Tag: John R. Mott

Jesus & the YMCA

The Y decided long ago, wisely, not to make religion an expectation or requirement of membership or employment.

Loyalty to Jesus Christ is always about grace, about gifts and blessing, not about coercion.

George Williams and his eleven friends – and later Anthony Bowen, John Mott, MLK, Paul Limbert, Harold Smith, Carlos Sanvee – are evidence of what happens to men who do believe Jesus, who take a leap of faith and pledge their loyalty to the Kingdom of God.

And that is how Jesus is alive and well in the YMCA today, when Y staff and members show up desiring to embody the love and loyalty of Christ to whoever comes across their path.

“I first learned in Bridgewater”, said Williams, “to love my dear Lord and Saviour for what He had done for me…I was on the downward road…I said, ‘Cannot I escape? Is there no escape’ They told me in this town of Bridgewater how to escape—Confess your sins, accept Christ, trust in Him, yield your heart to the Saviour. I cannot describe to you the joy and peace that flowed into my soul when I first saw that the Lord Jesus had died for my sins, and that they were all forgiven.”(7)

Sir George Williams, quote taken from edhird.com

It is undeniable, the role of Jesus in the origins, heart and purpose of the YMCA.

George Williams and the eleven Christian friends who founded the Y in 1844 did so out of their love and loyalty to the Lord Jesus.

As an Association it’s impetus for action was Christian love and loyalty to the Young Men in their factories and neighborhoods who were facing crushing inequities, overwhelming temptations to vice, loneliness and purposelessness.

Our history is centered on the real presence of Christ Jesus, a man who figures in the background of the Y and the foreground of our leaders throughout the many generations.

The Y logos since 1881

The “X” and “P” in the background of the original Y logo are Greek letters, religious symbols for the name of Christ in the New Testament, written in Greek and spelled XRIST – Chi Rho Iota Sigma Tau.

Was the simplification of the logo in 1897 a secularist removal of Christ from the Y or rather a pragmatic marketing move?

Considering the Christians leading the Y in those days, men like John Mott, Luther Wishard, etc, their work and words, attitude and lifestyle was the real embodiment of the “C” in the YMCA.

The reality is that Christ is present in the Y irregardless of what the logo looks like, for it is through people that Jesus does his reconciling work, not marketing materials.

It is undeniable, though, that the role of the “C” – of Jesus – has become more complicated and conflicting in the YMCA.

The 1960’s seemed to have changed everything. One could make the case that the Great War of 1914 broke the ecumenical Christian Spirit of the world, that the Holocaust and atom bomb of WW2 poisoned the global Christian Spirit, and that it took decades for these reverberations to unsettle and upheave Christianity in our American culture; the 1960’s were the unveiling of the brewing chaos.

In post-war 1940’s elderly John Mott is noticing the waning of the Christian mission of the Y; in the 1950’s the famous Christian theologian and Y advocate Emil Brunner is calling the Y back to Christ; in 1989 the revered 101-old Paul Limbert laments the lack of awareness of Christian principles and legacy in the Y.

The YMCA was affected by the 1960’s, and all that led up to it, and since then; in some ways the Y embodies the culture of its communities and countries – in other ways we influence it.

One example: The diversity of Christianity in the USA is found in our YMCA staff and members.

This religious inclusion was intentional, hard-fought, often resisted, but crucial to us living out our name.

What the Y learned through religious inclusion has been seeds for greater inclusion amongst our increased dimensions of diversity – not without struggle, obviously.

Christians have always been part of the push for inclusion in the Y; they are also ones who resist it.

That’s been the history of Christianity, it’s attempt to live out Jesus’ prayer recorded in the New Testament Gospel according to John “that they may all be one.”

As Christ’s gospel encountered different tribes and nations, the diversity of the Faith increased, and so did the complexity and conflicts amongst the Body of Christ.

