Tag: World YMCA

YMCA & Faith as a Dimension of Diversity

YMCA & Faith as a Dimension of Diversity ::: what are some ways we can elevate the role of religion and build a healthier, stronger “C” in the Y as a way to be even more inclusive and equitable?

The extraordinary effort the Young Men’s Christian Association is putting into being inclusive and equitable in light of its diverse and global reality is impressive and inspiring.

Yet, not without critique or flaws, and still in an agile learning mode, humbly trying to do better.

There are many aspects I value about the Dimensions of Diversity Wheel, including how it reveals then builds awareness of many key dimensions of diversity; having been through a training with it, I developed a more complex awareness of myself, as well as a richer perspective on those around me.

Nobody comes to this wheel or training or Association neutral, so I confess that this blogpost comes from a close analysis and personal reflection on my professional work with the Y as a Christian Emphasis Director and ordained Protestant minister.

The dimension of Faith is of particular interest to me regarding my vocation, my identity, my purpose, my lens personally and professionally, though it’s not the only important dimension, nor is it isolated from many others like culture, race, birthplace, etc.

I do want to humbly reflect publicly on the role of faith as a dimension diversity in the YMCA, as it seems to occupy an awkward space in the wheel and our associations.

For example, religion and faith traditions are like culture and ethnicity, you are born into it, they are often all intertwined, and it deeply shapes your whole sense of self, purpose, identity and community.

Yet it can also be experienced as interchangeable like economic status or geographic location; we all know people or have heard of those who “left” their religion or faith tradition.

While these are simplistic examples, they get at the wider discomfort of the role of faith and religion in the Y; as a matter of principle we ought to include it in an equitable and honest way – BUT: it is unlike all the other dimensions in a way that makes it socially and spiritually awkward.

What do I mean? A basic understanding of religion – scholarly or experientially – reveals the comprehensive nature of faith traditions; the role of it is to give overarching meaning and existential purpose to the totality of life in spirit, mind and body as an individual and a community (or tribe or nation).

Yet, in the Y it is generally uncomfortable to talk publicly about ones personal faith tradition or religious commitments (I’d love to hear exceptions to this assumption).

What factors might be keeping the faith/beliefs dimension of diversity in a awkward, suspicious, suppressed, role in the Y?

While there are no simplistic answers, here are a few of my observations framed by my experiences and research:

1. The complexity of secularization in a religiously and ethnically pluralistic society (keep your faith private) [for more read Charles Taylor and Lesslie Newbigin]

2. The critiques of religious violence, sexual abuse, and financial scandals (credibility of faith is corroded) [for more read Rene Girard and William Cavanaugh]

3. The centrality of technology as a means for organizing and and making sense of reality (control comes from us) [for more read Jacques Ellul and Miroslav Volf]

Or, some might perceive it like this: overly religious people do a lot of good, but then they get disagreeable and divisive and at the Y we really want to emphasize what builds harmony and healing; so, since too many religious people either want to be right/exclusive more than loving/inclusive, we will downplay our religious heritage and faith as a dimension of diversity and emphasize that which seems to more effectively forge unity and equity.

Trust me, I get it.

But…

Religion is still a powerful existential reality amongst our diverse membership; if we ignore it, downplay it, dismiss it, degrade it, we will be blind to the way it shapes (for good or bad) our culture, thus preventing us from fulfilling our purpose, cause and mission successfully.

The more people who become ignorant of religion and faith traditions, the more religious bigotry that will be fomented.

If we want less religious violence and abuse, we need to shine more light on religion, not keep it in the dark; more wisdom not less.

With the National influence the YMCA has in 2,000+ communities, imagine the positive effect we could have if we more wisely, bravely, authentically, publicly discussed and educated on religion/faith as a powerful dimension of diversity.

Christians in the Y often don’t want to offend anyone, especially those who are religiously diverse; it’s a warm sentiment, but it often leads to squelching religious expression instead of building up hospitable inclusion.

Christians in the Y too often fail to recognize the vast diversity that exists within there own faith tradition; it’s naive to think that the differences between Protestants and Catholics are irrelevant, or that the tension between conservative and liberal Christians is insignificant.

Factor in the generational and geographic, ethnic and racial dimensions of diversity as it is expressed through religion, and Christians will discover an incredible variety.

But rather than enter into the complexity of a diverse and global Christianity in their YMCA, Christian leaders too often over-emphasize a private expression of faith, or a bland version that doesn’t want to offend anyone, or a suppression of any public religious expression.

What if the YMCA of the USA embraced a intentionally public, responsible, honesty about its extremely religious origins in George Williams and Thomas Sullivan, in Anthony Bowen and John Mott, etc.?

