Experiencing the Body and Blood of Christ: Communicating Biblical Truth to Late Millennials and Generation Z

This book explores lived experiences of college students that represent late Millennials and Generation Z with a post- modern/post-Christian worldview. The qualitative method of interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) was used to reveal what those experiences were, and four interpretative lenses were used that revealed how the perception of those experiences can be understood.

The research involved 425 students from St. Edward’s University in Austin, Texas, in addition to selected faculty and staff. A total of 49 religious affiliations were represented on campus, of which 38 incorporate Communion into a church service. Their participation helped in discovering what the students experienced, explained in their own words and in their own way Their participation also helped in discovering the meaning lived experience during Communion.

All of the students encountered who they identified as a supernatural God; however, what the students perceived was not informed by historical or biblical contexts. Consequently, this book also examines the ways in which participants in Communion experienced Christ as described in church history and in the biblical text. Emerging across the research were key discoveries towards understanding how celebrating Communion can communicate biblical truth to postmodern communities populated by late Millennials and Generation Z with a post-Christian worldview by retelling the redemptive story. Such understanding associates a Christian celebration with meaning making.

The first section creates a historical background from the upstairs room where Christ introduced Communion through the present day. Three lenses to investigate church history: (1) how significant church developments granted or denied access to the Communion bread and wine; (2) how biblical passages were used to describe Communion; and (3) how liturgy was used to retell the redemptive story of God.

Section two addresses what it is that students experienced; not what they should or ought to experience, but what is actually experienced. The qualitative method used was committed to examining how people make sense of their lived experiences in detail, and recognizing the meaning associated with those experiences identified by the experiencer. The method also suspends predetermined language allowing students to define their own explanation.

The third section deals with the way a lived experience can be understood within the context of a religious ceremony by assessing how words and actions are used during Communion. Four systems were used to assess the perceived experiences of the students to help see what is actually going on in their lived experience during Communion.

A description of the characteristics of spirituality and religious beliefs and behaviors of students is offered in the fourth section. The section explores how others influenced the way students describe their experience of spirituality and religion; the way Communion facilitates the expression of an experience of spirituality and religion; and how the students described God.

The fifth section interprets the biblical text centered around the words of Christ, “This is my body...this is my blood” (Matt. 26:26-28). From the perspective of Communion, Passover is viewed historically, and the Wedding Supper of the Lamb is viewed eschatologically showing how God was experienced in the bread and wine in the text of Scripture. A contrast between how God is expressed in the biblical text and how each student experiences God is shown.

The final section brings together all discoveries that emerged, developing a theoretical model of how Communion, as a Christian ceremony, can function to retell the redemptive story in a postmodern community populated by late Millennials and Generation Z who participate or observe in Communion while holding sub-orthodox biblical views. 

A popular expression about the successive seasons of life is often described like walking through an open door. It is a formal way of crossing the threshold of one season into another. The life of Andrew can be depicted by climbing through open windows. It is less formal and far less crowded. From the first season of life to the current season, everything has been the result of informal conversations, subtly different to a formal discussion. Significant open windows include adoption at birth (the informal conversation of others), raised in Nottingham England, falling in love with his wife Renee, having children, and moving to the United States. While these thresholds have been a result of informal conversations in the past, the conversation continues to this present day. For Andrew, how he entered life is how he does life. So, for him, impossibilities can be made possible by leaving the crowded doorway of formality and looking for the open window of opportunity. This is why Andrew loves to engage with people through teaching, lecturing, debating, and educating. He loves to help people think for themselves like waking a giant in every student. If you walk into his office, you will find many artifacts from the year 1611, a piece of the Berlin Wall, a selection of books over two centuries old, an original ring once owned by a Roman gladiator from the first century AD, worn leather furniture, and a large library compiling the thoughts of great thinkers, including everything that C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien wrote. The whole room is filled with the aroma of knowledge, history, and imagination. His career is both ecclesial and educational. Andrew has successfully lead churches in the United Kingdom and the United States through a process of organizational transformation resulting in growth and community impact. In addition to teaching at a number of universities in Texas, Andrew successfully developed and launched a regional campus for Southeastern University in from Lakeland, Florida. Andrew has an associate degree from Nottingham College (Baseford, UK); undergraduate degree in Christian Ministry (CFC Johannesburg, South Africa); graduate degree in Missional Leadership (Northwest University Kirkland, WA); graduate degree in Theological Studies (Southeastern University Lakeland, FL); and a Ph.D. in Intercultural Studies (Assembly of God Theological University Springfield, MO). His research interests include theoretical models for communicating cross-culturally, intercultural organization, contextualization, globalization, re-framing organizations, hermeneutics, Church history, religion and the marketplace, ritual and phenomenology, and ancient fairytales. https: //www.instagram.com/dr.andrewfox/ https: //www.facebook.com/drandrewfox/ https: //drandrewfox.com/

J.John (Revd Canon) lives in Chorleywood, Hertfordshire in England. He is married to Killy and they have three sons and one daughter-in-law. J.John is a speaker with an appeal that transcends gender, age, race, culture and occupation. His much-loved art of storytelling helps people to discover spiritual meaning in a way that makes sense of everyday life. To date, he has completed many speaking engagements at conferences, towns, cities and universities in 69 countries on 6 continents. J.John has authored several titles including just10 - a contemporary application of God's Ten Commandments. For further information about J.John visit www.canonjjohn.com and follow him on Twitter or Instagram: @CanonJJohn.

on questions of political economy, economic history, ethics in finance, and natural law theory. He has an MA from the University of Melbourne, and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in moral philosophy and political economy from the University of Oxford. Gregg oversees Acton's research program and team of scholars and is responsible for oversight of research international programing, including budgeting, management, personnel, publishing, and program development and implementation.