Let go Let go
2016 - ABOUT BEING CHURCH IN COPENHAGEN
Let go uKirke whitepaper Author Thomas Nedergaard Editor Liv Lindhardt Translator Mette Solsø Nielsen
December 2016 02
04 Let go 06 Is the folkekirke dying 08 The young Copenhageners 11
The church’s relation to the young person
12 What do we want with uKirke? 13 The manifest of uKirke 2016 16 Dialogue between renewal and tradition
19 Physical, 21 Relational, 23 Traditional, 25 Theological
26 What we do in uKirke 30 Conclusion
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Let go To be a church for young people for whom the church is a stranger “uKirke is the only place in my life where I can relax and let go and opt out” [Maria 21 years old]
uKirke – The youth church at Vesterbro Part of the National Evangelical Lutheran Church in Denmark (Folkekirken) The target group in uKirke is young people, who have no contact to the church. Young people who live in the secular society and love to participate in one or more of the youth cultures in Copenhagen. This White paper is built upon the experiences from two empirical studies from Roskilde University, various small tasks and five years of experience with teachings in uKirke. The White paper is an empirically based white paper in which you can read about our reflections on which challenges we think there are in our time, a description of how we experience uKirke’s target group. Reflections on the Folkekirke’s relation to the young generation and thoughts about why they do not come to the church.
received through time, like the question whether we have moved too far away from our starting point? Finally, I will provide some thoughts on the terms: church space, relation, tradition and theology. To be able to reach the conclusion in the end: If we want to create a church together with urban young people, we need to let go of the format, otherwise we lose the church. In other words, we need to let go of the church in order to maintain it. As closure we will present our ten commandments on how to create a co-creative church for young people anno 2016.
Facts about the church and the parish uKirke is a part of Vesterbro parish, which is part of the Danish National Church, Folkekirken. The Folkekirke has 79% of the Danish population as members. Vesterbro parish is the biggest parish in Denmark with 46,000 inhabitants whereof 53% are members of the Folkekirke. The parish was established back in 2012 when seven parishes were united. The vision of the parish sounds: to create open I will elaborate on what it is we have created in uKirke communities that through words and actions meet everyone through the last five years since its establishment, with reat Vesterbro with the narrative about Jesus, who people can flections on why we succeed by letting go of the format and reflect their lives in. This vision is what we in uKirke try to reflections on our biggest success: The dogma that we are make alive together with the target group of young people, not allowed to create anything ourselves, we must co-crewho participate in the youth cultures at Vesterbro and who ate with young people in everything we do. Through the do not already belong to a church. reflection, I will comment on some of the critique we have
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THANKS cooperation is gold Thanks to the diocese and the bishop, my colleagues in the parish and members of the parish council for their support and critique in the development of uKirke. Also thanks to my first colleague Gunnar B. Pedersen, who taught me that despite the fact that you have different theological viewpoints you can still work and create together. Thanks to everyone who has contributed to the making of this white paper. Thanks to the staff and volunteers in uKirke for their willingness to create uKirke together.
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IS THE FOLKEKIRKE
DYING? The world is going through changes, maybe as it has always been. But facts are that the world is changing and we, human beings, are changed with it, which has consequences for the way we are church in the world. Once upon a time the state or the king could issue fines if the population did not attend mass. There were times when those who believed in something else than the clergy ended their lives on the bonfire or in exile. There were times when the man in the street knew the Lord’s Prayer and the hymns. In other words; a lot have changed. Perhaps also in a positive direction? I am personally happy about the fact that priests in Denmark no longer take part in judging people to the fire. Then the question is; how can we be a church in a changeable world? Some of the changes have resulted in a great loss of ecclesiastical knowledge among children and knowledge of different ecclesiastical cultures. A loss that has reached Denmark with a furious speed. Some people think that secularisation has conquered the faith and Christianity out of society, and what is worse, out of the mind of the individual.
as powerful and we see that people do no longer come to the church. And exactly herein lies my motivation to write this white paper. I do not believe in the assertions that secularisation has won, I do not believe that the development of the world is more negative than before, or that we as human beings have moved us further away from the need for a religious dimension in our fluctuating lives. It is evident for me in every part of my job as a priest that young people crave for and seek interpretations of life, a belief in something bigger and have the desire to debate the wonders and downfalls in life. But so what? What do we need to do as church when the traditional churches lose their members and relevance for the young generations?
