Church = The Building

‘Church’ has become synonymous with buildings rather than the gathered body of believers. There is an implicit idea that to meet with God means you must go to an established church in a recognisable building, and to be a Christian is to simply be a regular church attender in said building. In 2015, however, the Church of England reported 1926 closed and repurposed buildings, making the God who resides inside seem irrelevant, inanimate and diminishing.

Even when at the height of relevancy, the aesthetically beautiful and imposingly grand structures only speak, at best, to part of God’s character, or allowed for limited expressions of worship or activities. Ever tried to move some pews for a game of dodgeball?

Church buildings themselves can serve as a monument to an apparently dying religion. They are often crumbling structures which are locked for all but an hour a week surrounded by smaller memorials to the deceased. Inside, older British churches have uncomfortable, formal and awkward interiors that do not exist in any other public building save perhaps a courtroom, theatre, or overcrowded classroom – each designed to give credence to just one voice at a time.

Problems increase when examining the symbols used throughout the buildings, much of which is in memory of someone other than Jesus, including the often-imposing wall of military paraphernalia. The cross is sometimes absent, replaced with coded Christograms such as IHS or XP. The absence of the cross uncovers darker problems, as for some cultures and students of history it represents conquest, not loving self-sacrifice.

Church buildings and symbolism create a plethora of problems for the relationship between church and society today. They can misrepresent Gospel values, exhibit irrelevancy, disable participation, and are sometimes seen as a testimony to mistreatment and imperialistic exclusivism. Although newer church buildings are less of an issue than the many older listed buildings, they are still often built with the same values, and may therefore still trigger the same responses in society.

Do young people care about any of that?

Well, frankly, some will and some wont. However, even if they don’t explicitly care about it, this reality still exists in the zeitgeist that they are growing up in.

That said, it’s not the whole picture.

Institutionalised church has also been an immense source for good in the Western world, and many excellent community-driven churches today still meet in exactly these buildings. A sense of wonder, mystery and the right kind of holy reverence can be modelled by them artistically, helping us with some forms of our worship. As in all things of course, the heart will bleed through the stones, and a genuinely loving church will look loving, even dressed in its granddad’s old suit.

With all that background in mind, here’s a few thoughts on church buildings, venues, and young people:

Authentic people create quality spaces

Young people are attracted to authenticity and genuineness, no matter what it’s dressed in. In the same way that young people respond better to a good listener than they do to someone who has binged the same boxsets, young people will go to events that strike a chord with their values.

Under the traditional attractional models of youth ministry, the venue itself needs to have either an inherent coolness or be an inherent blank canvass. So, cinemas became great youth ministry event venues, and coffeeshops became fabulous regular project spaces.

If young people today can feel the genuineness of the people running it and can find empathy with those people, then they’ll probably rock up anywhere accessible that we hold an event.

Physical spaces are approaches though digital corridors

Much of GenZ’s community building is now done completely separately to actual physical spaces. Relational capital is largely built online through social media spaces. If you can develop a healthy online presence that reaches into the worlds and circles that young people move in, then they are more likely to sound out the venues you use that flow from that.

There’s something in exclusivity here too. If you found a real space through personal online invitation, there’s a feeling of personal importance and specialness that comes with it.

Ancient spaces are expected for mysterious philosophy

The Christian faith is no longer a societal ‘given’ when we’re talking about British religion. It’s not the only classically religious worldview on offer, and possibly not even the most obvious. The little that our young people know about the Christian faith does come with a few interesting expectations.

One of the only things that most young people know about Christianity is that it’s old; so they are expecting something deep, rich, and ancient. With that comes intrigue and interest. And because we’re not trying as hard as we would have been with Millennials to distance ourselves from ‘traditional’ Christian stereotypes, trying to avoid an ‘old’ expectation is not as high a priority as it used to be.

So why not use it? Young people are often looking for a refuge from the fast-paced, modern, inauthentic consumeristic world they live in. We can provide that through relevant authentic ancient spaces that demonstrate a steady depth to the God we worship.

So, are church buildings always a no no? Food for thought, eh?

Photo by Karl Fredrickson on Unsplash