You can see this in the by-laws of the YMCA:

THE YMCA IS UNIVERSALLY REGARDED AS BEING IN ITS ESSENTIAL GENIUS, A WORLDWIDE FELLOWSHIP OF PERSONS UNITED BY A COMMON LOYALTY TO THE PRINCIPLES OF JESUS CHRIST FOR THE PURPOSE OF DEVELOPING CHRISTIAN PERSONALITY AND BUILDING A CHRISTIAN SOCIETY. THE YMCA SHALL BE NONDENOMINATIONAL AND SHALL NOT DISCRIMINATE AGAINST ITS STAFF, BOARD, VOLUNTEERS, COMMITTEES, MEMBERS OR RECIPIENTS OF SERVICES BASED ON ANY CHARACTERISTIC OR STATUS PROTECTED BY FEDERAL, STATE OR LOCAL LAW AND IS COMMITTED TO A CULTURE OF INCLUSION AND UNDERSTANDS, RESPECTS AND VALUES THE DIVERSITY OF OTHERS.

It’s ironic: as Christians strive to bring the peace-full gospel of Jesus to more people, there sometimes ends up being more struggles and even chaos – hence the emphasis by the Y on inclusive fellowship in imitation of Jesus Christ.

The Paris Basis of the YMCA, the original document for framing how different Christians could work together across the globe emphasized “harmonious relations”:

“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.
Any differences of opinion on other subjects, however important in themselves, shall not interfere with the harmonious relations of the constituent members and associates of the World Alliance.”

What could it look like now it for Jesus to still be part of the Y? Challenge 21 is a compelling strategy and framework, developed in 1998 in reflection of 15 decades of YMCA ministry.

The first challenge is: “Sharing the good news of Jesus Christ and striving for spiritual, intellectual and physical well-being of individuals and wholeness of communities.” Read more at https://www.ymca.int/about-us/ymca-history/challenge-21-1998/

Sometimes we think too little of Jesus.

Is Jesus like a little Christmas elf, lurking in our buildings to bless people? Is he a ghost that haunts our facilities with nostalgia for the glory days of Christendom?

Is he a severe judge condemning all the sinners who work out at the Y? Is he a cultural critic of the right or left?

Is he wringing his hands at the mission drift of the Y? Is he rolling his eyes at the crazy Christians in the Y? Is he a timidly permissive of whatever people want to do or believe at the Y?

No.

Whatever Jesus is doing in the Y – in our world – in our communities – in our homes – it is with and through people, for all creation.

And whatever Jesus has done, is doing, and will do, it will often be – to be frank – unbelievable.

Why do I say that?

Because that’s the general experience of people as recorded in the New Testament.

It requires a leap of faith, to quote Kierkegaard, to believe Jesus existed and is still who he claims to be.

On the face of it, there is an unbelievability to Jesus.

But George Williams and his eleven friends – and Anthony Bowen, John Mott, MLK, Paul Limbert, Harold Smith, Carlos Sanvee – are evidence of what happens to men who do believe Jesus, who take a leap of faith and pledge their loyalty to the Kingdom of God.

And that is how Jesus is alive and well in the YMCA today, when Y staff and members show up desiring to embody the love and loyalty of Christ to whoever comes across their path.

The Y decided long ago, wisely, not to make religion an expectation or requirement of membership or employment.

Loyalty to Jesus Christ is always about grace, about gifts and blessing, not about coercion.

History shows that Jesus is not bound to our expectations and will not be manipulated or coerced, nor will he require that of us to others.

The grace of Christ grants us an almost unbelievable amount of freedom – which is why St Paul admonishes us to use our freedom for good “all things are permissible but not all are beneficial.”

At almost 180 years old, the relationship the Y has with Jesus is complicated and conflicted, which ought not to be much of a surprise.

But no matter how many decades have elapsed, life with Jesus always require more trust, which means there always more room for doubt.

Our faith only grows when tested, which means we will face more complicated conflicts which give us the opportunity to increase our hope and reveal the resiliency of our love and dependence on God’s Grace.

Are there still Christians still in the Y? Yes.

Is Jesus and the Y still a thing? Of course?

Do we crave more certainty and security about the “C” in the Y? Probably too much.

Did Jesus come to make people comfortable and happy? Not really.

Jesus did come to be the light in the darkness, to rescue us from evil, to call people to join him in a ministry of reconciliation for the restoration of all creation.

That’s what Jesus is doing in the world, in the Y, with and through and for people – people who can be stiff-necked, hard-hearted, stubborn and rebellious.

Yet he faithfully, patiently, with great endurance overcomes evil with good, redeeming it all by love, for those that believe it, who trust that this is what God is doing in the world through Jesus.

