Finding a Church

So last week I went online and looked at the two PCUSA churches within walking distance of the Seminary. One of them is Nassau Presbyterian Church and the other is Witherspoon Street Presbyterian Church. I looked at their websites and what I could find about them online. Nassau street has an intense staff with multiple pastors. They have somewhere upwards of 1200 members and ...primarily Caucasian. Witherspoon Street was started as the first all black PCUSA church a couple hundred years ago. 

I don't know why I have an issue with the churches with huge staffs. It could be that they are wealthier, but I don't see why that would be an issue. I think it's because they remind me of mega churches and therefore do not seem like the personal connection that I have always found in my refuge at church. Also the churches with large staffs also tend to be all white, lacking in diversity, except for sometimes age. 

I went to witherspoon and it was very much steeped in the African American heritage which I enjoyed but it seemed to be an African American church that just happened to be PCUSA. So I don't think that is the church for me. I am a fan of the PCUSA traditions. I'm hesitant to try Nassau because that's where all of the other PCUSA students went on Sunday and they described it just as I pictured it. Lots of members, all white, pretty dry. 

I'm on the PCUSA website looking for other churches in the area. I am trying to discern just what it is I have against larger churches. I grew up in a church of a little over 100 members. The members were from all different backgrounds and spanned all ages and socioeconomic classes. It had a massive heart for outreach and social justice. The Church I attended while in College, and that I am under care with is about 70 members. Maybe 40% of our members are from Cameroon. The church I grew up in had one pastor, an associate for a while, but a lot of seminarians. The church I am a member of has one pastor who is amazing and makes stuff happen. 

Next Sunday I will try a new church. Maybe I will go to Nassau so that I can see what it is like for myself or maybe I will check out a different church. According to the PCUSA church locator site there are 45 PCUSA churches within 15 miles of the seminary. 

My Role Model

In the summer of 1996 I began attending a summer day camp called the Summer Meals Program. It was at this tiny little Not-catholic church in my neighborhood, Fourth Presbyterian Church. Prior to coming to this camp I didn’t really ever do church, it was something that simply wasn’t in my family’s life (I still believe it had something to do with the Boston priest sex scandals, but I digress). I came home from camp and told my Dad about everything that happens at camp and I told him about Pastor Burns. My Dad informed that I could not call a pastor by his first name. You’re supposed to call them “pastor so-and-so”, to which I promptly responded, “No, his name is Pastor Burns. That is what everyone calls him.” By the end of the summer, I got my father to come to church on a Sunday and he got to see all that I was talking about. He got to meet this amazing Pastor I was talking about.

My dad and I came back week after week and he eventually joined the church. We fell in love. Summer after Summer I went back to the Summer Meals Program. Someone once joked that I was the poster child for Fourth. I started coming through the SMP, which was set up so that kids from low income neighborhoods would have breakfast and lunch during the summer. One summer, a new program was started, an extended day program called Mazemakers and I was the first one there. I went from being a camper to a teen helper and then a Shepherd (counselor). I was in countless plays, took piano lessons, guitar lessons, painting classes, and was a part of the homework help program and an active member of the youth group. Anything that was offered, I participated. Church was the first place I felt at home and it was my safety net.

When I was in 8^th and 9^th grade my life was pretty much in shambles. I had returned to Massachusetts the day before school started, having fled to Ohio for the summer to live with my aunt’s family after my mom left, and I had nowhere to live. Pastor Burns (who had evolved into simply Burns) and his family welcomed me into their home and I stayed there for months. The following year was difficult because of an intervention and my Dad subsequently going to rehab. Burns, his family, and my church family were there for me every step of the way.

Fourth Presbyterian Church is an amazing church. It is a medium sized church (of a little over 100 members) from all kinds of backgrounds. The members represent many different cultures and age groups. It is located in a low income neighborhood (with a lot of unfortunate problems like violence).The church is actively involved in all kinds of social justice work. This is the kind of church I want to work in when I’m done with seminary. Burns was one of the huge reasons why I decided to go to Seminary in the first place. After spending years of watching how he changed and grew the church and how he led them is a great inspiration. Burns is an amazing Pastor, Leader and Teacher. He recently celebrated twenty years of Pastoring Fourth and has touched so many lives over those twenty years.

