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Sects and the City: Renewing Worship in an Urban, Millennial Context

Holy Trinity is a vibrant and progressive urban congregation, whose attendance has increased from approximately 50 to 175 worshippers in the last decade. Bucking the trends of church growth practices, Holy Trinity’s liturgical and musical style is essentially traditional with a flair of innovation. Yet there has been an influx of young adults and families with children over the last decade. Our project proposes

to convene a worship conference in October 2011 that would focus on two aspects of our context: its urban setting and the predominance of young adults, many in the millennial generation born after 1980.

The origin of this project is in an ecumenical lectionary study group begun in 2007. The ten or so  articipation pastors find the conversations in this weekly study to be helpful not only for the preaching task, but for the unique ministry setting in Lakeview that includes such a large number of young adults. According to a report by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, one out of four Millennials claims no

affiliation with a particular faith. Holy Trinity and several others of our neighborhood churches have bucked this trend. We believe we have something to share and are convinced that such a conference will give us the opportunity not only to discuss what has worked in our settings, but to discover even more in the process of comparing and discussing the phenomenon at work. This conference will

• Be designed for area clergy, musicians, and lay leaders.
• Invite students from eight area seminaries (since the trajectory of the conference concerns worship for future generations).

• Involve a more fluid approach, and be held in three area churches (most likely Lutheran, Presbyterian and Methodist), each church hosting a worship service (following the liturgical style of that congregations) to be followed by a guided reflection and conversation on that experience, with particular emphasis on the urban context and presence of young adults.
• Care would be taken to move beyond subjective reactions to the worship style and instead reflect on the diverse and creative methods of liturgical renewal.

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