You can find many different answers to the above question, answers that go in different directions. Answers that are more or less relevant for man in 2016. In this white paper I will, in all modesty, present uKirke’s answer to what we do at Vesterbro when our churches are empty and we experience a decline in the belief in God, or maybe more precisely a decline in an expressed belief in God. But this is just one answer, one But I do not think that is true! It is possi- answer out of a thousand’s. My hope ble that we experience the development is not that you fully undertake or even 06
understand what it is that we want with uKirke at Vesterbro in Copenhagen. My hope is to catch your attention, to arouse your interest and that you will participate in the development of many new answers, answers that can revitalize the belief among a lot of people.
The chasm between young people and the church Secularisation has contributed to the removal of any legitimated talk about personal belief in public. To believe has become such a private matter that you do not even talk with your parents or children about it. To believe has become so private that it is almost unmentionable in normal human relations, and the challenge is that if we do not talk with each other about our faith then it is in danger of extinction. And in a way the church is dying because it is no longer the natural haunt of conversation nor acting about faith for urban young people at Vesterbro.
The concrete challenge at Vesterbro is that young people understand the church as outdated and irrelevant for their lives. That is for example evident when we look at the falling number of members within the Folkekirke. On a national basis we have fallen from 89,3% to 76,9% members in ten years. Young parents do not find any relevance in getting their children baptised. We do not have any contact with a lot of our members between their confirmation and marriage or funeral. If we look more isolated on the problems at Vesterbro it becomes evident that we experience the In uKirke we believe that every young girl or boy has a life same challenges, just reinforced. of belief – a life of belief that needs nurture and needs to be expressed and talked about together with other young My conviction and thereby the starting point for the work in people and adults. We insist that the church has a legitiuKirke is that the Folkekirke has created a great chasm be- mate place in the life of the young person together with tween the church and the young people, which has resulted the pop culture and all the other cultures that the young in a group that do not understand themselves as Christians. person moves among. This approach gives us some further They experience alienation in relation to the Folkekirke and challenges due to the fact that the young people we create do not use the church as anything else than an occasionally uKirke together with at Vesterbro are urbanised young ceremonial church. The paradox lies within the fact that the people who live in fundamentally different cultures than majority is still member of the church. Thus, there is an af- the cultures that the Folkekirke normally speaks to with filiation, which to a great extent is about unity and creation its events and church services. That creates a line of prejof identity. But even the Folkekirke’s position as a part of udices among the young people. One of these are a clear the core of Danish culture is beginning to be blurred, and understanding of the church as an institution that does not especially in cities like Copenhagen where urbanisation and accept the culture among the young people and which is not secularisation have created an even bigger chasm between capable of relating to the life they live. We have to be able the expression of the church and the young generations. to tear down these prejudices in uKirke.
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Food & Musik 2015
The young Copenhageners This section provides a description of which movements and tendencies we see in our work with the young Copenhageners. The young people we meet in uKirke is first and foremost from what we define as Generation Z, the ones who are born in the period from 19902000, who are between 16 and 26 years old today. If you google them, you will find countless articles so I will not go in depth with it, just draw some lines.
Young volunteer
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uKirke at Distortion festival 2016
The young Copenhageners
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The young people who come in uKirke are urban world citizens, who think that Copenhagen is a sweet little safe suburb to the rest of the world. A lot of them take active part in either a resisting or supporting culture of the digital age, but everyone is assigned to the digital pressure by a world with all its possibilities. They live in what I can best describe as a fluctuating reality, a reality in which the individual creates or chooses his own opinion. There are a few, if any, authoritarian opinion makers who have normative status. The young person must shape himself all the time, but contrary to earlier times when you did so through values, vocation or the family and self-fulfilment, the value of your life today is always in the making, in the relations you choose to ascribe value. Thus, it is how you act on Facebook or through relations in the classroom that creates identity. Thereby the identity becomes fluctuating as well. A lot of young people come to me as a priest because they feel lonely. They experience a loss of close relationships and therefore they feel alone in a world that is so unbelievably big. Through the digital world they have the possibility to create relations all over the world, but that means that it becomes more difficult to find and keep up close relations. That is why young people experience the feeling that no relations talk directly into their lives. There is a clear tendency that Generation Z ascribes the world and everything in it value because they seek what is authentic and carriers of value. When young people experience a community that hurts them, they find it easier to replace the relation instead of fighting. Because as argued, everything is fluent. Among the young urban people there exist a lot of prejudices about what the church is. Prejudices and experiences about the church that create a chasm in communication in the relation between the young people and the church.
