Re-writing 'missing' as 'mission'

There is a great deal of talk right now about the 'missing gneration' of the church. The UK Methodist church, the Evangelical Alliance ands the Presbyterian Church of Ireland are just three of the groups to have put their names behind the term: many others concur. Often defined as the 18 to 30's, but sometimes more widely as the 20's and 30's, the missing generation are the age group most conspicuously absent from Europe's churches. A 2006 church attendance survey revealed that in England over 34% of over 16s have never had meaningful contact with a Christian faith community. A host of responses are offered, from youth congregations to alternative worship services - all designed to attract young adults. But the most vital ingredient is probably not attraction at all. It is involvement. These same young adults who don't want to engage with church are engaging with their world. They are often spiritual, widely activist and deeply aware of the need to transform our world. Expressed in the most blunt of terms, they are not staying away from church because they don't want to be involved. They are staying away because they do. The root back to commitment is not through attendance but through mission - engagement with God's work in the world. Among the poor. In places of need. In the arts. The new generation want to discover beauty and love and generosity and justice and peace. They want to believe that a beter world is possible; that we can indeed be our best selves. They just don't see where these desires connect with church as they've seen it. There is only one proven means of reaching a missing generation. Invite them to become a mission generation.