Sometimes Christ is in the background of our Y, like in that first logo; sometimes you can’t see him in obvious ways, like our current logo.

But since it’s by faith, through grace, that Jesus fulfills God’s will in the world, may we choose to believe that Christ is in the Y, that he is mysteriously present in the background and foreground leading us – the complicated and conflicted people that we are – into his promised future, where there is flourishing for all.

Here is how Carlos Sanvee authentically puts it, our World YMCA Secretary-General, in his 2021 Easter message to the Y:

I also realised how my faith in Jesus aligned with my African understanding of Ubuntu: that a person is a person only through other people; and that I am, because you are.

The YMCA taught me triangles and trinities: of the interlinkage of body, mind and spirit; and the interrelation of me, my neighbour and God.

So my work has always been my faith, and my faith has always been my work.

The core of my faith is to endeavour to accept and understand the unconditional love of God, shown to us at Easter. And my work is to try and share that love.

Jesus poured himself out in love and service. He preached and he lived the social gospel. He bridged the divides in society, and he reconciled us to God and to each other.

We in the YMCA are called to do the same.

Carlos Sanvee, https://www.ymca.int/eastermessage/
Ascension of Jesus

An Ecumenical “C” in the YMCA?

An Ecumenical “C” in the YMCA ::: Faith is a dynamic dimension of diversity in the Y. Religion’s existential power includes its comprehensive influence on individuals and the families and tribes they are born into. The Christian religion of the YMCA will never go away – so what are ways followers of Christ can live out their faith in the Y that builds up a healthy spirit, mind and body for all? In this article I try to make the case for why the Y should intentionally resurrect their ecumenical Christian emphasis, as embodied by our founder George Williams and our most famous ambassador of the 19th and 20th century John Mott.

When we talk about the “C” in the YMCA, what are we talking about?

Is it a “thin C” or a “thick C”, a “narrow C” or a “wide C” – a “C” with complex dimensions and cultures or a simple “C” that perfectly aligns with whatever you happen to passionately believe?

With the founding of the YMCA on June 6 1844 by George Williams and eleven of his young Christian business friends, a complex “C” was already at work in the association.

Sir George Williams

Williams grew up in a nominal rural British Anglican home in the 1820’s and 30’s, but had a born-again evangelical Christian experience when he came to London looking for work as a young man.

He aligned with the Dissenting church in London, heavily involved in evangelization all the days of his Christian life, yet would join the Church of England later in life as a very prosperous and respected businessman. (For more on this see Clyde Binfield’s George Williams and the Y.M.C.A.: a Study in Victorian Social Attitudes)

Early on the YMCA had a complex relationship with “the church” – since the twelve founders of the Y had a variety of Christian traditions in their background.

This kept the Y from early on being co-opted by one church tradition, and helped it focus on being an ally of the church and partner in its evangelism and discipleship efforts for young men in the urban centers.

As the concept of the YMCA spread across Europe and the world, the variety of Christian traditions, cultures and church denominations increased within the Y movement.

The Paris Basis of 1855 is an early document of the YMCA that seeks to guide different kinds of Christians from different kinds of churches and cultures for joining together with Jesus Christ for doing kingdom work in the world.

a draft document of the original Paris Basis

Within thirty years the dynamic and influential YMCA leader John Mott would be building on this Paris Basis legacy and spirit, not only strengthening the Y movement across American college campuses, but eventually with Y students across the world.

In reading through his biography written by C.H. Hopkins, it recounts from Mott’s diary and correspondence the strong Christian faith that empowered his growing commitment to ecumenical Christianity.

The Y is about getting work done, about overcoming differences in order to better serve people; that means when it comes to religion, we focus on what unites, not divides.

This works to a certain point; the pragmatism of the YMCA and this kind of cooperation is successful when you stay on the surface.

But, when you spend enough time together, it gets complex and at some point you need the tools to dig below the surface to deal with the spirit, mind and heart of people.

John Mott’s focus on Christian mission is what led him to fully embrace an ecumenical Christianity. Can you imagine Christians on the mission-field denouncing other denominations?

Missionaries learned that the more closely they partnered in an ecumenical spirit, the more likely they could embody the prayer of Jesus in John 17 and more faithfully proclaim the good news.