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"I think it’s funny when people fall" Distortion campaign 2015 10
The church’s relation to the young person The young people live in a quickly changeable, post-modern, fluctuating and secular reality that results in the fact that only a few, if any at all, of the traditional existing initiatives the church offers can be used in the dialogue with the young people, when we as a church tries to create a bridge to their lives. The young people live in realities that change all the time. And the church’s talk about dogmas that are undeniable; as the physical resurrection of Christ or the belief in the relevance of the virgin birth, do not make young people think that the church is a place for them to put down their roots or find peace in their lives. No, on the contrary, this certainty pushes the young people away, away from the faith, away from the church and away from every community that talks about faith. The challenge for the church is that we live in a time where the young people do not have many good experiences with church or belief, they do not have any close relations who dare talk about belief with them. At best they understand the church as indifferent and boring, at worst it damages their relation to the faith. It is a quite depressing picture that I paint of the Folkekirke,
actually of many of the traditional churches in northern Europe. Nevertheless, I believe it is a fact that there is a chasm so deep that we need to dare to find new ways. And chasms that demand us to look inwards and dare to question what it is that we use to do in the churches. At the same time I am convinced that young people seek and wish an interlocutor. An interlocutor who dares to take part in their lives and both support and challenge them. I do not believe that young people today are either more or less religious than young people of other times, but the frames for talking about it has changed. Luckily, the Folkekirke has also several initiatives that speak into the different cultures that the young people live in. There are a lot of priests who persistently work with building bridges to the young people. It is on the shoulders of all these initiatives that we in uKirke dare to stand up and create a church relying on the fact that God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit can and will carry on the faith in a new shape together with the young people. Together with the theologian and philosopher, Søren Kierkegaard, we dare to jump into the uncertainty, because as he wrote:
“IF I CAN GRASP GOD OBJECTIVELY, THEN I DO NOT HAVE FAITH, BUT JUST BECAUSE I CANNOT DO THIS, I MUST HAVE FAITH. IF I WISH TO STAY IN MY FAITH, I MUST TAKE CONSTANT CARE TO KEEP HOLD OF THE OBJECTIVE UNCERTAINTY, TO BE ‘ON THE 70,000 FATHOMS DEEP’ BUT STILL HAVE FAITH” Søren Kierkegaard in Concluding Unscientific Postscript to the Philosophical 11
What do we want with uKirke? Our answer to how we take on a new approach to being church and building bridges to the young people anno 2016 is relatively simple. We must dare to believe that we as church and believing have something very valuable, namely a 2000 year old tradition in the church of speaking and acting with a belief in life. We need to believe that this can and will flourish in a variety of shapes. Thus, with the faith and the traditions in our backpack we need to dare to let go of should and use to in the church to be vulnerable and impressionable and thereby be moved and changed together with the young people. Once one of them said to me in connection with a great music festival that uKirke participated in: “What makes you think that I even want to be saved?” And he continued with the questions: “Saved from what?” The questions elucidate the shift in paradigm that has taken place: A shift from people knowing what faith was till today when they do not know what faith is or just insist on defining it themselves. That does not mean that redemption and sin are not vital and true concepts. No, it means that the words and shapes we have described them with are no longer relevant to young people outside the walls of the church.
Throughout the whole process of establishing uKirke we have worked constructively with different management theories and methods. Everything from Blue Ocean strategy to Theory U has influenced the work with uKirke. To help us selves in creating church with the young people and not just doing what we were use to, we thought out a dogma that has followed us from the beginning. It sounds: We must not create anything on our own, everything we do must be created together with the target group. It is a final demand we require of ourselves all the time. It means that if we do not succeed in creating events with the young people we shall not hold the event or campaign.
Now, five years after the start-up, young people make events that make faith relevant for their lives. My job as the priest is to talk about, act in accordance to and with a belief in the fact that the traditions, the faith and the dogmas in Christianity are valuable and active co-creators in our common life. The questions the young person has about life can be answered within or with help from Christianity. In other words I need to dare to talk about my own belief and why it is important to me. By being church in this way, we give the young person a freedom to choose the church actively, That is why we established a new church in 2012, a church freedom to dare to believe in something that is absolutely that was housed in one of the traditional churches. We knew true and incomprehensibly big. from the beginning that if we were to succeed with the project we had to be very clear in our formulations and have a clear idea of what we wanted to do.
