Window Quarterly Vol. 2, No. 4, 1992 *** "A Call to Excellence" Presented by the Youth of the Armenian Church (ACYOA) at the Annual Assembly of the Diocese of the Armenian Church of America April 29, 1992--Boca Raton, Florida We recognize the tremendous demands already placed upon your time and energy, but hope you hear our pleas to recognize the centrality of Youth Ministry to the mission of our Church in the United States. Our commitment to the youth must transcend periodically from saying "the youth are the future of our Church" to leading us, clergy and youth, to join together and become a force for change. Together, we can transform the relationship between the Church and young people and truly make the Church the source for faith and inner strength that the Armenian youth and young adults of this country so badly need. We are not the future of the Church. We are a part of the present and should always be made to feel that we are a part of the Church. We should feel free to voice our concerns, without intimidation, and know, in our hearts, that we are being listened to and respected as well. As an initial matter, many of the children take pride in serving on the alter, but feel they are inadequately trained. We feel that comprehensive and continual training of these youngsters will not only enable them to serve respectfully on the altar, but also instill within them at a very young age a sense of love for and belonging to the Armenian Church. This will, in turn, provide them with a foundation for service to their Church and community which they can then build upon as they grow through the years. When we become of age, we should be invited to become voting members of the Church. As yet, we have no formal method of recruitment and policies re: dues-paid members vary from one parish to the next. We want to be involved but more importantly, we want you to want our involvement, to appreciate our presence, and to want to utilize our talents. We also strongly feel that you should know the occupations of our young professionals and request their assistance; when the occasion arises. At present, when we are requested to "serve the church," we are too frequently asked to perform menial service (i.e. serving meals, selling raffle tickets, etc.). We are rarely given the ability to utilize our talents and creativity; yet, our generation is more educated then that of our parents. But we also don't want to be given "token leadership" (i.e. being placed in leadership roles wherein much of the work has already been accomplished by someone else). Show us that you are interested in us as people, not just parishioners. Furthermore, as our spiritual fathers and shepherds of the flock, you must act as the most vigorous advocates for the youth in the parishes and especially before the parish councils. We have a tremendous desire to serve Christ and our Church. As our advocates, you must apply your great dedication to the task of ensuring that meaningful opportunities for service are available to us. Give us the chance to express our love and dedication, and you will never be disappointed. In particular, you can display your recognition of the importance of our presence and contribution by making sure that young people are nominated and elected to our parish councils. Such an investment of love made by you today will surely lead to incalculable gains for our church tomorrow. As college students away from home, many of us often feel cut off, as if a part of our family is lost. The college years are a critical and vulnerable time, when we form opinions and make decisions which will have great impact on our lives. The Church can provide an essential source of stability, strength, and confidence so necessary during these years. Our home parishes should remain in contact with us by sending us the parish newsletter and supplying us with a mailing list of students from the parish studying at other colleges. Maintaining such strong bond between student and Church will not only nourish us during our college years, but also signal to us the love our Church feels for us and the importance with which she regards us. When we come home to visit for the winter and spring breaks, we would very much appreciate interacting with our parish communities. As an example, we would be very interested in participating in both formal and informal discussions with the clergy as well as the laity on a variety of issues, such as: our prospective careers, intellectual (not necessarily religious) topics moderated by academia and clergy; religious topics; and other topics which are not of a religious nature but which can be discussed from a religious perspective. Education and Nurturing Education and information about the Armenian Church is immensely lacking, not only for those who marry into the Church but also for those who are born into it. Sunday School teachers must be well educated concerning the teachings of the Armenian Church to better enable them to relay that knowledge accurately and clearly to the children they are teaching. All teachers should be required to attend not only annual workshops, but also supplemental programs and seminars to ensure that they are well trained and have sufficient knowledge of our Church's teachings. And the parishes should be required to assist financially, if necessary. But it shouldn't end with Sunday School. We should have a continual means of educating our parishioners about what our Church is about, her teachings, her beliefs, how it differs from other Christian denominations, etc. And it should start with the very leaders of the parishes, the members of the Parish Councils. In many cases, they know absolutely nothing about the Church, their roles and responsibilities, but are nevertheless elected. They should be properly educated in this respect to serve as an example for us. Knowledge of Church etiquette, as one example, is inherently lacking. What kind of leadership does this present to us? Perhaps a comprehensive manual prepared