Culture Clash

I’ve had this blog for a few months and struggled a bit with what to write in it. I could recount tales of my exciting travels around the district- although as a lot of my work involves sitting at my desk and phoning/emailing/planning, that might prove a little boring! Besides- I write another blog as youth president of the Methodist church where I do that and I wanted to do something a bit different with this one. So I thought instead I could use this blog to reflect on the real issues of participation. It’s all very well throwing the word around, but what does it mean to real people in real churches? What are the challenges? What are the rewards?

Recently I was in a church hall having a meal after the service, when someone came up to me and asked what I would do about a “culture clash” that had just occurred. Some young men had come into the hall for the meal and were wearing baseball caps. A few older ladies who regularly attended the church were deeply offended by this and found it to be highly disrespectful- but to those boys, it didn’t even cross their minds that wearing their hats might upset someone. It was just an issue of fashion.  In another church one of the workers pointed out that a lot of the older people in the church feel detached from the young people because they seem so different. Stories like these are fairly common in a lot of churches and it made me think- 

When different ages come together in church is it really a clash of cultures and is there more to it than just age?

And something for you to think about-

How would you respond if this happened in your church?