Walking through a YMCA during the busy part of the day includes sounds of clanking metal, thuds and grunts, but also laughing children, chattering adults, maybe announcements on the loudspeaker about child-watch, sneakers squeaking in the gym and depending on if the door is open lots of squealing and splashing from the pool.
It can be easy to take this kind of inclusion for granted: how many other spaces in a community have this variety of services to such a diverse collection of individuals?
How did the Y get to this point where they provide such a wide array of programs to a community?
By being “for all.”
These days “for all” is a volatile word, it’s easy to be uncertain about what it means, trying to put it into practice is complex, and definitions end up being ambiguous.
But it’s a crucial phrase.
Did you know a Christian YMCA member used the phrase “for all” when he crafted the Pledge of Allegiance?
American Pastor Francis Bellamy committed his young life and ministry to “liberty and justice for all” – a calling influenced by his leadership in the Little Falls NY YMCA, and he inadvertently inspired our nation to it as well.
When Bellamy looked around his community and church and saw actions and attitudes that were not right he spoke up and tried to make a difference; that’s a very dynamic interpretation of being “for all.”
The mission of the YMCA is to put Christian principles into practice through programs that build healthy spirit, mind and body for all.
The Y doesn’t wait around for things to go downhill before we step up – we try to be for all at the beginning, providing healthy programs for all the little children who come to us, their families and everyone else who wants to join us in spirit, mind and body: it’s a vital triad amidst our national epidemic of loneliness and heart disease, cancer and diabetes, etc.
But why is the Y for all? Why was Bellamy for all?
We state it as “Christian principles” in our mission; our YMCA Constitution phrases it as: “a common loyalty to Jesus Christ”.
The Young Men’s Christian Association we regard as being in its essential genius a worldwide fellowship united by a common loyalty to Jesus Christ for the purpose of developing Christian personality and building a Christian society.
This all flows from the original purpose statement of the YMCA crafted in 1855: “The Young Men’s Christian Associations seek to unite those young men who, regarding Jesus Christ as their God and Saviour, according to the Holy Scriptures, desire to be his disciples in their faith and in their life and to associate their efforts for the extension of His Kingdom amongst young men.”
Why does this matter?
Does your being “for all” create more freedom and liberty in homes and communities to love care and serve? What can motivate you to do this everyday? Sacrificially?
The obvious tension comes when we get weary of doing good and our liberties clash, hence the crucial commitment to justice for all.
Here’s how Saint Peter put it: “live as free people, but do not use your liberty as a cover up for injustice; live as God’s servants, for all.” [adapted from 1Peter 2:16].
For Christians in the Y and our country we seek to imitate Jesus who called us to walk with him, learn from him, serve with his heart, embodying his liberty and justice for all – here’s how Christ put it to his hometown:
“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty and justice for all the prisoners,
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor for the broken-hearted.” [adapted from Luke 4:18-19]
We don’t have to make up from scratch a definition of “Christian principles” and “for all” in the YMCA, we have a rich history to draw on, a strong foundation upon which we stand to shape our imagination for our context today.
If you were going to make up your own definition of “Christian principles” and being “for all” in the YMCA, you certainly have the liberty to do so!
But we invite you to use that liberty unto justice for all, not just in the Y but our whole community in spirit, mind and body using Christian principles on the way towards healing for the broken-hearted.
If you were going to try and start defining “Christian principles” and being “for all” it’d be wise to start with the context of our brand mission statement, Constitution preamble and goals, and the original Paris Basis.
A few reflections to empower the defining work:
- “Christian” indicates someone who’s been observed in faith and life as a “little Christ” – not just through their own confession of Jesus as Lord but that others could vouch for them.
- “Principles” indicates (via online Oxford Dictionary): a fundamental truth or proposition that serves as the foundation for a system of belief or behavior or for a chain of reasoning.
- So: following Jesus Christ in faith and life is a fundamental truth and foundation of the existence and purpose of the YMCA. It creates programs for youth development, healthy living, social responsibility, gyms and swims in order to “put Christian principles into practice” – not the other way around.
- But: Jesus makes it complicated – just as he attracted “non-followers”, so does the YMCA; just as Jesus welcomed, healed, loved, served anybody who came close, so does the Y; just as Jesus chose proximity with the world in joy and suffering (Christmas & Crucifixion), so too the YMCA.
- If: the Y was about “holy huddles” or “God Squads” we’d have drifted into irreverence ; but when the Y forgets or rejects our fundamental foundation, we drift into irrelevance. We see in George Williams and Anthony Bowen, John Mott and Fred Hoshiyama beautiful and compelling experiences of the YMCA defining “Christian principles” and being “for all” in their generation: not irreverent nor irrelevant.
- Defining both “Christian principles” and “for all” include intertwined themes of hospitality and welcome, sacrificial love and generous justice, freedom and responsibility, faithfulness and hope. They are not two separate ideas in our YMCA, they are they mutually inclusive reality, as seen in Jesus and the best of our YMCA leaders.
- Should we have concrete definitions for “Christian principles” and “for all”? Depends on your context and rationale: is it to infuse them with living dynamic energy to fuel your service or to control the narrative and put them in a box to guarantee compliance?
- What I’ve learned along the way: keep the conversation going! Keep experimenting in grace and peace regarding Christian principles and for all. Lean in to the dialogue in good faith and a hopeful heart. Be quick to listen, open to healing, empowered to love, serve and care for all whom God brings into your life.
Love the image of the hand cradling olive wood cross and beads. I carry the same cross given to us in Bethlehem most of the time. I say most … because I have had to rescue my cross several times from the wash. No matter how many times my olive wood cross completes a wash cycle along with my worn out Levi’s, the resilience of olive wood always shines through.