Long story short, John Mott was a key Christian leader in the YMCA movement and global missionary movement, as well as the world ecumenical movement.

In a way, they were all intertwined: Mott helped support the successful 1910 Edinburgh Mission Council, which was a unique effort to unite Protestant Christian church denominations in their world missionary work.

This event was a key catalyst in global missionary partnerships and guidelines, as well as strengthening ecumenical relationships.

There is a direct line of relationship between John Mott of the YMCA and the founding of the World Council of Churches, which exists today to support and strengthen ecumenical efforts across the whole globe, in every continent, with every Christian denomination willing to participate.

Today the Global Christian Forum is a partnership between the WCC, the Roman Catholic Church, the World Evangelical Alliance, and the Pentecostal World Fellowship, through which almost every major Christian denomination and tradition has a voice and a relationship for faithfully embodying Jesus prayer “that all may be one.”

For the YMCA’s interested in Christian emphasis and Christian mission in the USA, it is imperative that we recover our connection with our ecumenical Christian heritage.

It is my observation that it will be harmful for our Y movement if we insist on a stronger “C” if we don’t build up our diverse, inclusive and global Christian relationships – like what was the case for the Paris Basis.

I grew up in a conservative evangelical fundamentalist Christian culture, and read about the dangers of the World Council of Churches in Europe, the corruption of the National Council of Churches here in America, and the liberal poison of ecumenical efforts.

For me, I’ve had to detox from this kind of religious slander and fearmongering.

As I see it, with the USA and the world becoming more globalized, more complex and cross-pressured, more connected religiously and culturally in ways that both amplify friendships and gross misunderstandings, it is imperative for American Christians to engage in ecumenical work as part of their mission work.

There is a rich ecumenical Christian tradition within the YMCA, as embodied by John Mott and his many associates and friends in the Y movement who served with him and extended his influence for decades after his death in 1955.

The “C” in the YMCA from our founding has always been ecumenical.

If we are going to strengthen the presence of Christ in our Y’s, and if we are going to be inspired by his prayer in John 17, then we must engage with the ecumenical work that diverse and global Christians have been doing for over a hundred years, including our own John Mott.

What would it look like for YMCAs in the USA to engage diverse and global Christian members in an inclusive way?

Here are a few steps Christians in the YMCA could take for moving forward:

One: do some demographic research of the many different kinds of Christian denominations in your region; spend time investigating the many independent ethnic and minority churches in your communities.

Two: you find what you are looking for – so start looking to meet the diverse and global Christians who are already part of your YMCA; prayerfully be present to the willingness of the Holy Spirit to connect you with Christians different than you.

Three: consider the different kinds of Christians you already know, examine your heart in regard to “those Christians” which you are suspicious of or consider to be CINO (Christians in name only); prayerfully submit to the Holy Spirit your attitude and perspective, and be open to how you might gain a healthier understanding of their relationship with Christ.

Four: pay attention to your cultural context in regard to different kinds of Christians in your Y and life – odds are the obstacles to unity are less about race and ethnicity and more about ideology; are the divisive distinctions being drawn around labels like: conservative vs liberal, traditional vs progressive, evangelical vs ecumenical, charismatic vs liturgical, pro-life vs pro-choice, pro-straight marriage vs pro-gay marriage, pro-capitalism vs pro-socialism, etc.?

Five: accept that being a Christian in our world is complex, that trying to live out your faith in your community is complicated, that relationships are messy, and that it is not easy to intertwine the application of grace and truth to every situation; accept that we make lots of mistakes along the way and thus it’s okay to apologize when confronted and strive to make amends in faith, hope, and love.

There are many reasons why it’s a struggle to talk about the “C” in the YMCA.

For my part, I’d like to do what I can to help forge a way for more of us in the Y to strengthen an inclusive “C” as part of our mission and cause as we seek to love, care and serve our diverse and global communities.

This means taking the “C” more seriously, learning to talk about the complex “C” in ways that are generous, empathetic in listening and learning, and honest.

Religion is not going away in the world, it is a powerful lens for participating in reality; either the YMCA fully and authentically embraces its religious heritage and seeks to let it flourish for all, or we live in denial of our founding and our foundations, to the detriment of our future.

