A Different Spin on Inclusivity

Our friends at Springtide Research continue to drill down into the hopes, dreams, and priorities of young adults in our culture. One primary focus is on their relationship with inclusivity. I think this portion of a recent Springtide research report is telling:

“Whether at work, in school, or at worship; whether spending money, time, or social capital—organizations that are inclusive are organizations young people want to join… An inclusive community is not one that admits or invites a diverse group of people to share time and space together while retaining a culture that caters to only one type of member. It’s clear that inclusivity is more than token diversity. Given that nearly 40% of the young people Springtide surveyed agreed an organization must hold inclusivity as one of its highest values, this kind of nuanced understanding is critical to getting it right. 

“Organizational leaders have a simple recipe for success in assessing behaviorally whether their organization is perceived and experienced as inclusive: just ask members. Ask members if their experiences and opinions are solicited, received with respect, and acted on. Ask if they feel respected and valued for their strengths...” (From Meaning Making)

A well-meaning emphasis on inclusivity can quickly devolve into tokenism. Even more, Springtide’s report is pointing out that an inclusive ministry culture goes much deeper than simple diversity. This deeper inclusivity is about invitation. In 2021 Dr. Halee Scott of Denver Seminary took a deep dive into the longings of young adults in 30 congregations, listening to them and their ministry leaders. She “mined” 10 insights into what young adults are craving from the church—and they map well to the intentional ways Jesus related to people as He catalyzed their transformation:

Remember My Name
Understand Me
Make Room for Me
Stay With Me
Be Present to Me
Be Real With Me
Tell Me the Truth
Teach Me
Trust Me
Help Me to Do Something

I can sum up these 10 cravings with a simple phrase: Young adults long to be invited into relational environments where their contributions and insights and discoveries really matter. To truly embed a culture of inclusivity, we need an overarching shift in the way we see the people we’re serving:

• From Consumers to Producers…

• From the Served to the Serving…

• From the Pursued to the Pursuers…

Author Paul Tough, using the work of psychologists, says that young adults need spaces marked by autonomy, relatedness, and competence. Translation—interactivity that values their voice and ability to pursue truth. Here’s a simple way to assess whether or not you’re planting and nurturing a culture of deep inclusivity; just answer Always/Sometimes/Rarely:

#1: In a teaching setting at my church, others (not the leader) do most of the talking…
#2: In a teaching setting at my church, others (not the leader) are primarily responsible for digging and discovering truths—the leader is a guide in that process, not the “chief digger”…
#3: In a teaching setting at my church, people often go deep and “get real” in the topics they’re pursuing…

People of all ages are hungry to go deeper, to have a primary role in discovering truth, and to pursue real things in real ways. Jesus engaged people in a way that addresses these hungers… In a conventional church approach, we use “talks” or “sermons” or “teachings” or “studies” in our discipleship and faith-formation strategy. Contrary to our assumptions, these are not models that Jesus emphasized. Several years ago I decided to slow down and consider what Jesus was actually doing whenever He was trying to help a person grow. That’s really the heart of teaching, isn’t it? So I focused on the gospel of Matthew, stopping every time I saw Jesus encouraging growth in someone. Here are the loose percentages I attached to the five approaches I saw:

Telling Truths or Principles to an “Audience”—15%
Telling a Story or a Parable or a Metaphor—20%
Using an Experience as a Teaching Moment—35%
Casual Conversations With People—15%
Debates or Formal Defenses of Himself—15%

This Jesus-strategy of engaging people is quite different than the prevalent style in most churches.

It Is Discovery-Focused—This means people do the discovery, and our role is to interact with those discoveries. In other words, others do most of the talking & discovering, instead of us doing all of the talking & discovering. People of all ages are expected to dig in every other arena in their life—school, work, sports, hobbies, passions—but not often at church. It’s a huge disconnect. It’s not about their capability; it’s about our commitment to expecting more of them.
It Prioritizes Asking Great Questions—These are questions that are surprising, personal, specific—and they are discovery-focused instead of rote (no one-word-answer questions and no obvious-answer questions). Jesus is asked by a “religious law” expert in Luke 10:25-26: “Teacher, what should I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus replied, “What does the law of Moses say? How do you read it?” It would be lazy for him to simply answer the question, and unloving. He wants the man to discover and grow, and expects the man to rise to the occasion. Jesus often answers questions with questions, because He wants (and expects) us to dig and dig and dig. When we dig, we find the buried treasure.
It Honors the Power of Experiences—This means planning things that require active involvement in something that serves as an onramp for exploration, discovery, and discussion. Jesus used experiences to teach more than any other method (walking on water, finding the coin in a fish’s mouth, cursing the fig tree, healings, bread and fish, and on and on). The rhythm for planting experiences in your growth environment is: 1) An experience that evokes emotion and ties to your theme or biblical target, 2) Everyone experiences it, 3) Debriefed in small groups or the whole group.

Here’s a surprising reason to grow in this approach: Anxiety, depression, and suicide are epidemic in our culture, especially among teenagers and young adults. Why? We often treat people as consumers in the church, with no important, relevant, and needed role. They are ill-prepared to access experiential strength. Because we don’t expect much of them, life’s challenges are more likely to overwhelm them. And our ministry approach may be unwittingly contributing to the problem.

Deep inclusivity in ministry will naturally lead us to expect more of our people—they will own discovery and the pursuit of truth and the heart of Jesus in a way they don’t now.