“Find your own Calcutta”
WINNIPEG, MB—Youth culture specialist Paul Robertson is deeply concerned about young people these days. "Generation Me" is "driven without direction," he says. And while they may be "comfortable with contradiction" and spiritually questing, ultimately they are confused.
"Pop culture has your kids," he told a gathering of nearly 60 church leaders in Winnipeg, the first of six presentations throughout Canada. Robertson is appearing alongside Red Letter Revolution author Colin McCartney in "35 and Out: Re-engaging a missing generation," a project of World Vision Canada's Responding Church Network.
They are also slated to appear in Vancouver, Edmonton, Moncton, Montreal and Toronto.
According to Robertson, "the most negative trend in youth culture is narcissism." He observes that "God made us in His image, and we've returned the favour." The antidote to our unholy "preoccupation with the trinity of me, myself and I," he says, "is to give your life in service to others."
While Robertson lauds young North Americans for their sensitivity to issues of environment, justice, poverty and tolerance, he believes the postmodern environment is fundamentally hostile to Christianity. This generation, he explains, does not believe in absolute truth. It's content to uphold all lifestyles, behaviours and attitudes as equally valid. And it has turned tolerance into a primary virtue. "Postmodernism shows us exactly what we're like without God," he says.
Colin McCartney, the founder of Urban Promise in Toronto, is considerably more optimistic as he looks at ministry implications in this very environment. He urges Christian leaders (and their congregations) who want to reach younger Canadians to get involved in social justice issues. "Faith accompanied by action lives," he says. "If your church isn't involved in mission outside the church, then hang up the 'for sale' sign."
Mission opportunities are all around us, says McCartney. He relates the story of a woman who once wrote a letter to Mother Teresa, saying she would like to come to Calcutta to work with her. She was surprised to receive a four-word letter in return. "Find your own Calcutta."
McCartney similarly challenges Christians to find a place to serve people who are needy and to "build community around your own Calcutta." And he insists that this is the time to "teach truth to a confused generation." They are "starving for truth," he says. "Don't candy coat it."
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