For more on global religion’s resurgence and potential for our human flourishing, read more by Miroslav Volf of the Yale Center for Faith and Culture at Yale Divinity School.

For more on this theme read Is The YMCA Still Religious? Still Christian?

The “C” in the YMCA: as Obstacle, Offense, and Opportunity

A humble reflection on the role of Christian emphasis in the future of a successful YMCA striving to live out its mission of putting Christian principles into practice through equitable programs that build healthy spirit, mind and body for all.

Every generation of YMCA leaders are stewards of the Y they receive, often amidst the challenges and turbulence of their time.

The YMCA they entered into on that first day of membership and employment must adapt to unexpected changes in their communities and culture.

Being a nationwide organization this often looks and feels complex since the Y finds itself in over ten thousand different cultures/communities across the USA.

As the YMCA strives to authentically and resiliently respond to the crises of our times, especially as it marshals all of its institutional strength and resources to equitably build up people in spirit, mind and body, it must remember: where did this wealth of capacity to love, care and serve come from?

What were the leaders doing in the generations prior to us that made these possibilities a reality?

What has the Y been becoming since 1844, who did we come from, what have been our failures and successes, our learning curves that have gotten us to this crucial moment?

As complex as the YMCA is, I’m going to try to make a general case for why the “C” in our name has been and can still be central to our future success, still a vital source for our DIG work.

I acknowledge up front that the “C” can also be a highly combustible reality that obviously still causes merited concern by some; but, I believe it also can be the fire we need to fulfill our mission and cause amongst those struggling the most in our communities for generations to come.

“C” as OBSTACLE

First, for some in the YMCA, the “Christian” in our name is an obstacle.

This is a sentiment of Christians in our movement as well as those of other traditions.

It’s easy to notice the Christians with loud voices who resist equity in our communities, ignore and/or undermine the “for all” in our YMCA mission.

It’d be easy to list off Christians you know who seem to be obstacles to equity, to our core values, to our mission, to our work to be an anti-racist, multicultural organization.

It might be you don’t even really know any Christians at your Y, you just know what you have seen or heard elsewhere convinces you that the “C” is an obstacle to progress and success.

It can also become easy to presume that if we removed Christian emphasis from the Y, we’d have less obstacles to equity, diversity and inclusion. That might have some truth to it.

But: what is also true is the untold Christians in the Y who are passionate advocates for DIG work because of their Christian faith.

Faith is a key dimension of diversity, and for many in our Y movement a powerful motivation for humbly and faithfully persevering in the diverse, inclusive, global work of the Y.

Be that as it may, it’s obvious that Christians in the Y have racked up a long list of examples of being an obstacle to the flourishing of all.

For this we must confess our sins, repent, make amends where we can, and do better.

“C” as OFFENSIVE

Secondly: It’d be irresponsible to overlook the fact that some within our Y movement see the “C” as more than an obstacle, they also see it as an offense.

And who can blame them?

The historically obvious sins of Christians and their institutions in the USA leave much disgust in our souls.

Not only the failures of the faith in the past, but the egregious racism and violence of Christians today give plenty of ammunition to justify the belief that we are an offense.

With the public offensiveness of many high profile Christians, along with the thousands of every day offenses committed by people of the faith, it’s not without evidence that the suppression or removal of the Christian name and identity is supported.

Why keep an offensive culture in our name as we strive to focus intensely on becoming an anti-racist, multicultural organization?

It’s tough to make a defense against the offensiveness of Christianity in light of the many negative realities revealed in history and the current headlines.

It’s tough also because there is an essential offensive nature to Christianity as evidenced by the crucifixion of Jesus we read about in the Gospels of the New Testament.

For all the good that Jesus did, for all of his teachings on love and forgiveness in the kingdom of God, he was still killed by the ruling authorities under the accusations of political sedition and religious blasphemy – intertwined realities that reveal the intense offense Christ Jesus generated among people with power and the crowds.

It’s one thing for Christians to be offensive because they act like privileged jerks with thin-skin, it’s another for Christians to offend when they insist on abiding by the way of Jesus and his kingdom of atonement and reconciliation.

So yes, there are definitely toxic Christians that give the “C” a bad name, and there have been times when Christians in the Y gave offense by their faith-fullness to Christ Jesus.

