Building a Common Identity among Mennonite Youth in Southern California
The first ever youth day for Los Angeles area Mennonite Churches was held on November 8, 2008. Over 50 youth from 7 congregations attended HYPE (Hip Young People Excited) for Jesus '08.
The purpose of the event was to:
- Create space for youth to get to know each other in a casual setting
- Design a program that would appeals to church youth from different cultural and social background
- Organize seminars with themes that are relevant to urban youth
- Worship God in vibrant praise
- Explore together how church can be appealing and meaningful to 2nd generation youth
History of HYPE '08
A leadership team composed of Brother Makinto, Director of Amahoro International, Joel Shenk, Director of Leadership Cultivation for the Center for Anabaptist Leadership, and Rebekka Stutzman, youth pastor of Indonesian Christian Fellowship in Reseda, formed near the end of 2007 after several informal conversations reflecting on the divide between the generations within immigrant congregations and the absence of youth programs within Pacific Southwest Mennonite Conference.
During the months of January and February 2008, the Starbucks in Rancho Palos Verdes, with its magnificent ocean view was headquarters of our brainstorming and planning sessions. In the spring and summer, two meetings were scheduled with youth from the constituency churches to reflect on the purpose and theme for the event. The question of Identity quickly emerged as a major challenge facing the 2nd generation youth in our congregations. The youth often find themselves torn between two cultures: the immigrant culture of their parents (Nigerian, Indonesian, Hispanic, European) and the American culture that influences young people through school, media and language. An immediate divide is created between the parents' generation and the youth. This divide is not limited to the home, but also exists in the local church and other aspects of community life.
Three words crystallized out of the discussions: I-dentity, We-dentity, GOD-entity. These three words were united into a logo and became the theme. We wanted to explore the relationship between the individual, the community, and God as it is experienced by our Southern Californian Youth.
The day kicked off with worship, introductions, and a team building game in which the youth formed mixed groups with the task of building a structure that could launch a ping-pong ball the farthest possible. Through this activity, the kids learned to communicate with each other and pursue a common goal. After lunch, the youth went to the park to enjoy sports and a full-contact version of the card game Dutch Blitz. Presentations by Mark Trout of Hesston college, Mukarabe Makinto of West Coast MCC, and Jill Schmidt of Mennonite Mission Network educated the youth about service and educational opportunities within the wider Mennonite Church.
The youth then broke into different seminars. In one seminar, a mixed group of African, Indonesian, and Caucasian youth discussed various aspects of tension between their parents' culture and the dominant American culture. While recognizing the unique opportunity to belong to two cultures, they sometimes decry the feeling of not belonging to either. They desire to find a place where they can belong, but at the same time they don't want to lose the connection to their parents' culture, especially knowing how to speak the language, which is often lost due to their parents or their own assimilation into American culture.
The event drew to a close with a closing concert performed by Makinto and various other musicians, including a selection of the youth who formed a drum circle and fired up the audience with call and response rhythm. The youth left satisfied and fulfilled, clothed in their green HYPE '08 T-shirts specially designed for the occasion.
We would like to thank the following sponsors who supported and made this event possible:
- Amahoro International
- Bethel College
- Center for Anabaptist Leadership
- Hesston College
- Mennonite Mission Network
- Pacific Southwest Mennonite Conference
- PSMC Retreat Ministries
- West Coast MCC
This first and very successful Southern California-wide youth gathering of PSMC churches has set the pace for regular inter-church youth meetings. If there is a future for PSMC immigrant churches to strive and to grow from within, it is by keeping the youth connected to their cultural and spiritual identity and promote a successful transition from 1st generation immigrant church to 2nd and 3rd generation church. This can only happen if the youth stay connected to their church, their conference, and their culture. The result could be a vibrant new generation of Christians with fresh ideas and a spirit of revival and renewal.