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Loneliness is a big theme in uKirke The manifest of uKirke 2016 – the foundation we want to build our work on “Every time I leave uKirke I always have something extra with me. I do not know whether I would say that I have become a Christian by being in uKirke, but I have got something bigger with me. I think a little bit on that guy, Christ, from the church. He hangs four meters above the ground in the church and in some way I bring him with me home and be protects me when things are difficult” [Betina 19 years old] I believe that there are many answers to how we must create church, community and substance together with the young generation anno 2016. There are young people who have a need and urge for hardcore Christology, there are young people who need to sit and meditate with the Wreath of Christ, there are young people who need a heartfelt prayer. All these areas and many more must be developed by other churches and made relevant for the young generation. Our answer on how to be a church together with young people anno 2016, young people who do not come to the church, who have not developed a language for their way of practising their belief, young people who perhaps even have a grudge against the church, is as already mentioned: Let go! Let go of it all and let the theological perspective emerge in new ways in close cooperation with the young people, let them even be the leaders, young people who have not necessarily experiences with the church or faith. When we take a leap into the darkness and dare to let go of format and used to it is helpful to refer to a common objective. Therefore we continue our work with developing our foundation. Always in close collaboration with the young people. In 2016 uKirke’s manifest came into existence after eight hours of work with its 48 volunteers. 13
MANIFEST
[0] uKirke – because faith matters What do you believe in? We believe that Christian faith is to take a stand in relation to God, love and the life between us. Our job in uKirke is to put Christianity at stake so life is enlightened by what we believe in, and create debate about the life we live. Thus, interpreting church and faith to the bone of your life.
[1] uKirke – because we live a joined life Only when we are in a community do we influence each other’s lives. Therefore it is our aim always to be in the culture you live in! You do not need to come to uKirke on a certain day, or wear certain clothes, no, uKirke is a community together with you and we are making uKirke together – only in that way do we have access to each other’s values, principles and belief.
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[2] uKirke – debate about life Do you believe your boyfriend when he tells you that he loves you? We believe that we are put into life together with each other in full trust to the fact that we want each other and ourselves the best in life. uKirke must lead the way and be the good example and put into perspective our common life with trust and confidence to each other. We will take part in the debates of society and we are always ready to discuss the big questions about life, both within and outside the church.
[3] uKirke – Strives to be a brave church
[4] uKirke – is what you want it to be!
What is courage? We believe that it is brave to let go of yourself to give room for others in order to be able to create a respectful and reflective dialogue about life. That is why uKirke is a place with an edge in constant movement because we dare to let go of ourselves, and because we believe that love for your neighbour, edge and nice manners can change people.
We do not arrange our events on our own, we cooperate! We will and must, in everything we do, cooperate with you. As a result we will always be at eye level with the young people at Vesterbro – with eatable church, popup church, edgy church, festival church, incomprehensible church, relatable church, relaxed church, a church that yells, loving church, church with God, church with you.
uKirke Copenhagen / 2016 15
Dialogue between renewal and tradition – content and form
uKirke’s manifest provides a common direction, a common direction for the three of us who work here and for the approximately 130 volunteers we have in the church. After having rationalised on our practice and read the university papers that have been written about our work the last five years uKirke has existed, we have chosen to describe our fundamental efforts on four levels: The physical level, the relational level, the traditional level, the theological level. First, I want to describe how we work in each of these levels and thereafter exemplify the four in a concrete uKirke event.