My hunch is that the majority of offensiveness that is noticed in the Y towards Christians is due to the unrepentant meanness and arrogance of how some put their faith into practice. That is worth objecting to.

For all the ways we Christians have been offensive due to our sins, we must confess and repent of this too, make amends where we can, and do better.

“C” as OPPORTUNITY

Third: For me, I think it’s worth considering, in my humble opinion, of ways the “C” can be an opportunity to build equity in spirit, mind and body, for all.

What is the work of anti-racism if it’s not spiritual work?

If it was merely a matter of educating the mind, or enforcing bodily complicity to anti-racist principles, we’d have achieved more progress by now.

But isn’t equity first an attitude before it’s an action, a belief as much as it is behavior?

Don’t we want people to want to be inclusive, not just open to multicultural friendships because of peer pressure or economic coercion?

So if you are going to draw on spiritual resources to fuel anti-racist work, why would you cut out or suppress or ignore our “C” in our name, which is one of the strongest sources of spiritual energy in our American heritage and social fabric?

I’m not going to try and make a case for whether or not the USA is a Christian nation, but I think it’s unhelpful to overlook or downplay the Christian energies that have shaped and are still central to our culture, for good and for bad.

Religion is resurgent in the world, and the rest of the world sees the USA as still one of the most religious nations in the planet.

So, rather than suppress the powerful reality of religion in the Y, we need to bring it out into the open so that we can openly benefit from the remarkable resources it brings to people, as well as maturely and truthfully critique and correct what corrodes flourishing for all.

Cancelling the “C” in our name misses an opportunity to reinvigorate our dimensions of diversity, especially the dynamic and pervasive role of faith and religion.

The majority of Americans still identify with Christianity, and it is likely that percentage is higher within the Y, especially in light of its highly public brand recognition as the Young Men’s Christian Association.

Rather than rebrand as a secular institution, let’s resource the richly complex “C” to inspire “for all” in an increasing religiously pluralistic society.

Let’s face it, many Christians within the Y are embarrassed by the negative obstacles and nefarious offensiveness of the “C” as embodied by some members and staff.

I’ve found that many Christians in the Y are frustrated with the kind of “C” that they see, and aren’t sure what a better version could look like in these pluralistic times.

So instead of experimenting with fresh expressions of an inclusive Christianity, they unfortunately let the heart of the Y wither.

If we are honest, though, some if not many of the great YMCA DIG work, some of our greatest and most inclusive leaders in the Y are beautiful Christians doing God’s work in wonderful ways.

And it is their Christian faith which shapes and fuels what they do in an irreplaceable way.

To minimize or downplay their “C” in the “for all” work they are championing is too miss the opportunity to lift this up as a way to inspire a new imagination for how inclusive Christianity can be a vital dimension of diversity.

You see the “C” you are looking for.

Let’s look for opportunities to responsibly live out and respect faith as a key dimension of diversity.

What does that mean for the Y?

It means not only honestly critiquing the moral and ethical failures of the YMCA in the past as a Christian-based organization, but to also draw on the best of our Christian foundation and heritage, to use the real ways we have cared deeply for people as a Christian-based organization as a resource for current and future equity work.

What can we learn from Christians like George Williams on lifting up young men lost in the urban-industrial wastelands?

What can we learn from John R. Mott, an American and global Christian who pioneered ecumenical work as well as innovative multi-faith initiatives?

What can we learn from Rev. Martin Luther King on nonviolent Christian reconciliation work amidst racial and social injustices?

And so many more YMCA Christian men and women, old and young, who can re-inspire a “thick C” that celebrates and nourishes a very diverse, inclusive and global Christian faith in the Y, which then is a seed-bed for loving multi-faith and multicultural work that is anti-racist, equitable, beautiful, true, just and good.

YMCA OF THE USA & THE WORLD “C”

The YMCA was and is a crucial player in the global church community to lift up the practical value of religious diversity and inclusion – we helped start the World Council of Churches.

We don’t have to reinvent the wheel. The Y still has rich resources to draw on for ways the “C” in our name can make us more welcoming, more equitable, more hospitable, more open “for all.”

An example: The World YMCA logo still includes the John 17:21 Bible reference in its logo; its at the heart of the triangle in our logo.