What if the Young Men’s Christian Association cultivated a care-full spirit of mutual respect for the vast diversity of Christians who founded the Y, and for the complicated and rich Christian traditions which nourished the YMCA which we enjoy and steward today?

It could then more robustly and wisely critique that within the diverse Christian traditions which undermines or corrupts equitable inclusion in our generation.

So why does it seem that the Y is sometimes awkwardly embarrassed about the “C” in our name?

I won’t pretend to know all the reasons, and I would welcome many honest responses from readers.

From what I have heard and seen though, my understanding of the conflicted identity is rooted in the three reasons I listed earlier: secularity & pluralism, violence & hypocrisy, science & positivism; it’s a cultural/religious revolution deeply affecting Western civilization and the global community.

This means, at some level, we aren’t even sure what it means to identify as Christian now, belief in God is contested and seemingly unnecessary for the pursuit of happiness; especially when it comes to managerial and economic decisions, prayer seems less effective than benchmarks and best practices.

Yet: religion just won’t go away.

The Y can draw on powerful historical and contextual realities as resources for animating an inclusive Christianity which honestly respects our diversity while strengthening how we responsibly care for all we embrace.

Or the Y can continue to awkwardly stumble into a complex religious-shaped future conflicted about its identity and how to bring healing and hope to our society’s most dangerous and vicious evils.

If I was going to make some proposals for how a more robust Faith as a Dimension of Diversity could empower the Y to flourish as an anti-racist, multi-cultural institution – I would offer up these as a conversation starter:

  • Elevate faith/belief/religion as a dimension of diversity
  • Responsibly respect the existential and overarching reality religion and faith traditions have cross-culturally, trans-nationally, and inter-generationally
  • Cultivate care-full honesty about Y members/staff/volunteers experiences with the best of and worst of religion – for the sake of healing, wisdom, and mutual empathy
  • Resuscitate our gratitude and indebtedness to Christian Y workers in the past for their religious motivations – ie. invention of basketball or camping, George Williams organizing and John Mott’s fundraising, etc.
  • Become curious to the ways many different Y workers have religious motivations for their service, and how it is mixed with other motivations.
  • Celebrate our identity as a Christian Association which strives to be welcoming and hospitable to people from all types of religious and faith traditions, as well as every kind of dimension of diversity.
  • Have YUSA publicly engage in the Paris Basis and Challenge 21
  • Be willing to openly critique behavior of Christians in the Y who are behaving badly, without it resulting in the suppression of Christianity as a result.
  • Be willing to embrace the complexity of public expressions and embodiment of faith in the Y as a way to model for our 2,000 communities how we can do grace-full and faith-full inclusion.

Here are some concluding observations of this post: if I was going to frame in a historically positive way the different kinds of Diverse and Global Christians in the Y since 1844, I would describe them as Evangelical, Ecumenical, Equitable.

George Williams was Evangelical, with an ecumenical and equitable heart.

John Mott became Ecumenical from his evangelical spirit, and raised enormous sums of money for equitable causes.

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is our inspiration for Equitable, who embodied an ecumenical yearning with evangelical zeal.

If you had a primary pulse as a Christian in the Y these days, who do most resonate with for how they embodied their faith – George, John, Martin?

If you’re like me, all of them are central to how Christianity can be embodied today in the Y!

But if we revise their Y story and minimize the role of religion, we undercut their powerful example of ways Christianity can inspire, unite, and heal.

It is always easier to critique and see the log in the eye of Christianity; its failures are legendary, some chilling and evil; but: if people are not defined by their worst moments, let’s not do that with any religion or faith tradition.

May many more humble and dedicated conversations continue to multiply around ways we can strengthen faith as a dimension of diversity towards flourishing for all.

What would you propose for a healthier and stronger Faith as a Dimension of Diversity in the YMCA?

What are some examples you have for ways Faith as a Dimension of Diversity has positively contributed to flourishing for all in your Y?

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

YMCA & Wounded Healers: a meditation on the weekend of Father’s Day, Juneteenth and World Refugee Day

As Christ Jesus is a wounded healer to you, may you in your leadership and ministry be a wounded healer to those the Lord has brought into your life. May this weekend of Father’s Day, Juneteenth, and World Refugee Day be one of grace, truth and peace.

A wonderful legacy of the YMCA is it’s participation in supporting the creation of Father’s Day, a way to build up the family and the young men they serve.

Through the work of the brilliant Rev. Anthony Bowen, a freed slave, he founded a YMCA in Washington D.C. in 1853, a work which became crucial to creating a safe space for young black men to become fathers of liberation, justice and peace.

Since the founding of the YMCA in London England, 1844 refugees have been a core of our mission, as it still is today across the world, as you can see from this 2021 conference.

As a minister who is a father, and whose father was a minister, Father’s Day is a time when I reflect on ministers and fathers in my life and the difficulties they endure, their hopes and aspirations, their flaws and failures.