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Sofas or pews? 18
PHYSICAL LEVEL On the physical level we have changed almost everything inside the church. We have abandoned the traditional visual expression of the interior in the church. For our target group the traditional look of the church gives an expression of a space that closes down emotions, a space in which you can be wrong, a space you distance yourself from because they are static, and not static in a way that anticipates grounding or identity but static in the way that you feel you are banging your head into a wall. That is one reason for why we have worked deliberately with the expression: The benches are not nailed to the floor and they are painted by young people and most of them are replaced by couches, tables and floor lamps. We have redirected the focus from the altar and altar picture by creating a stage in one side of the church. In the opposite side we have made a bar. With all these changes we have worked deliberately with the prejudices that exist among our target group. Prejudices that create the idea that the young person is not welcome in the church. Instead they think that the church is filled with pious people who sit and pray and who do not resemble today’s world and culture. The conception is that the frames for the worship of the faith are conforming, static and not for me. Unfortunately, some of these prejudices are true, and even though a lot of the churches in Denmark are open
and including it is the bad experiences that count when the young people shape their image of the church. We will and can change these prejudices just by giving the opportunity to be in the church while being yourself and do what you like to do. An example is our new event launched in October 2016 in close connection with a leftover-food club. We had a meeting before they got the keys to the church and after two days they began to arrange meetings in the church. In this way we get people inside the house who take ownership of the place and are co-creative in the identity of the church. At the first meeting we go through our manifest and talk about why we are a church in this way to make sure that everyone works from the same platform. Some people will think that we lose something in our transformation of the church. The traditional expression in which these people find peace is almost gone and some think that it poses a danger of losing the tradition and history. Furthermore, some think that we have lost the solemnity of the church. Overall we believe that we as Folkekirke have a responsibility to the traditional physical expression that constitutes culture. As a church we need to help maintain the culture of the traditional church that carries a lot of culture in Denmark, but it must not be on the expense of the possibility to communicate church and faith to the
young people. That is why we believe we must transform and create new expressions together with the young people. A new culture shall surge through the spaces of the church and be moulded by the traditions, the solemnity and the history. We believe that by changing the shapes we will be able to communicate church in a way that makes it possible to create a relation to the young person. An example is our event Food and Music, which was held nine times in 2015. On an average 156 people participated, which for us indicates that what we do succeed. “Yes, it was my first time. There was a table football… It was before most people had arrived… And we played and yelled really, really, really loud and I remember thinking afterwards that maybe we should not have done that because we after all were in a church and we are going to listen to music and that sort of things. But it was not really a problem and we were just having fun and the whole atmosphere just encouraged you to have fun. You did not draw your attention to whether you broke any rules and so, so I found it very easy to be part of the atmosphere.” [Sara 19 years old]
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What is the most important in life? 20
RELATIONAL LEVEL Communication is necessary to any relation and vice versa. I do not believe that it is possible to communicate anything without an established relation. That is why we focus on the relation as the primary component. Furthermore, we believe that in any strong relation an exchange of content takes place. The relation is therefore the pivotal point in anything we do. We work consciously with the relation to the other and preferable so intensive that we dissolve our individual characteristics and become part of a common community. A community that is part of the Folkekirke.
must in everything I do in the church show that even a sinner or non-believer can be a part of uKirke. The Christian belief becomes alive by being lived, in the same way as Jesus wandered on the roads and created relations with his words and actions.
We believe that by focusing on the relations we help facilitate a relation between the young people and the church, and thereby also a language about God. In the same way as we believe that God participates in the world, and in his creation has participated in the most ultimate way. We believe that this relation results in prejudices breaking down and a building up of the faith because Relations can only be built if we under- the foundation for the relation is God’s stand each other, if we communicate interaction with the world. The relation in the same semantic field and if that is a basic condition for the preaching. field consists of trustworthy relations. That means that everything we say and “Maybe it is just because of the fact do in uKirke in every relation must be that it is so intimate without being trustworthy. We need to value the rela- vulgar in any way. That you really get tion to the other immensely because my close to each other in a very relaxing words in my sermons and across the bar way. You do not need to sit and talk and counter after an event are the words and gush about your life, you only need to communication we built our reliability be present. You really get close to each and thereby the relation on. It can seem other� [David 21 years old] very simple but I believe as a Christian that human being has infinite value, we are created by God and despite our flaws we are loved by him. Therefore I 21
What is necessary to hold on to? 22