20-Somethings in the PCUSA

Something that has been on my mind rather frequently is the role of young adults in the church. I wrote a bit about it in my post about the TAMFS webinar, but it continues to be on my mind so I will focus on it for this post. This topic is regularly on my mind because it affects me a great deal. Being twenty-two years old, in the church, contemplating my future as a possible pastor within the church brings the issue to the forefront of my attention. Additionally, I have been reading Jim Kitchens' book The Postmodern Parish, which I highly recommend and a quote from it has continued my thinking about young adults in the church. Kitchens writes, "We puzzle over why older members want to hold on to forms of church life that may have inspired them when they were young, but that do not meet the needs of today's 20-somethings." I find this to be very true, at least in my area. There are programs for the youth but once you hit a certain age, usually somewhere in the sphere of 20, it is difficult to find a place to belong within the church.


For the children there are Sunday school classes catered to their age level. For the youth there is youth group. For the adults of the church, they have their own Sunday School class and gender specific meetings (at my church [Clinton Presbyterian Church] it is Men's Breakfast and Ladies' Lunch Bunch). But what is there for those that fall in between. Those of us that are too old for a youth group and yet feel to young to be in the same Sunday school class as our 70 year old members? Outside of my congregation is exists as well. There are summer camps and youth retreats for those in middle school and high school, but what of those in college? When there appear to be no interest paid to this range of members how are we to feel?


The more I think about this gap within the church, the more I pay attention to the different things I attend. Yesterday, at church, I looked around the sanctuary and saw three people under the age of 35. If we raise the age to 40, it only grew be a very small number, which included The Pastor! This is not in just our congregation, according to Presbyterian Research Services, 8 in 10 worshipers in PC(USA) pews are aged 45 or older. I go to Presbytery meetings and look around and I am almost always the youngest person and unless their are seminarians present, the only one under 35. If I take a look at our Middle Governing Bodies, it is the same story. At the Synod of the Northeast meeting back in October, I was the only YAD. No other Presbytery sent a Youth Advisory Delegate, and for some presbyteries it was because they did not bother to ask a youth. At the meeting I stood up and asked who in meeting was under the age of 40. There were two people at the entire Synod meeting...myself and my pastor (Rev. Cindy Kohlmann).


I think it is time for the PCUSA to realize the role that the young adult members are capable of playing. Both the median and mean age of PCUSA members is 60 years old. I am a little over 1/3 of the age of the majority of our members. I wonder if we found a way to include those in that 20-somethings category, if that statistic would change? The Youth are the future of the church and we need a voice in the church. Furthermore, I believe that the Youth of the church need to have a voice and representation. From the chances I have had I have been able to meet people from all over the country. Attending Synod meetings and conferences has allowed me to meet amazing people within the church (like our Former Moderator Bruce Reyes-Chow and Vice-Moderator Byron Wade). The young adults of today are the future leaders of our church and I think it is time that the 20-somethings have a chance to show their potential.

*My experience pertains to The Presbytery of Boston and the Synod of the Northeast. For those Presbyteries and Synods that have opportunities for the 20-somethings, that find ways to keep the 20-Somethings involved in church and have found a way to minster directly to them, I applaud you.*

Final countdown

1/5/11 11:20 PM

In twenty four hours I will be sitting on an airplane, waiting for it to take off. I do not want to leave! Field Ed option maybe?

Today was a fabulous way to end this trip. Ma took me to the church and Cindy and Shelby were there waiting. Cindy hadn't eaten breakfast so we all went back to Ma's house and she fed Cindy. We went back to the church and waited some more for David. When David arrived, the four white people got into the hotel van with the driver and Divine. Divine is a member of the church and has been videotaping us the entire time. It's like being famous.

