When young adult ministry formed under a blanket fort

Manna: Young Adults Making Meaning Through Joy and Friendship

Every Tuesday evening a group of young adults come together in the youth lounge of First United Methodist Church for Manna. On a Tuesday evening in January they built blanket forts. Blankets were fastened to the ceiling grid by clothespins and fanned out to a surrounding wall of couches. One member of the group made a private tent draping one end of the blanket over the backside of a couch propping the other end up on the backside of a chair and held in place loosely by a stack of bibles. Thinking it humorous one member propped a blanket corner up on a 4 foot tall aluminum cross and the group broke into song harking back to days of church camp singing, “Cling to the cross….cling to the cross. I will not be ashamed I will not be afraid I will cling to the cross.” 

When the idea to build blanket forts was first proposed it was met with a resounding round of support. The Manna text thread was filled with exclamation points, smiley face emoji’s, and playful memes. A group of 20 and 30 somethings, all either in the early years of a career, and others in graduate programs, all so-called grown ups in the throws of so-called professional life celebrated the opportunity to recall their 5 year old selves and build blanket forts in the basement. The childlike atmosphere was maintained through the entire construction project and when all was complete the lights were turned down to near darkness and the members sat on pillows on the floor to begin the weekly ritual of checking in. 

A typical night at Manna has a liturgy of gathering in playful banter, followed by a time of checking in. Sometimes one of the members will have a story to tell from their week at which time a candle is lit to mark the sanctity of the event. This time is often followed by praying through a book of liturgy, sometimes reading and discussing a chapter of Rachel Held-Evans book Searching for Sunday, and always praying for one another. On blanket night the story was a hilarious, Moth Radio Hour worthy accounting of a sprint across Kalamazoo to complete the Annual Chili Cook Off Bingo Card. This light and much welcomed story was sandwiched between two memorable moments of vulnerability. One member of the group shared about a particularly painful trial in life. Another member tearfully expressed gratitude for this community that is called Manna. “I’ve been to churches around the country my whole life. I have always believed that I should find community in church but that has seldom been the case until I arrived here and landed with you all.” There was a common agreement around the circle that Manna had become a kind of life line. The cross in the corner of the fort at one time propped up with humor suddenly took on significance as a kind of cornerstone for the space. 

I often ask the question, “Why does Manna work?” As in, “Why do these young people come together every single Tuesday evening and gather in the church basement?”  I think the answer is found in blanket fort night (Affectionately known as Fort-Night). It is the combination of consistency, intentional Jesus-Centered spiritual formation, prayer, and playfulness. The result is vulnerability and a space through which the community does real theological work, that is to say they make meaning of the events of their lives through community and through the lens of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection. The essence of Manna is a sharing of life with one another  and the sharing comes not from an abstract understanding of a God in the clouds but from the realness of God revealed fully in the humanness of Jesus who set the paradigm for shared living. There is an understanding in Manna that the fullness of life can emerge from Jesus-centered friendship and joy. When friendship and joy are approached as Christian practice vulnerability and transformation become a real part of the experience. 

When I reflect on Fort-Night my memory is of a much larger chunk of time. In reality we sat in the dark under blankets for about 45 minutes. When the clock neared 8pm, the lights came on, the blankets came down, the furniture was put back into place, and we made our way out in the cold winter night, once hidden in the confines of community now exposed to whatever the rest of so-called “real life” would throw our way. On the drive home, as I readied myself to heat up a plate of the dinner and kiss my kids good night my pastoral reflection drew a smile of satisfaction. I prayed for whatever events would arrive in the lives of the young adults who had just gathered, and prayed in gratitude that next Tuesday there would be a space for them to hold those events, once again in the light of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, with one another, and make meaning.