Do you ever wonder what ACC will look like 20 years from now?
In the three years I’ve served ACC, I’ve been so encouraged by the faithfulness of this congregation. You are warm and intelligent, caring and hard-working. You show up week after week (and sometimes many times in a week!) to serve, learn, fellowship, and grow, pursuing justice, caring for creation, and working tirelessly for a just society, based on the inspiration of your faith. Sometimes I wonder if this kind of Christian community, people who take such good care of each other while also caring about their neighbors, people who really understand what it means to be the church, will live on.
The people chairing our boards, caring for the building, and doing the essential, behind-the-scenes work of the church are almost entirely in their eighties. I don’t tend to think of you all that way (you’re so capable, active, and young at heart!), but it’s true. Meanwhile, I sit in my office and listen to the voices of children at the preschools, laughing, crying, and playing. I watch kids come and go from afterschool programs and Girl Scouts, and marvel at the host of families and children at the annual Kensington picnic and parade.
This church has so much to offer the next generations, so much to teach, such wonderful examples of community, commitment, and Christian love. ACC has an incredible legacy to pass on of a particular kind of Christianity, one I think people are looking and longing for. And we’re surrounded by a vibrant community of young families. But we haven’t figured out a way to bridge the gap.
Over the years, I’ve listened to stories of our members who came to ACC as young adults and young families themselves. I’ve heard about programs and efforts to reach the next generation that haven’t had the impact you were hoping for. And I’ve heard many share a longing to be an intergenerational church once again, to follow Jesus’ command to let the little children come, to reach the youth and young adults of our wider community. Throughout these years as I’ve been listening, I’ve also been praying, praying that God would guide us to what we need to do. And I’ve been prayerfully brainstorming ideas to connect with and meet the needs of the next generations.
All of this listening, thinking, and praying has led to ideas I think might be viable, but that I can’t do alone. We’ve learned that having childcare is not enough. If we want to reach new generations, we’re going to have to find ways to meet them where they are. It’s going to take time, creativity, and a willingness to think outside the box of Sunday morning church services. In a nation where Christianity has come to be associated with racism, homophobia, and fundamentalism, it’s going to take careful and patient relationship-building, showing up in the wider community, continuing to make our values visible and clear outside of our church walls, and being intentional about learning what young adults and families with children are looking and longing for themselves. This is why we need a Director of Family and Young Adult Outreach!
And we have good news! Riss Kostelnick has accepted the position and will begin this Sunday! During worship we will welcome and pray for them, and we’ll celebrate after the service with cake. Riss will join us for the Focus Retreat, giving them an opportunity to connect with our congregation and participate in that important time of visioning, dialogue, and revisiting our goals.
While we do have some ideas to start with, we’re not entirely sure what kind of programs will come out of Riss’ outreach work. The expectation is that after a year or less of outreach events and relationship-building, some kind of regular program designed to meet the spiritual needs of families with children and/or young adults will begin, and we expect it to begin outside of Sunday morning worship. Along the way, we hope to build and maintain connections between the outreach work Riss is doing and the current congregation so the program(s) that arise are always understood as an extension of the church. Eventually, we hope that this work will result in families with children and young adults who can enthusiastically claim ACC as their church, and who will carry on the legacy of this church for generations to come.
I hope you will join me in praying for and supporting Riss as they begin this important work. We can also be in prayer for the families and young adults of our wider community. May God guide us together as we seek to faithfully carry on the work of the church, passing the light of Christ’s love to the next generation.
~ Rev. Jen Chapman
Riss Kostelnick (they/them) is a fourth year MDiv student at Iliff School of Theology, a Member In Discernment in the UCC, and has a bachelor's degree in Pastoral Ministries. They are currently residing at Heirloom East Bay, an intentional living community that bears witness to God's Love through sustainability and creativity. As a Queer future pastor they are passionate about intentional inclusion of all children of God no matter where on life's journey they are or how long they have been on life's journey. They believe that children are the foundation of our churches as they teach us about new ways to look at the world with curiosity and wonder that connects us back to the creator. They are a hiker, dog parent, plant collector and adventure lover!