The YMCA has been built up by ministers and fathers – Rev. Anthony Bowen, Marine Missionary Thomas Sullivan, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Ecumenical Leader John Mott, and many, many more.

Being a minister and father now with the YMCA, amidst the chaos and turmoil of our generation, I found the writings of the priest Henri Nouwen to be particularly poignant, especially as it relates to being a Christian minister and leader in our culture still struggling towards racial equity and welcoming refugees.

This morning I was re-reading parts of the classic meditation by Nouwen called The Wounded Healer. The last chapter is called “Ministry By A Lonely Minister”; brilliant, compassionate, prophetic, honest reflections that resonate with me in my work in the world, my community and the Y.

For you, as you strive to do your part to lead, love, care and serve (minister) in the Y and our hurting world, may Nouwen be an encouraging guide, especially this weekend as we remember our fathers, our emancipated neighbors, and refugees searching for a welcoming home.

We live in a society in which loneliness has become one of the most painful human wounds.

The growing competition and rivalry which pervade our lives from birth have created in us an acute awareness of our isolation.

This awareness has in turn left many with a heightened anxiety and an intense search for the experience of unity and community.

It has also led people to ask anew how love, friendship, brotherhood and sisterhood can free them from isolation and offer them a sense of intimacy and belonging.

…the more I think about loneliness, the more I think the wound of loneliness is like the Grand Canyon – a deep incision in the surface of our existence which has become an inexhaustible source of beauty and self-understanding.

Therefore, I would like to voice loudly and clearly what might seem unpopular and maybe even disturbing: The Christian way of life does not take away our loneliness; it protects it and cherishes it as a precious gift.

Sometimes it seems as if we do everything possible to avoid the painful confrontation with our basic human loneliness, and allow ourselves to be trapped by false gods promising immediate satisfaction and quick relief.

But perhaps the painful awareness of loneliness is an invitation to transcend our limitations and look beyond the boundaries of our existence.

The awareness of loneliness might be a gift we must protect and guard, because our loneliness reveals to us an inner emptiness that can be destructive when misunderstood, but filled with promise for him who can tolerate its sweet pain.

When we are impatient, when we want to give up our loneliness and try to overcome the separation and incompleteness we feel, too soon, we easily relate to our human world with devastating expectations.

We ignore what we already know with a deep-seated, intuitive knowledge – that no love, no friendship, not intimate embrace or tender kiss, not community, commune or collective, no man or woman, will ever be able to satisfy our desire to be released from our lonely conditions.

When the minister lives with these false expectations and illusions he prevents himself from claiming his own loneliness as a source of human understanding and is unable to offer any real service to the many who do not understand their own suffering.

Nouwen, The Wounded Healer, pgs 83-85

The wound of our loneliness is indeed deep. Maybe we had forgotten it, since there are many distractions.

But our failure to change the world with our good intentions and sincere actions and our undesired displacement to the edges of life have made us aware that the wound is still there.

…a deep understanding of his own pain makes it possible for him to convert his weakness into strength and to offer his own experience as a source of healing to those who are often lost in the darkness of their own misunderstood sufferings.

This is a very hard call, because for a minister who is committed to forming a community of faith, loneliness is a very painful wound which is easily subject to denial and neglect.

But once the pain is accepted and understood, a denial is no longer necessary, and ministry can become a healing service.

Making one’s own wounds a source of healing…does not call for a sharing of superficial personal pains but for a constant willingness to see one’s own pain and suffering as rising from the depth of the human condition which all men share.

A Christian community is therefore a healing community, not because wounds are cured and pains alleviated, but because wounds and pains become openings or occasions for a new vision.

Mutual confession then becomes a mutual deepening of hope, and sharing weaknesses becomes a reminder to one and all of the coming strength.

When loneliness is among the chief wounds of the minister, hospitality can convert that wound into a source of healing.

Concentration prevents the minister from burdening others with his pain and allows him to accept his wounds as helpful teachers of his own and his neighbors condition.

Community arises where the sharing of pain takes place, not as a stifling form of self-complaint, but as a recognition of God’s saving promises.

Thus, ministry can indeed be a witness to the living truth that the wound, which causes us to suffer now, will be revealed to us later as the place where God intimated his new creation.

Nouwen, The Wounded Healer, pgs 87-96
Selfie with Father Joseph and the infant Jesus with his mother, remembering the message of new creation of liberation and emancipation God the Father would bring through the Son; the Holy Family would soon be refugees in Egypt escaping state-sanctioned infanticide.

As Christ Jesus is a wounded healer to you, may you in your leadership and ministry be a wounded healer to those the Lord has brought into your life.

May this weekend of Father’s Day, Juneteenth, and World Refugee Day be one of grace, truth and peace.

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?