TRADITIONAL LEVEL God is present in the relation between the priest and the young person, and in the relations between the young people in uKirke – but what about the tradition? How can we apply the tradition as an element in building relations and faith? In uKirke our task is to be church for those who are part of a youth culture at Vesterbro. That implies that we cannot base our work in the faith and just create a youthful church service that speaks to the young generations. Only through the relation and sympathy for the otherness of the young person are we able to recreate the church. This is a challenge for me as the priest, because most of the traditional work belongs to the tradition and is looked upon by the young people as outdated and boring, thus experiences that speak to the prejudices instead of the faith. I believe in God. I believe in the importance of believing, and as a priest in uKirke I insist on the fact that it makes sense for others than myself, also the young person. As a result we work in a field of tension in uKirke between tradition and renewal. Christ is present in the altarpiece with a height of four meters. We have church benches, though painted, and we do not use our organ, but a professional sound system for live music. We work constantly in a field between tradition and renewal. A field in which we draw on the culture of the church, depth and anchorage at one moment and in the next moment let go of the tradition and allow the young people to interpret the church into their own reality. By moving so consciously in this field of tension between church and the reali-
ty of the youth we get the opportunity to continuously interpret the faith and the church into life, thus the faith becomes meaningful not only to the life of the young person but to our common life. The relation to the young people is awakened by the untraditional space but established by our focus on the relation. When I relate to the otherness of the young person the relation is qualified by the tradition and thereby becomes church. We have asked some of the young people in uKirke why they think it is nice to be here: “The twistedness at uKirke, for me, challenges a Folkekirke that is detached from reality. I had resigned my membership in the Folkekirke and positioned myself very critical towards its topicality and monopoly, but it is very refreshing and exciting to encounter a new interpretation of the church, its space and function. The encounter with the priest. His openness and clear reflections about the things he says and thoughts he has. He takes you seriously.” [Anders 20 years old] For us this quote describes the field of tension that makes the faith alive and at the same time the challenges and powers that exist in the prejudices. Anders has resigned from the Folkekirke because it did not matter to him. What happens then, when uKirke begins to have an importance for him, will he then register again? Is it possible for us to create relations and a wish for membership if we focus on profundity, thoughtfulness and belief, shaped in a present relevant version? Can we at least be co-creative in the life of the young person so he or she acquires a language and a confidence in the fact that faith can have a meaning in his or her life? Or perhaps a fixed place in a fluctuating life? The question for some is whether we have stopped being church? Has
uKirke’s loose connection to the traditions resulted in a lack of control with the content, that it is no longer a Christian church but just a community centre? There are a lot of answers to these questions. And I think that if we take that part of the Danish population that goes to church weekly, 2,4% (2013 statistics), then what we do in uKirke is far away from their understanding of Christianity. We do not have any recognisable schedule they can find peace in. There are no hymns to create coherence between past, present and future. It is clear that uKirke or other experimental churches are not for them. uKirke is on the other hand for the young person who has just begun his travel into the universe of the faith, or the one who lives in an urban culture and does not understand the traditional culture in the church. I am fully convinced that it is not uKirke that takes away the tradition or waters down the faith. It is the church’s missing relation and interaction with the young generation that through the last decades has been racked by abandonment and despair. What happens now? What happens when Anders, who is interested in the content but who cannot relate to the traditional expression, comes to uKirke, receives the keys, is allowed to rehearse with his band in the church or arranges Food & Music with 20 other volunteers? We experience that new traditions and understandings emerge, new ecclesiastical cultures take form and the faith is revitalised, so that life can be lived with a changed identity, that the young person starts to define himself as belonging to a church and wants to show it. On Facebook we have more than 4000 likes, every one of them expresses a kind of faith, just as we are one of the most visited churches at Vesterbro. The frames for believing are renewed and the young people get interested. Not only in the new version of a church, but also with uKirke’s background and basic foundation, namely the tradition.
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What is the minister’s role? 24
THEOLOGICAL LEVEL The space in the church is renewed. The relation to the young people and between them is revitalised. The tradition is in play in new ways in the church. But what about the content, can it stay the same? In uKirke we dive into the spirit of the preaching and try to renew the words we use to describe the faith so our preaching follows the shape. In the Christian church we have always developed faith, from the first reflections of Paul and the synods in the antiquity to the modern theologians today. It is a necessity for the faith and theology to be rethought. Perhaps we do it too much some times and other times not enough. But the fact is that in uKirke it will always be the tradition and organisation of the church together with my theological education and personal belief in the Evangelical Lutheran faith, from creation to Holy Spirit that is the object of the preaching. At the same time we believe that we need to dare to let go of the priestly authority to let the young people feel an ownership and be co-creative in the faith.
We are therefore very focused on my choice of words. Which words bring meaning to the young people, which are a part of their universe and which words will expand their view and result in an extension of their reality. Furthermore, we make sure that through everything we do the young person himself provides answers about the world and the faith, because we believe that only through participation and relations is it possible to expand the religious language. In this process we need to let go of the authority, also when it comes to a young person who has no religious language at all. We must not go into the relation with an authoritative voice over that removes ownership and engagement. We need to dare to not only explain the theology or interpret it together with the young people but let the theology come from the young people themselves.