by the Diocese or even a leadership seminar for Parish Council members would assist in this regard. Attention should be given to non-Armenians marrying into the Church. There should be a program for all engaged couples wherein comparable Christian education is taught and comprehensive information on the rite of marriage in the Armenian Church is presented to them. At this same time, these couples should be given: an introduction to the Armenian Church; some background and history on the Armenian Church in general as well as on the local parish with which the couple will be involved; an explanation of the hierarchy and structure of the Armenian Church; information about the Armenian Culture with a synopsis of how it may or may not differ from other cultures; and some familiarity with the Diocesan by-laws. There are also many individuals of Armenian descent who did not "grow up" in the Church and/or have at one time or another felt "unwanted" or "alienated." Many of these individuals may have had a bad experience or two while others may have little or no self-motivation. We must reach out to them. They too need our love and understanding and should never be neglected. In many cases, these individuals have been deleted from our mailing lists because they haven't come around, or because we don't feel they belong or have an interest in taking part. Who are we to judge as to who belongs and who doesn't? You never know when someone may be inspired by a single action or concern of another and hence decide to participate. It is very important that we place a strong emphasis on educating and nurturing all of our people, whether they are of whole Armenian descent, partial Armenian descent or not of Armenian descent. And we must rid our vocabulary of the word "odar." In literal translation, the word means "foreigner" or "alien." It is hurtful and does not encourage the love we should have for one another as Christians. If we alienate these people, we are also alienating their respective spouses who were born into our Church-and we will eventually lose them and their children. It is very important that the clergy accept these individuals into the Church and appreciate their presence so that the congregation will also accept them. We must keep in mind that it is not necessarily having "ian" at the end of our names that makes us Armenian, but how we live our lives. We should also place less of an emphasis on the task to be accomplished and more on the person accomplishing the task. We need to work together, learn together and learn from each other appreciating everyone's presence as well as what they have to offer. Finances and Demographics Although we recognize that our Church will forever operate under tight financial constraints, we must never allow this problem to impair our visions of and dreams for the future. At this critical time in our history, we can and must join together and, inspired by the Holy Spirit, develop an adequately ambitious and far-reaching plan to strengthen and enrich our Church and glorify Christ. Without a dream today, a glorious future is most certainly impossible. We currently have no demographics for our community. We strongly urge our hierarchy to design a means for obtaining such and request that our clergy make it a priority to put together a data base of people beginning with birth to be subsequently centralized and updated through the Diocese with assistance from the parishes. This will help us determine the long-range needs of the Armenian-American community. Church Services Our church service is rich in tradition and very beautiful, but very difficult to follow and understand. We have several suggestions for your consideration and comments in this regard: While the blue guidebooks in the church pews contain comprehensive information and explanations of our service, the information and explanations are not very well presented. Perhaps the Church could look into preparing another guidebook wherein the information presented is done so in a more organized manner. We also recommend that a course on the Divine Liturgy be developed to be taught on either a regional or parish level. Many of us have benefited from the "Instructional Badaraks" that are occasionally held in several parishes. We strongly suggests that they be held more frequently than once or twice a year and that they be made mandatory. We must also realize that with the increasing number of non- Armenians marrying into the Church and the fact that many of our young people have no knowledge of the Armenian language, our Church service is not enabling them to completely participate in the Liturgy. While few have learned the language and have grasped somewhat of an understanding of our Liturgy, many are unable to do so and cannot wholly participate. While we don't necessarily feel that the service should be performed entirely in English, we suggest that sincere consideration be given to periodically offering it in English, in addition to our traditional Armenian service, to accommodate these individuals. Additionally, as many of us have difficulty understanding the service, the one thing we hope to walk away with is the message from the sermon. We feel the sermons can be more spiritual and relative to what we are struggling with in our daily lives. In many cases, sermons are reprimanding and focus on giving money. In other cases, while the subject is appropriate, the sermon is not well presented. We do realize that for many of our clergy English is not their primary language an thus, they have some difficulty in preparing and delivering sermons. Several suggestions include sharing sermons among the clergy, providing the opportunity for lay members to give sermons, or utilizing a question and answer format. We also feel that our clergy should be permitted to take courses in "communication" to assist them with preparing and delivering their sermons and the parishes should realize that by providing the opportunity for our clergy to do so will only be of