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The New Antioch program was developed as an attempt to offer a way of imaging God's love through the experience of community so that all the members are able to feel the loving presence of Jesus in their lives.
This is a model for youth ministry which is centered entirely within a parish and offers young people the opportunity to experience Church in their own community. It proposes one way to respond to young people's need for religious education and faith development. The results of recent research indicate that today's youth have a genuine interest in religion, even though they may feel distant from the institutional Church and its teachings. This may be attributed to the fact that teenagers cannot understand adult Christians, whose lifestyles do not match Christian values and ideals.
This is a distinctive model of youth ministry for several reasons.
This program is named The New Antioch because it was inspired by an earlier Antioch program for college students and because "it was at Antioch that believers were first called Christians." (Acts 11:26)
This effort represents a complete revision of another parish program which had been adapted from a campus ministry program introduced at the University of Notre Dame at South Bend, Indiana, in the early 1960s. Although the content is completely new, the process and general format are the same, and similar to many recent Christian weekend and community experiences. The basic dynamic involves the Spirit of the Lord moving among good young people as they search for God.
The New Antioch was developed in a small suburban parish in the Archdiocese of New York. During this development period, a solid Christian community has been sustained. Hundreds of teenagers have belonged to the New Antioch Community in Sacred Heart Parish, Dobbs Ferry, New York, since it began in 1979. As graduates move on to college, (although some who remain at home stay in the community) new high school sophomores arrive bringing new enthusiasim, (Greek en theos --- "in God"), insights, and energy. This little community has been instrumental in helping parishes start the program in other states and countries. Hundreds of communities have developed through the efforts of this quiet, suburban parish. Groups from as far away as Australia and as close by as the next parish have been inspired, trained, and supported by the prayers and encouragement of this community. Mission teams have traveled far and wide to spread the Good News.
The Psychology --- Bridging the Gap
The New Antioch attempts to minister to teenagers by touching their lives and providing the environment where they can experience God's presence in their world. It is offered at a time when they may be resisting certain ways of being religious, but not rejecting religion itself. This is a time of breaking away, which sometimes can be expressed in forms of rebellion or rejection. Adolescents feel a need to move from a faith given by their parents, through a period of questioning for themselves, hopefully to arrive at a faith owned.
It is a maturing process, passing from a legalistic religion, burdened with guilt and disillusionment with rules they may not understand, to an opening of self to a deeper, interpersonal relationship with Jesus, the God of love. At this stage in their faith development, they also fall under the influence of different value systems that are not always compatible. Yet, at this conformist stage they are responsive to the expectations of others. They have to decide whether to become one of the "do gooders" or the "go getters".
During this period, many teenagers begin thinking seriously about their beliefs and attitudes, and are able to recognize their own faith experience. This is a stage of bridging from the experienced faith of family to an affiliative faith, which allows them to belong on their own. This is the beginning of one's own faith journey.
The Philosophy --- Bloom Where You Are Planted
The New Antioch offers teenagers the opportunity to experience the meaning of "We are the Church" by providing a link with the broader parish community. There is no way for teenagers to share their enthusiasm, honesty, and optimism with the rest of the Church unless they are allowed to "bloom where they are planted."
The New Antioch community is rooted in the parish because it is important for young people to feel a sense of belonging --- a sense of being at home there. Even if the parish cannot provide permanent space with the parish setting, provision should be made for a place where teens can gather and feel at home. This not only fills a practical need but nurtures a sense of belonging to a broader parish faith community.
Special effort is needed to bring the youth group into regular contact with the whole parish. If the teenagers become a satellite community, connected to the broader Church in name only, they fail to benefit from the nurturing of a worshipping, witnessing community of faith. "Values are caught, not taught" and faith is reinforced by the lived example and support of the adult community.
The Theology --- Communal/Incarnational
During childhood, we are taught what to believe and how to express that belief in daily living. This provides the foundation for the youth seeking understanding. At some point, each of us has to take ownership of the faith heritage we have been offered. If this transition does not take place, there is the possibility that our faith will not develop beyond the cultural level, or even worse, we may have no faith at all.
The New Antioch is rooted in a faith which is Catholic and focused on a personal relationship with and commitment to Jesus Christ. As young people encounter Jesus, the Son of God, what they were taught during their early years begins to have meaning. This allows each person to discover God within his or her own human experience. The theology is both Triune (communal) and Incarnational (Jesus-centered).
The Triune God --- three Persons in a community of love --- is the model for the Christian community. A truly lived experience of such a Christian community provides an opportunity for its members to experience God's love in a tangible way. Although we are taught that God is love, this is best understood in the experience of human love.
The God-Man, Jesus, is the One we encounter in a real and personal way. In his perfect humanity, we find our way to the Father. The new Testament is presented as Jesus' love story and a guide for living. Precisely because of their natural idealism, sense of justice, and searching for love, the teen years offer a teachable time in the ways of the greatest lover, Jesus Christ. They see in Him a model and friend; and as they find him present in the midst of a faith community, they are able to relate to a personal God --- to know and love the One who loves them first.
The Catechesis --- Telling Our Stories
Although formal religious instruction in the classroom is both valuable and desirable, it may not fully answer the needs of today's youth. Catechesis encompasses more than religious education. It includes any effort which helps people to acquire and deepen their Christian faith and learning to live according to Jesus' teaching. Jesus taught in the laboratory of life, using the medium of storytelling and the model of love relationship.
The New Antioch program attempts to teach in a similar manner. It is a catechesis based on one's lived experience. Throughout her history, the Church has taught most effectively through a community of believers witnessing to their faith. The youth are not asked to be experts on God, but to know him; not to memorize his words, but to try to follow him. When teenagers encounter, reflect on, and understand their own faith journey and are able to articulate its meaning to the rest of their community, significant religious education takes place.
The focus is formation more than information, and faith more than doctrine. The teaching of the Church simply becomes an aide, a guide, for becoming fully human and following God's plan for us.
The Dynamics --- The Word Made Flesh
Some religious educators might call it faith enculturation, skilled facilitators will call it the dynamics of the experience; but to the youth, it is what's happening. However it may be described, The New Antioch is a happening of the Spirit amidst a gathering of beautiful young people searching for something more than the world has to offer.
Christianity is a community event; it is people imaging God's love so that others may experience Him. Once people are personally touched by genuine love and caring, they are disarmed and become open to the Good News of Jesus Christ. The dynamism of love is the energy that generates The New Antioch. To a teenager, friendship is a most valuable part of living. When the spirit of friendship abounds, the Spirit of God enters.
In today's fast paced society, our young people are being bombarded with conflicting attitudes and values through education, communication, and entertainment. They desperately need to hear a countercultural ideal, but they hear the message best when it is offered in their culture of vernacular, music, and activity. The atmosphere of The New Antioch is relaxed. Enthusiastic greeting of one another, spirited singing to the quiet prayer while holding hands help to set the tone of closeness and belonging.
The Good News of God's love, Jesus' presence in the community, and the gospel values are presented in their own culture and from their own lived experience. The New Antioch offers teenagers an experience of friendships, music, and belonging with Jesus as the center and His Church as the happening.
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