How far can the theology develop? When does it move away from its core and becomes something different than We do not talk about whether Christi- the starting point? anity needs another reformation in Denmark or whether Jesus did or did not If we try to turn the perspective, I bewalk on the water. This is too insignif- lieve that if we do not dare to let go icant, absurd or unknown to the young then the young person will come to people. They do almost not have a lan- the church and be met by an authoriguage for the faith and what we must tative wall of truth, which will make do together is to create common words the young person keep her opinions that point at the experience with Christ. to herself or in worst case resign her
membership in the church and not think that Christianity matters to her. That is why we need to give the young person a voice and do everything we can to qualify this voice. My role as a priest in uKirke has changed from an authoritative guide everyone must follow to a constructor, supporter, discussion partner and source of inspiration. From being an authoritative voice I am Thomas, the priest, who has a relation to the young people that is coloured equally by the tradition and their youth culture. In the field of tension where the credibility is high we can and dare to be influenced by each other and listen to each other in the same way that I in trust and confidence to the gospels dare to believe and listen. The theology and thereby the preaching becomes embedded in the relation to the young person, who due to own interests opens up all his senses to the preaching – and not only his sense of hearing. “It is the basic principles in Christianity. Or it is Christian charity, or I do not know, that is why I am a Christian. People are saying, ‘Uh, then you believe in Noah and that the earth was created in seven days’ and I am like, ‘No, I believe in Christian charity’ and that is exactly what Food & Music is about.” [Mille 23 years old]
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WHAT WE DO IN UKIRKE As indicated we work all the time with creating entering points in relation to faith and in relation to uKirke. That is why we create many different events together with the young people in uKirke. Whenever we have an event my opening line is always: “Welcome to the Folkekirke. You are now in uKirke, which is a part of our common Folkekirke. I am your priest tonight and my name is Thomas Nedergaard”. Later in the evening I say: “As a Christian I think it is important that… and as a priest I think that…” Last but not least we refer to our Manifest at almost every event. Besides the ones I have already mentioned, most of our events have a theme. This can be everything from To lose, Boyfriend/girlfriend to Who am I? The themes are interpreted and discussed in conversation between people, conversation/interaction/music /performance and a speech/ sermon by the priest. Here I will go through one typical events in uKirke with focus on the above four levels.
c i s u d&M
Foo
Food & Music is our oldest event. Until now we have hosted the event 50 times. In the beginning around 50 participated in the event and now we have reached between 150-250 participants every time. The event is arranged by a volunteer group of approximately 20 people. This group decides which bands to play, what to eat and how the church should look like. Moreover, they take care of the bar, set up everything and clean the place afterwards. At every event two bands are playing and we have a common dinner. Often we have themes such as faith, terror, Christmas etc., which is discussed through different means such as small plays, conversations, sermon or prayer. The target group is between 17-21 years old and most of them are in high school (Danish: gymnasium). Food & Music is at the same time the loosest and most defined event we have in uKirke. On the one hand it is controlled 95 % by the young volunteers on the other hand we have spend 50 events to define and figure out together what makes sense and brings purpose to us in uKirke. In this space, which for many people seem chaotic, there are some important elements. The priest and the volunteers must pay attention to welcome everybody. We must be including, the food vegetarian and the beers ecological. The foundation of the relation begins with the space end ends with me who needs to be clear in my actions among the young people. As explained above, I always open by setting the frames for where we are. I have a beer in my hand and show with my actions and words that I participate in our common culture.
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In relation to the traditional level Food & Music is the place where we experience the biggest overlap between youth culture and church culture. In its essence the event is anarchistic, the music can be anything from punk to indie, and in the middle of this chaos Christ is standing four meters tall by the altar and I am met with open arms because the young people finally meet an adult who dares to talk about life.
“I find it very difficult to explain why it is so amazing that it is in a church. But it just is. It is not just some random room. It is not a village house or some café. It is a church and there is a priest and of course it is about the music, but it is also about having room for people who believe in something and that we make room for each other” [Mille 20 years old].
Together with the space, atmosphere and the words and actions the theology comes into a bigger existence at Food & Music. The common dinner resembles the Eucharist and the music leads the young people on a dream trip while they treat each other with recognition and accept, which several of the participants state that they miss. For many uKirke becomes a fixed place in their life from where they gain new The contrast to the pulsating, fluctuating life outside the fuel for life. New fuel that provides content to their lives church becomes a bridge to get closer to some basic values. and help them find a direction. “When you enter the room from outside where it is cold and dark, then you just walk into a room with candles and music and you feel totally relaxed and everyone wants to be here. I think there is an exceptional nice atmosphere here” [Maj 19 years old].