greater benefit to them in the long run. A Part of the Universe We must realize that we are not living alone in this world. We are surrounded by people of all races and creeds. As much as we do for ourselves, we must also do for others. We need to understand the plight of the homeless and those afflicted with AIDS and other life-threatening diseases. And we must also realize that we, as Armenians, are not immune from these issues. Our people can be homeless, they can be afflicted with AIDS, and many do use drugs. We have to get rid of the notion that "things don't happen to us because we are special," because, in reality, they do. We must not only be more compassionate concerning the needs of these individuals, but we must also be more available to them. We must focus on ways to assist the needy and those who are less privileged that we are and we need to be more generous in our giving toward them. The Physical Edifice Our generation is faced with many varied interests and outside considerations as opposed to our parents' generation. Many of these activities/interests seem more attractive and easier to get involved with and thus, the Armenian Church is not in the forefront. To counter this, we feel our church facilities should be readily accessible and available to us for activities, which we can schedule at our convenience. In many cases, the building is locked up and only certain individuals have access. Furthermore, there should be someone in charge of maintaining the church complexes so they are more readily accessible for those who serve. We need to deal more professionally with what our churches are here for. Our Clergy As the leaders of our Christian faith, we want to see you, our clergy, illustrate more love and respect for each other and we want to see you work together for the betterment of our Church. We often hear clergy gossiping about their fellow clergymen and feel that there is too much competition and not enough cooperation. We feel that respect and cooperation amongst the clergy is essential if the clergy, as the spiritual leaders of our flock, are to teach us by example. We also want to hear more from you. We want to know why you chose to become priests and what your priesthood means to you. We want to hear about your own spiritual journey so that we may learn from your experiences. We are no doubt aware that all of our clergy are overwhelmed and overburdened in ministering to our people. The issue is one in which all of us must work together to alleviate. But to help us understand you and your difficulties, you must communicate effectively with us so we can assist you in your efforts to minister to our church and our people. =========================================== ====================== "WILLIAMS BAY MANIFESTO" Presented at the ACYOA General Assembly September 2, 1968 Williams Bay, Wisconsin The world is in an age of revolution, a time of changing and becoming. The Church, if it is to be relevant to the world, must speak of God's will in terms of today. Christianity is not a religion for the timid, for it takes courage and strength of conviction to resist that which is comfortable, convenient and traditional in favor of God's will, which may at times be difficult. Christ continually calls His followers to renewal, reform, and revolution. As the youth of the Armenian Church, we are disturbed by our Church's refusal to be a part of the twentieth century, to face the urgent and real problems of today, and to seek Christian solutions to them. Poverty, hunger, disease, wars, racial tensions, social discontent and turmoil sear the world around us, and yet our Church concerns itself mainly with erecting costly buildings and monuments and amassing material goods, rationalizing that it is necessary for self- preservation. We want our Church to see beyond its own interests, to share others' sufferings and problems. At present, in the mind of many Armenians, the Armenian Church's primary function is to act as the defender of nationalism, to protect Armenians from assimilation. This is indicated by their fear of reform, for they worry that with change would come a certain loss of identity. On the contrary, we feel that specific reforms would bring increased dedication and enthusiasm, a renewal and rebirth of our Church. Apathy and spiritual indifference pervade our Church life. Few Church members have that sincere relationship with God which is the basis of Christian living. We, as the youth, are not simply condemning the adults of our Church; we can see the same problems among ourselves. The ACYOA is suffering from an internal malaise; membership has fallen off, only socials and dances are well attended, spiritual growth has come to a complete standstill. The time has come when we, the youth of the Armenian Church, can no longer in conscience allow ourselves to be used as instruments for the preservation of a Church which is living in the archaic past. We feel we must make known our discontent with the present antiquated and meaningless structures and institutions and our desire to ameliorate the stagnated condition of the Church which is ours We are told so often that the Church belongs to us; therefore, we have not only the right but the duty to see that our Church relates to the present day, and thus, becomes meaningful to its members. We are committed to action... the watchword is revolution. Our revolutionary commitment and action addresses itself to a radical concern of making Christ live and grow in our Church and members. We are now resolved to speak out and act in accordance with the dictates of our conscience in all areas of life within and without our Church, wherever Christ is being crucified anew. *** =================================================== _ _ _ _ _ |_| ___ _| | ___ _ _ _ | | | | | | _ / _ \ / _ | / _ \ | | | | | | | |_| |_| || |_ | | | || |_| || |_| || |_| |_| | \_________/\___||_| |_| \___/ \___/ \_________/ View Of The Armenian Church ===================================================