• Home
• Events
  • Google Calendar
  • Subscribe
• Cohorts
  • Find a Cohort
  • Contact Cohort Support
  • Cohort Blogs
• Groups
• About
  • FAQs
  • Values and Practices
  • Support
  • Leadership
  • Emergent Worldwide
  • Publishing Partners
• • weblog
  • podcast
  • press kit
  • donate
  • Feeds (RSS)

speaking out for one another

Posted Jan 27, 08:30 PM | 7 comments | by Amy Moffitt | Link

By Patrick Green
LifeBridge Church/ YASO
Lockport, IL, USA

LifeBridge Church was started in November of 2008 looking like most church plants with some nice missional language thrown into the website, literature, and sermons. Our growth started very healthy for a plant. We had middle aged couples with kids coming, we had great music, we had tithes that more than covered our bills and we were, in return, giving a good consumer experience. But the messages showed my heart and the heart of some other people in our community who knew that there was more and knew we could be more. In February of 2009, everything started to change, we just did not know it yet.

The location we rent for Sunday worship is owned by a UCC church, and they use it on Friday nights for something called Open Door Teen Coffeehouse. I’ve been a volunteer chaperone there for a few years now. The Coffeehouse is a safe place for teens to have fun on a Friday night, featuring things like karaoke or dance or open mic. I began to wonder if the teens would be interested in something more…something beyond fun and something with teeth. Something that unlike the Coffeehouse, did not have an entry fee or rules on clothing or speech. Something where we fed them without charging them.

I asked a few of the kids and one night we got together and came up with a name: YASO (Young Adults Speak Out). It would be at the same space on a Saturday. One night at the coffeehouse we passed out the flyers and told them all we knew was there would be free pizza and soda and we would figure out together what it would be. Some of the kids politely looked at it and tucked it in a pocket or a garbage pail. One teen in tripp pants with piercings got excited about it and started telling his friends that they should go and “trust the old guy cuz he seems all right”.

The first night I showed with two young volunteers, five pizzas, and a cooler full of soda. 12 people showed up at that first night and we discussed what this would be. Long story short, here’s what we came up with: We have food and soda together until the time feels right. When the time feels right we gather in a circle and pick a topic…something that we cannot talk about in school or church or at home. We will share our thoughts on the topic and what is said in YASO must stay in YASO. After we have exhausted the conversation in the circle, we all just hang out for an hour. There is a prayer station for anyone who likes to pray, people to talk one on one with for anyone who needs that, and time to just hang out for anyone who wants that.

12 people became 20. 20 became 30. 30 became 42. The topics ranged from eating disorders, drug abuse, addiction, abuse, rape, sexuality, cutting, and so forth. Some have actually sought help for depression, bulimia, addictions, etc. Everyone has shared each others hurts and wounds, enemies in school have found common ground in YASO, and much more.

Every Easter weekend, the Bible College I used to attend holds a large youth convention near Chicago called Ascension Convention. I knew the YASO folks would not be able to afford such an event, and I doubted they would be interested in the content of the gathering, but a chance to speak out…well we would all enjoy that. For the 2009 conference, we bought a booth in the hope that we would get other youth groups to see the value in what we did and maybe try to emulate some of what we do.

At the booth we had blank sheets of parchment and pens for people to write anonymous stories. Through the course of the day we did not have too many people at our booth. In one of the slower moments when the hall was almost empty a few of our group started playing with a stuffed bunny someone had brought. It was a strange amalgam of keep away and volleyball. Other youth from other tribes joined in. From there, they began to go into “Ride That Pony”. It is a dance our group does for fun. It is hard to explain, but essentially two people are in the center dancing and they shimmy up next to someone they would like to know better and then that person enters the circle…lather, rinse, repeat. We had over seventy people from churches all over the tri state area dancing with 11 of our pierced, tatted, tripp pants wearing bunch.

Suddenly, our booth took off. Parchment was grabbed and dozens of stories were written. Stories of pain, abuse, fear, anxiety, and uncertainty. Things people could not tell parents or pastors…and in some cases things done to them by parents and pastors found expression and release bleeding through the ink onto the parchment. Some people watched from the outside and worried. Every time there were teens misbehaving, I was the first adult notified because it must have been “my crew”. What did we do at the end of the day? We shared stories, life, and love. Merely by being themselves, they took over a room and made an impact.

Here we were, no hierarchy, no rules, no tracts. A pizza party meets group therapy meets fight club. A family. Messy, lovely, and spiritual.

That night was the tipping point. The energy changed as they realized their voice could have an impact. As YASO they would impact and change the life of our local State Representative, they would wash cars to help a friend afford a funeral for a loved one, and quite a few other wonderful things both grand and simple. More YASO people started becoming a part of the LifeBridge community. The auditorium seating evolved into a circle, the sermon is transitioning to a discussion, worship is becoming communal and experiential as we try to find our expression beyond a few songs in the CLI library.

The space we meet in is slowly transforming into something spiritual and holy with everyone starting to contribute something to our decor and landscape. After our gatherings, anyone who wants to meets at a juice bar and discuss as a community the good and the bad of this week and start to plan the next gathering and share other community matters and needs. Not that numbers matter, but LifeBridge is about two dozen and YASO is a little larger. We as a community want to speak out for the marginalized, the hurting, the lost, the confused… ya know, each other.

Find out more about LifeBridge Church at their website.

Read more about Patrick’s story at his blog.

Editor’s note: Last week, the facilities for the ministry featured in this story were vandalized a day after the group received an insulting and threatening email. Among other things, clothing that had been set aside for the homeless and for some of the YASO members was bleach-sprayed. The YASO young adults have reacted by wearing this clothing as a sign that they will not be intimidated. Please pray that there are no further attacks on these young people or this ministry.

Bookmark this article using Remarkable!