LINNEA SWENSON | staff writer
A recent trend has sparked the curiosity and involvement of many on campus as more students have taken to the concept of “being the church” rather than simply attending a typical Sunday service.
This trend of the “unconventional church” seems to be probing the question—instead of attending a church in the community, why not be the community that is called the church?
ReGeneration L.A. is one example of a church that is seeking to rethink church in a postmodern context and provide a place of community for the emerging generation.
“I started going there because it was a place I really felt comfortable, safe and accepted,” junior communication studies major Hannah Juarez said. “I felt like I wasn’t just being preached at, but I was being engaged with the material and with the Bible and by being engaged, I was really learning a lot more.”
ReGeneration L.A. meets in three different home clusters of about 15-25 members on three different nights of the week. Juarez has been attending the Monday night cluster held at an apartment in Glendora since January.
ReGeneration L.A. has about 100 total members who meet in home clusters once a week and then attend a different Sunday event each week, whether that’s for a worship night, a family meal or a special event.
“We have a pastoral staff of five who are in charge of teaching and leading,” junior biblical studies major Mike Mierzejewski said. “We have leadership to keep us focused, but there’s not a separation between our leadership and the people.”
Mierzejewski is the youngest member on the pastoral staff and leads the Glendora cluster at his apartment on Monday evenings.
“We’re trying to reach young people who don’t feel like they fit into church,” Mierzejewski said. “It probably doesn’t look like church to a lot of people.”
And here lies the question—what does church look like?
To senior global studies major Whitney Willett who attends United Ministries’ church, church equals community. This home community church has eight to ten APU students.
“It’s a community, and that’s what church is,” Willett said. “[United Ministries’ church] is discussion based, and discussion leads to challenging one another.”
United Ministries’ church had its start in the fall of 2008 and currently meets on Sunday morning in the University Park apartment of junior marketing major Taka Ohki.
“God put something on my heart, and I did it,” Ohki said. “I wanted to encounter God on a personal level.”
Ohki originally started United Ministries’ church as a means to invite friends from the community into a safe environment where they could encounter God through a small community of believers.
“This gives us an opportunity to be open with one another, to seek God, and have the support of others,” junior global studies major Chad Akins said.
Akins has been attending this home church since January.
United Ministries’ church is interactive, communally led and discussion based. They cook breakfast together before starting church on Sunday mornings.
This trend of the “unconventional church” doesn’t just exist among students. Resident Director of the Shire Mods Jon Maurer, pastors a recently established church plant called Oasis.
Oasis had its first official service in September 2008 and currently gathers on Sunday mornings at the Ice House, a comedy nightclub in Pasadena.
“I think the church in America is at a crucial moment,” Maurer said. “Right now there is a generational gap that you see in almost 95 percent of churches. I think Generation X has been the first generation in American history to be largely “unchurched” and Oasis wants to do something about this. We want to reach this generation that is missing from the church.”
Since its start in September, Oasis has grown to an average attendance of about 125-150 members a week. Its leadership staff is primarily made up of Fuller Seminary and APU graduates and students.
“Our vision for Oasis is to see the kingdom of God expressed in lives of Generation X and Generation Y, to see them love Jesus, and to be the hands and feet of Christ in society where the church is dying,” Maurer said.
As an extension of the Sunday morning service, Oasis has a number of life groups that consist of small groups of people who come together once a week around a particular passion or focus while incorporating learning and service.
“Life groups are like a lab,” life group coordinator Jon Sampson said. “It’s where you’re challenged to put what you’re learning into practice.”
Sampson is also a part of the APU community as a Resident Director in Bowles.
“The reason I got involved from the beginning was because I’m very passionate about how we can minister to the community,” Sampson said. “The outward focus is one of the most important aspects to me.”
Sampson has been involved with Oasis since the initial planning stages in January of 2008.
“I think we have to do church that makes sense within our culture,” Sampson said.
This concept of church continues to be rethought and redefined by many of those who are involved in these newly established, community-based churches.
