Burgess COMMENTARY

Peter Burgess

Dear John Thanks a million for your prompt and thoughtful reply. I think you should know that I have become a somewhat unhappy camper. I have been involved with CHR for almost 20 years and increasingly concerned that young people (20-35) are missing. I made as much noise about this during the planning phase of the Third Founding, both in the various Q&As and on at least 3 feedback forms. I recall people laughing when I suggested something like a CHR Hackathon ... and some surprise that an old fogey like me would be thinking of something like this. Frankly, I was appalled when the future focus of CHR was announced, which became the spiritual and missionary focuses of Children & Family Ministries, Outreach, Contemplative Practices and engagement in the arts. I 'like' these themes, but I don't have much of a passion for them, and worse, I don't think they are going to do much to address the really big issues of out time. Maybe 'outreach' would be an umbrella for this ... but I no longer think so. Having said that, I agree with you totally that the CHR team has an immense amount on its plate. and I would also observe that the progress to date is pretty impressive. The last thing I want to do is to 'get in the way'