The prayer of Jesus that it highlights is crucial to the foundational motivations of those who breathed life into the Y in 1844.

And it is still a deeply powerful prayer on the lips and in the hearts of millions of Christians yet today throughout the whole earth and in the YMCA here in the USA.

Christ Jesus, on the night he was to be betrayed and killed by his own people, prayed for the unity of those who would believe in him in the decades and centuries to come.

Christ Jesus also prayed that all those who believed would be in deep union with God.

If you’re a Christian, isn’t that still a compelling vision for the Y – that through all of the many good programs and initiatives we have done since 1844 – that it can still be a contribution to Christians becoming more in union with our loving, caring, and sacrificial Lord Jesus Christ?

With our rich legacy already in that work, why would we end it – if we don’t reinvigorate that work, who else is there like us to pick up that task?

And if you’re not of the Christian faith, would you want the Y to downplay even more it’s influence on Christians to become more equitable and inclusive?

If the Y doesn’t do that work with Christians, who will?

Another example: Challenge 21 is a creative and compelling strategy of the World YMCA to let the “C” nourish its work while expanding the ways they strive for love and justice “for all.”

There is much the American Y can learn from Challenge 21 and our global friends in this complex work.

In fact it was cross-cultural experiences that invigorated spiritual and social transformation for George Williams (from rural to urban), John R. Mott (from America to the World), Martin Luther King (from Atlanta to India) and many others in the Y.

More examples: Who was it that decided to let women join the Young Men’s Christian Association? Christians.

Who was it that decided to lessen the strict Christian church attendance requirements for membership in the YMCA? Christians.

Who was it that decided to let Jewish and Muslim young men join the Y? Christians.

Who was it that decided to let Catholic Christians join the Y? Protestant Christians.

Who was it that decided to let non-Christians to join the Y? Christians.

Who was it that resisted all these decisions? Yes, obviously other Christians in the Y.

So which Christians do you want to pay the most attention to? The ones who resist adapting to inclusivity, or the ones that work for it.

RELIGION & the SECULAR

The real struggle of the “C” in the Y is not between secularism and Christianity, it’s mostly just between Christians.

Christians in general have stumbled through the rapid changes in our culture, especially as it has become more secular and religiously pluralistic.

The myth of secularism is that it is a “neutral” space created so that different kinds of Christians can cooperate in a public way, and then this gets extended to those of other faith and religious traditions, or those with none.

Secularism, however, is about a “negative peace” between Christians, and between those of different or no faiths, unable to unravel antagonisms, and succumbing to cultural and political entropy.

Christian Ecumenism is a “positive peace” between Christians, a constructive engagement for mutual understanding and collaboration; this is also a key foundation for Christians to participate in multi-faith and multicultural friendships in a pluralistic and secular society.

So if the Y is going to dig deeper into its DIG work, especially in its focus on religion and faith as a powerful dimension of diversity, we ought to get as much wisdom as we can on how it can be a constructive source for YMCA Christian ecumenical work and multi-faith work.

The “C” needs DIG as much as our DIG work needs a vital and bravely humble “C”.

What you suppress becomes more powerful, but in a toxic way.

It seems to me that the YMCA has struggled for the past fifty years on what to do with the “C” – it seems to have slowly suppressed it from public view, trying to be more secular, yet causing yet more consternation and antagonisms along the way.

The “C” will always be part of the YMCA – so can we transition from a “negative peace” in the Y to a “positive peace” where religion and faith can openly be lived and discussed?

Or will the “C” continue to be the elephant in the room, an unmovable obstacle, an enduring offense?

Let’s not suppress the “C” in the Y, let’s embrace the opportunity in front of us and learn how it can become a public and healthy part of our cause and mission as we become an anti-racist, multicultural organization in spirit, mind and body in the USA and the World.

For me, our current emphasis on equity and justice is a crucial way the Y is still inspired by the prayer of Jesus: “that all may be one.”

FEEDBACK

There is much that can be critiqued and questioned in my attempt to make a case for the opportunity the “C” gives the Y to flourish for all.

Did I make too little of the ways the Christian name is an obstacle and an offense?

I’d be very open to reactions that point out realities I’m missing, or ways to strengthen the way forward.