Cepeda Anthology

The Generational Conflict in the Church

Last Updated (Wednesday, 01 February 2012 22:27) Written by John Walter Sunday, 20 February 2011 19:00

 

The Generational Conflict in the Church
First published in the Christian Herald,
Havana, XXII (9-10); [12]-14,
Feb. March, 1968

Translation: John Walter
2.1.2012


I was a delighted witness to a freak occurrence which occurred precisely during the sessions
of the Worldwide Conference of Church and Society, celebrated in Geneva, July, 1966.(1) 
Until that moment everything had been smooth and courteous. It’s true that some of the most
daring subjects had been dealt with, and some of the most audacious agreements had been taken
up, even considering the composition of the delegations: for the most part well off people
comprising the middle class. There had been one or another superficial dabbling in the work
commissions; but only skirmishes without importance which were crushed by the weight of
 authority in the spoken words of revolutionary theologians like Harvey Cox (2) and Richard
Schaull (3), radical politicians like Eduardo Mondlane (4) and cutting edge professors such
as J.M.Lochman (5)

 

But in the back office unsuspected fervors were bristling. Fortunately the quota of young people
was visible in the conference, and although in the minority, they made themselves felt. They had
provided up to this point the updating and exemplification of the theories and generalities of the
presentation, and had caused the most radical decisions; nonetheless, they remained uneasy and
dissatisfied. Unexpectedly one night, in the voice of a young North American woman, rebellion
was promulgated,  Her motion was nothing less than the following: There was not enough space
between these walls, and the meeting should be carried outside, “to the world”, in a street
demonstration, something that might be perceived as obvious and stentorian. . The idea was to
march from the grounds of the World Congress of Churches through the avenues and parks until
arriving at the Place of Nations (6) and there to celebrate an unscheduled rally Many were shocked
and scandalized, others showed support and sympathy. The president – a Anglican Bishop – put
the issue to a vote. It seemed that the idea had triumphed. Someone asked for a recount. In the
interim, the opinion of W.A.Visser’t Hooft (7), the current Secretary of the CMI, was solicited,
who up until that time had remained quiet and remote. “Useless”, he said, “Completely ineffective,
and will lead to and gain nothing.” The undecided were thus convinced, and the final count was
against the young people.

 

The session being over, the young people moved that everyone who had voted for the rally remain.
The session was tumultuous (presided over by a West Indian mestizo), and continued amid choleric
shouting and disdainful outbursts until very early in the morning.  No one paid the slightest attention
to a sign:  Interdit de fumer (8) (forbidding smoking), which until that time had been respected.
Someone in the crowd proposed that the rebels circle the walls of the World Council of Churches
seven times until they came crashing down - and we, nothing less than the guests of the Council! 
Finally, the decision was this: There would be a rally apart from the official program to which all
the delegations would be invited to participate in. At this point all the young people left for the
basements and commodious rooms to make up banners, to the police station to solicit permission,
to newspapers, radio and TV stations to disseminate publicity for the event, and to the offices to
produce a central document translated into nine languages.

 

The demonstration occurred the next day between lunchtime and the afternoon session. The
majority of the delegations were present. It was a colorful and gay scene. We paraded for some
twenty blocks to the Place of Nations where nine young people read a document of solidarity with
all the struggles for human dignity against war against the proliferation of nuclear arms, for peace
and the development of peoples, and they vowed to devote their lives for these ideals. The Genevans,
stiff and cold as they are, were dumbfounded by the tumult of many- colored people and dress of
every kind.


I’ve told this story as something which in large part is symptomatic of what is happening in all
churches, There is – undoubtedly – a generational conflict within the church, provoked and
championed by the youth, although not excluding others. Judging generation by age would be a
false metric. A generation is an amalgam of individuals of a marked variety of ages, and at the
same time of thought and objective. It is comprised mostly of people who agree on the manner in
which problems are seen, and their proposed solutions; but a generation is not an elite of closed-
mindedness and exclusivists. A generation of responsible people is composed of defenders who
take it upon themselves to capture the vital sensibility of an historic moment and transmit it to
the receptive multitude, even to raise their conscience, so that their actions may be realized
positively and creatively.

 

In respect to the generations this: In that which is referred to as conflict, it is produced in the same
instant  in which there is a transmutation of values leading to crisis. It is, moreover, a question of
Cosmo-vision, that is: the total perspective of an issue. A conflict is a clash of Cosmo-visions, because
in all ages there are epochs of cumulative character and there are others of belligerent attitudes. No
one is blinded to that fact that we are now living in the latter, and everything is determined by the
protest which produces transition and change.


A new generation is, for a new era, the means by which God utilizes it to manifest the dynamic
character of his revelation. God’s world is renewed by nonconforming generations which symbolize
the sense of a new creation. And God’s church renovates itself when some of his sons reinterpret their
mission, their message and structure, which is like recreating the dynamic will revealed in Jesus Christ.
The generational conflict surges when the new generation resists being absorbed by that which is
happening; therefore it is always considered to be the unquestionable representation of the church.

 

The error is insisting that the young people – and those that follow them – do not have the right to
question the ecclesiastic status quo. Those in authority do not realize that for the young people, at
the hour of protest and trial, there is nothing sacrosanct and untouchable. Clearly in this ministry,
the young will commit a multitude of errors and formal mistakes. It’s understandable in them.


What is not understandable is the attitude of paternalistic arrogance the older generation assumes
when it feels weak. Young people have an extremely refined perception and know when the structural 
becomes the axis around which revolves all the interests of the church. Furthermore, they’re not afraid
of anyone, no matter how attired with authority they might be. (They have nothing to lose) And if the
hierarchies insist in refusing to listen to them, the condition of the church becomes gruesome because
it is rejecting its dynamic legacy, and the church becomes a slave unto itself.

 

The necessity of constant reevaluation should be implicit for the younger as well as the older
generation.  At the end of the journey, both – each at its hour – will occur, leaving behind itself
a negative ot positive balance. The challenge of the Gospel in today’s world is being expressed
by the cholera of a generation that questions paternalism, traditionalism, and institutionalism
 – in other words – colonialism and eclesio-centricism. The hierarchical authority is in crisis.
The generational conflict will only be resolved when the older generation does not demand
to be treated as Usted  with compliant genuflections while it treats as Tú those who question,
and pretend to silence the voices of renewal.

¨Respect for other´s rights is peace¨.(9)

 

 Footnotes:

1 The subject of this magna-conference was “The Christians in the technical and
    social revolutions of our times.
2 Harvey Cox, Theologian, and ecumenical writer of the USA, thought to be one
    of the most notable Christian worldwide thinkers.
3 M. Richard Shaull, 1919 0 2002, Recognized theologian, writer, educator, and missionary from the USA.
4 Eduardo Chivambo Mondlane, 1920-2004, Founder, President, and principal organizer of the
    Mozambique Liberation Front.
5 Jan M. Lochman, 1922 – 2004, International theologian.
6 Place of Nations, Important meeting center in Geneva.
7 Willem Adopf Visser’t Hooft, 1906-1985, reformed theologian from Holland and central figure
    of the worldwide ecumenical movement in the 20th Century.
8 Interdit de fumer, No smoking   
9 Fragment of a celebrated phrase spoken by Benito Pabla Juarez Garcia, Mexican politician and
    President of the Republic between 1858 and 1872.