“I am not a real Christian but in some way I take him Jesus with when I leave. In some way he takes care of me in my life” [Troels 20 years old]
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CO N C L U S I O N
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Dear reader. From a social point of view we have in relatively few years developed ourselves in ways that once took decades if not centuries. The development of society has resulted in a life surrounded by freedom for the young urban generation. They have all the possibilities in the world. At the same time they experience that they are alone when it comes to creating and making a life in a fluctuating time. Everything from family structures to identity is moving. Previously the Folkekirke did not communicate or appeal to the young generations and it was not able to provide relevant answers to their experiences and lives. It is the responsibility of the church that young people choose to do without it. It is the behaviour of the church within the youth culture that has created the chasm between the young generation and the church. With the support from Vesterbro Parish we have created uKirke, a church that has one task: To speak into the fluctuating lives of the young people, nothing else. By letting go of the format and with our dogma in mind; that we are not allowed to create anything on our own, we have managed to create a platform from which young people are free to believe, where they meet adults who want to be church on their premises and adults who want to talk about faith and life. By being a priest on this platform with these premises, I experience that my faith is strengthen because it is challenged to take on a new from and I experience that we stand stronger as church. We have not moved away from our starting point, on the contrary the church appears stronger and more trustworthy than ever before. The basic movement in uKirke’s formation is founded on the willingness to create church together. A co-creative church that makes it possible for the young person to participate in many different ways. The formula for this movement can be explained through the four levels: With a focus on the physical level we establish a contact and show the willingness to be co-creative. When the contact is established we must strengthen the relational level, because this is where we create a secure atmosphere to act within the church plus security to open up for the faith. In order to fight against the prejudices and participate in the life of the young person with the greatest narrative, we need to encounter the tradition and at the same time be closely related to it, hence this is where the relation gets its power and edge. Through all levels we must be able to add in the faith and theology as the basic line. With the theological level the young person experiences to flourish in a liberated and active faith that through co-creation becomes uKirke.
exist in the Folkekirke. uKirke is rather a counter culture to the tendencies in society that take away the fixed points in life and involvement, a counter culture to those who lose their belief in the truth. The conclusion of this white paper is that if we want to create church with urban young people we need to let go of the format, otherwise we lose the church. In other words, we must let go of the church to maintain it. With this starting point we have together with the young people created new expressions for how a church can be. We have established new events that have set some new standards for being church together with young people in Copenhagen, and we have a big group of young people who feels an ownership in making church. Their ownership means that they are the church, they are uKirke just as much as I am. Moreover, I believe that their ownership also means that in the future they will be uKirke, a future that brings many challenges for uKirke. We need to continuously redefine what we are and who we are. Only by throwing the ball into the air again and again are we able to be church together with young citizens at Vesterbro. We must not put down roots together with Generation Z for who are going to be church for the next generation then? The dream with uKirke is basically that the church again will be an attractive interlocutor in the formation of identity. That we get the opportunity to play a part in life with what the church brings, namely the belief in Jesus Christ. Together with the young people we must create existential experiences that create a relationship to the church. Existential experiences with church, faith and the lived life that give the possibility to open up for an orientation towards Christ in life. We have experienced that we in a way create possibilities for young people to investigate, challenge and perhaps reach out and seize faith. We have come a long way with the dream at Vesterbro. On the next page I present ten sentences that are useful if the dream is to revitalise the faith.
It is important for me to underline that I do not understand uKirke as a counter culture to the Folkekirke, but as a supplement to the many different expressions and genres that 31
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THE TEN SENTENCES
1. Let go of should and use to – let the young person take control 2. Be brave in the encounter with the young people, turn on your YES-mode 3. Create solidarity – do everything you can to understand the young person. Examine, be updated and interested in their culture and limit your target group. 4. Mistakes, mistakes, mistakes. You must accept that you will fail sometimes. That you arrange events with the young volunteers, which no one attends, or you think afterwards on all the things you could have done better. If you do not make any mistakes you do not learn anything new because you never cross your comfort zone. 5. Allow yourself to be in the field of tension between tradition and renewal, hence that is where the energy is. 6. Go all in. To be church in this way demands you to go all in. It does not work to do if half-heartedly for other’s sake. 7. Find some help to evaluate what you do from the outside. Ask musicians, artists, managers who are not involved in the church for help. 8. Be patient, transformation takes time, sometimes a lot of it. 9. Spend some time on directing your backing. It is not everyone in the church who understands or appreciates renewal. 10. Enjoy it – believe in yourself, in God and in the fact that the young people want the faith as much as you do. Be co-creative with the young person, also when it comes to faith, so he or she feels free to form his or her own belief.
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About the author Thomas Nedergaard Master of theology from University of Copenhagen Leader and pastor at uKirke, part of the National Evangelical Lutheran Church, Copenhagen downtown. Academy Profession Graduate in Leadership Chairman of the union of youth pastors in the National Evangelical Lutheran Church Chairman of the diocese of Copenhagen youth committees Process Manager and lecturer in church development