Young Christians make call to Unify

At sunset, in an empty football field, a group of young Christians gather nightly to pray.

“We need an awakening, we need to cry out to God,” said Bridget Vogel, of Spokane.

For the past month, the 19-year-old and others have been meeting at Eastern Washington University’s Woodward Field, asking God to look with favor on their vision: to unite the youth of the Inland Northwest.

This weekend, Vogel hopes to fill the stands with hundreds of people for Unify, a nine-hour prayer and worship gathering aimed at reaching young people.

“This is a call for youth to gather together as one body and seek the face of God,” she said. “People in my generation are hurting and searching for something more. They want to make something of this life. … The only answer is God.”

Known as “the millenials” or “Gen Y,” Vogel’s generation represents the future members of the evangelical Christian church. Described by researchers as more spiritual and optimistic than their older Gen X siblings and less individualistic than their baby-boomer parents, these young people are seeking more tangible ways to experience God.

“We don’t want doctrine because doctrine has separated us for so long,” said Vogel, a junior at EWU. “We just want somebody who loves us. We want a personal relationship with Christ.”

Christians in this generation want to make the world a better place and are willing to make sacrifices, according to youth pastors and others involved in ministry. “They are passionate about Jesus Christ,” said Dan Grether of Free Indeed Ministries. “I think they’re looking for a cause to live and die for. They want to call our nation back to righteousness and look for ways to let others know about Jesus.”

A growing number of Christian youths also are committing themselves to volunteer and missionary work – both locally and overseas. In the past year, college-age students comprised nearly half of the enrollment for “Perspectives on the World Christian Movement,” a 15-week course for people exploring the missionary field.

Many end up spending at least three months to two years spreading the Gospel and doing humanitarian work in Central Asia, Africa and other parts of the world, said Joan McKinley, one of the coordinators for the “Perspectives” class in Spokane.

“Each year, we seem to get more and more young people,” she said. “They are on fire to take the word of God to the world.”

Youth pastors and others say this generation has seen it all – violence, crime, the breakup of the family. They’ve witnessed the trauma of the Columbine shootings and the terrorism of Sept. 11.

They’re also tired of the hypocrisy displayed by some political and spiritual leaders – people who preached morality but got caught for their moral failings, said Darrin Duty, youth pastor at Fourth Memorial Church.

“They’ve been surrounded by so many people who have claimed Christianity but haven’t practiced it,” said Duty, who meets regularly with other youth pastors in the region. “So they desire authentic Christianity. This generation wants to experience it, touch it and feel it.”

Worship has to be more interactive for these youths, a group that’s been raised with cell phones, the Internet and other technologies.

“Kids are not as comfortable sitting in the room listening to some guy teach a lesson,” Duty said. They want more discussion time. They also need real-life experience to “live out” their faith.

That’s why Duty recently took teens from Fourth Memorial on a trip to inner-city Los Angeles, where they could work with the poor and others in need. Instead of just playing music during worship service, the pastor encourages youth to explore and express their faith through dance, art or by journaling and writing a letter to God.

Some, including Vogel, have chosen a more evangelistic route.

Along with Eastern students Katie Nelson and FaLeisha Dixon, Vogel came up with the idea for Unify after a discussion about the various Bible study groups and Christian ministries on campus.

“We’re worshipping the same God,” Vogel said, so why shouldn’t the different groups come together? The idea to unite the different groups on campus quickly turned into a regionwide event. With help from area churches and ministries, as well as several Christian-owned businesses, these young women hope to draw others to Jesus.

“This generation is being prepared for an awakening,” Vogel wrote on the Unify Web site. “So much is happening in our nation, even today, that we must be willing to get on our knees and intercede for change.”