Providing Christian resources from the YMCA past and present to nourish inclusive, equitable work in our diverse and global neighborhoods that build up healthy spirit, mind and body for all.
Since 1904, the World YMCA and the World YWCA have traditionally come together to deliver the World Week of Prayer and World Fellowship. Celebrated each year in the second week of November, the Week sees both organisations joining forces to produce a booklet with a theme, a set of Bible studies for each day, and an annual Bible reading plan so that communities around the world can unite in prayer for a specific cause linked to current realities.
You are invited to join Christians across the world to pray with the YMCA and YWCA.
Pray with us at noon (click here for the blogpost series) – or whenever works best with your schedule – and lift up our brothers and sisters across the globe to the Lord, that we might be light in the darkness and healers to the broken.
Click here to download the prayer guide or subscribe to this blog to get posts in your email inviting you to pray.
For Christians in the YMCA, we are called to love one another, our neighbor, strangers and our enemies; they may be of the same faith or not – but we have a responsibility to respect and care in imitation of Christ. This is the heart of Jesus’ prayer in John 17:21, of inclusion and equity. “Welcome is the will of God” – to quote my college theology professor Dr. Paul Fetters.
John R. Mott, a legendary YMCA leader, inspiring evangelical Christian missionary, and father of the Christian ecumenical movement, was also an instigator of the multi-faith dialogue – an epitome (though not perfect) of diverse and inclusive Christian mission up until his death in 1955.
Since then the YMCA has sought to embody the Christian faith and loyalty to Jesus in its open membership, community-based programs, and leadership development amidst very tumultuous times – there was nothing easy about navigating the societal upheavals of the 60’s and 70’s, the political and economic swings of the 80’s and 90’s, and the stumbling striving for justice in the first two decades of this second millennium.
In all honesty, diversity and inclusion between different kinds of Christians is not easy, and requires gracious hospitality – this is the heart of Jesus’ prayer in John 17:21.
Those same skills are what make interfaith dialogue and mutual understanding possible.
It is obvious that the country has become more diverse in almost every way culturally and religiously.
The YMCA is in the middle of it: so, how do we graciously and generously move forward, especially regarding interfaith relationships, including those members who do not consider themselves religious?
Below is a document produced in 2015 that the Y crafted in seeking to understand it’s membership in this regard.
Here is an excerpt that introduces it:
The YMCA of the USA recognizes that in a diverse world, we are stronger when we are inclusive and our doors are open for all.
Interfaith engagement provides an opportunity for the Y to foster empathy, understanding, and awareness.
This document is a summary of a collaborative project on interfaith engagement conducted by the Aspen Institute Justice & Society Program (JSP) and the YMCA of the USA (Y-USA).
Religious Diversity of the Y
And:
The YMCA of the USA, one of the nation’s leading youth development organizations, has participated in IAP (Inclusive America Project) from its inception.
Neil Nicoll, President and CEO of Y-USA, attended both panel meetings and contributed an essay to the Principled Pluralism report.
As an outgrowth of Mr. Nicoll’s involvement in the Inclusive America Project, the Aspen Institute and Y-USA worked together to examine how religious diversity affects Ys across the nation and explore potential strategies for further engagement.
2015, aspeninstitute.org/publications/religious-diversity-y/
I appreciate the practical spirit of this document, crafted by YMCA leaders seeking to put Christian principles into practice.
It seems to me that every generation of the YMCA has to do some contextual digging, discerning what are the forces that have been shaping the times they are living and leading in, and then discern how to be wise, creative, and just in moving forward.
For Christians in the YMCA, we are called to love one another, our neighbor, strangers and our enemies; they may be of the same faith or not – but we have a responsibility to respect and care in imitation of Christ.
That is the heart of John 17:21, of religious diversity and inclusion, of hospitality, of the kingdom of God.
What can you do in this coming year in honor of George Williams legacy to lift up youth, to embody the grace of Christ, and enter into the challenges of our generation with courage and wisdom?
It’s a joy to remember the origins of the Y, why we got our start, who all helped make it possible, and for what ends.
When you become a member of the Y, you join a global movement created in 1844 to save young men in spirit, mind and body.
All these years later, the Christian heart of the Y has built up an organization focused on welcome and hospitality, empowerment and solidarity, justice and peace, faith and hope; but the greatest of these is love.
What can you do in this coming year in honor of George Williams legacy to lift up youth, to embody the grace of Christ, and enter into the challenges of our generation with courage and wisdom?