The driver dropped us off at Presbook. This is the Presbyterian run book store. I think we were hoping for like worship resources or something similar but mainly they had the textbooks for the Presbyterian schools. David picked up a new bible, Shelby and I got daily lectionaries and Cindy got the Presbyterian church in Cameroon version of the book of common services. From there we went to prescraft. This is a handicraft store that has amazing things in it. Pottery, jewelry, masks, baskets, knives, all sorts of amazing handmade items. I got a chalice with a cross, Α and Ω on the front. The group said I need it for when I become a pastor. Next was Prescafe. Cindy, Dave and shelby all got cappuccino but I ordered a glass of folery juice. It looks like wine but tastes like an odd mix of fruits. Sort of has a vanilla hint in it as well. Once we were done resting we walked down the street to the central market.

It was the same market I went to with Ma but we stuck to the fabric and dress section. There's so many amazing colors and prints and fabrics. The dresses are pieces of art. Cindy got a dress for each of her step daughters, Shelby bought a shirt for Scott, a shirt for herself and two different fabrics that can be made into things. There was a fabric with a rooster and hens and when we saw it dave had to buy it. Pastor Julius has been referring to David as the cock among the hens because he's the only guy. The fabric was a message from god:)

After the market we took a taxi back to the church. For us it was so much but we realize that for anyone who lives in Bamenda it's no big deal. We had six people in the taxi and we had to flag it down so it was fun for us. From the church we went to Ma's house where she fed us all lunch. Then it was back to the manse for a little while. I went back to Shelby's host house to see where they lived. It's a beautiful two story compound. Very ritzy for Bamenda.

New years

1/1/11 8:32 Pm

I am not sure where to start when describing today. So naturally I will start at the beginning. Showering this morning was something special. I could not for the life of me figure out how to shower properly. Ultimately I ended up sticking my head in the bucket of water and then shampooing and then sticking my head back in. When I showered tonight I figured it out and showered more easily.

This morning I was not feeling well. My stomach was nauseous and when I went to eat breakfast I couldn't eat because I thought I would get sick. I felt bad because Erica made eggs. Emelia and I went off to church. We were a few minutes late and had to wait outside until we could go in. Dave, Shelby and I were seated on the chancel and Cindy was sitting between the pastors. Everyone was very friendly. I have never had my hand shaken so many times. After church we went to the manse. We were fed lunch. I only had some rice because I still felt nauseous. Next I went back to Emelia's house. Erica wanted to make me lunch but I wasn't feeling up to eating. After a while she came out with a snack and so I had that. I feel bad saying no every time they offer it but either I feel sick or I'm full. I need to take really small portions tomorrow and see how that goes. I have had more soda to drink while in Cameroon thus far than I have in like a year.

At 12:30 we went to the chairman's house. He is Fru Ndi John. By chairman I mean the head and founder of the oppositional party that is trying to remove the president and by house I mean compound. Shelby compared sitting in his house to visiting the senator. While there, a group of Catholics from Detroit came by. We compared notes about our journeys to Bamenda. The chairman fed us and once again I only took small amounts. I sat next to one of the pastors. Cindy, the chairman, and the two pastors got into a Theological discussion which I loved. We were invited by the chairman to attend a traditional dance in a town called Santa. People were in their traditional dress and doing tribal dances. We danced for the king! It was amazing. The music, the dancing, the colors, it was all so good. It was like a native American powwow but African. After that is was back to the chairmans house for drinks and more food. The Ginger ale here is amazing and super gingery. Amazing! Pastor Julius drive Cindy and I back to the church manse. Emelia picked me up there and brought me back to her house. One of her friends wanted her to come down so we walked down. She offered me food and drink. I turned down the food but accepted a soda. After a while she insisted I eat something so I agreed. I ended up having goat stew. When we came back I stood outside with Erica talking. She couldn't believe that before coming to Cameroon I had never seen a palm tree and half only seen pineapples in the supermarket.

Faith saw me brushing my hair tonight and she was amazed. Her eyes were like saucers. After my shower I was sitting on my bed with Erica and she touched my hair. They are fascinated by it. Erica and I talked about Obama and the president of Cameroon. She told me all about how corrupt their president is. She also thought that the USA is a continent. So we did a rough geography lesson. She also told me about yaounde and how beautiful it is. Tomorrow is church and dinner with Grace. If they don't have plans for us for after church, Amelia and Erica are going to take ne to Bafunda.