Journal of European Baptist Studies, 2017

oung adults are to secure self-identity and determine major life commitments. 4 As they appropriately lessen ties to traditional authorities in their quest for ownership of personal responsibility and values, they are particularly susceptible to cultural influences such as the pervasive influence of market and media. Young adults are learning to leam how to function as mature, responsible contributors to society. I have observed that rather than resulting in excited determination, the number of choices available for activities, relationships, education, and vocation have an overwhelming — at times almost paralysing — effect on young adults’ ability to discern a preferable option and pursue it with gratitude and satisfaction. I have also noted with concern that young adults in our congregation seemed unwittingly to reduce themselves, and others, to beings valued not on the basis of the intrinsic imago Dei, but on appearance, profitability, or utility. 1 Names of congregants have been changed. 2 Hereafter in this article, referred to simply as Scum. 3 For information on the church, see Mike Sares, Pure Scum: The Left-out, the Right-brained and the Grace of God (Downers Grove: 1VP, 2010), or <http://www.scumoftheearth.net> 4 For young adult psycho-social and religious development, I refer the reader to Jeffrey Jensen Arnett and Jennifer Lynn Tanner, eds., Emerging Adults in America: Coming of Age in the 21 st Century (Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association, 2006); Christian Smith and Patricia Snell, Souls in Transition: The Religious and Spiritual Life of Emerging Adults (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009); and Sharon Daloz Parks, Big Questions, Worthy Dreams: Mentoring Young Adults in Their Search for Meaning, Purpose, and Faith, rev. ed. (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2011). Blomberg, Contentment 41 In my doctoral research, I suggested that five practices in particular could be developed in the context of the church to help young adults recognise and resist the pull of a consumer mentality on themselves and their relationships. 5 In this article, I concentrate on one of these practices: contentment. I will first review what is meant by practices and virtues. I will parse aspects of contentment and show its relationship to other practices. My concern here is how contentment is attained, or practised, in a consumer culture which promotes dis-content through constantly shifting desires, and sees commitment as stifling self-expression. The discussion will be peppered with examples from my church of how we have endeavoured to inculcate the practice of contentment among young adults. Practices and Virtues Christian practices are actions and attitudes that witness to and invite participation in the present reality of God’s kingdom. 6 They are complex, socially embedded, intentional, and habitual. Practices build on historical precedent while being dynamic and adaptive. They have s