It was on Wed 20th. Mili and I went to a lecture at the city Museum and figure out these numbers...
20 million refugees world wide
9 countries taking refugees in any significant numbers
8 countries taking very small amounts of refugees
3rd is where N.Z. sits on the amount of refugees taken per year
750 is the amount we take per year
10,000 is the approx number per year taken by the 9 main countries
19 990 000 the number left in refugee camps and sitting on borders around the world! (is my math right?)
10 people at the lecture from all of Auckland (no-one seems to care)
The politician who came to talk to us started off by telling us how much of positive contribution refugees make to N.Z. both culturally and financially, they usually get jobs very quickly (contrary to popular belief) and their children go through our education system and are usually good students who apply themselves well and contribute well to society as doctors and lawyers and the like. (These aren't his exact words but represent what he was saying as best I remember it)
Of course I asked him... If they contribute so well why don't we take more?
His answer... There are financial issues... they are a drain on the system.
But, I said, you just told us they contribute to the country financially... surly you are being too short-term focused here?
I also asked what the cost of resettling 750 refugees per year is? The whole program that we currently have running (which according to the experts is among the best in the world) cost a few million dollars a year... (A tiny portion of the countries expenses)
And still millions of lives are wasted away.
The real reason, if you read between the lines of the conversation and the lectures is that there simply isn't any political will and there is no public pressure to bring about that political will.
I asked about international pressure from organisation such as the U.N., wheather they put any political pressure on able countries to take refugees... very little was the answer.
I see parrallels to history. Today we look at the idea of slavery an are discusted by the practice (often blind tothe fact that it still goes on in the form of a sex trade today). I would suggest that the refugee situation and the way brder controls are used to safe-guard the interests of the rich and marginalise or control the poor are equally as disgusting.
In a world of globalisation what is going to happen to international borders and the power plays they are a major part of? 200 years from now what will be the opinion of our descendants toward our lack of action regarding the international refugee problem in our world?
The numbers don't match up and few people know and few seem to care!
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Sharne (Part two)
If you haven't read part one I was faced with a rather unpleasant decision...
Of course I gave him a hug, and it wasn't a really nice hug for me, he turned it into a bear hug (he is not little) and I felt his skin peal away from my shirt as we parted... not real nice.
So his pants are on backwards and we are looking at each other and I said to him "so I guess you aren't coming tonight then?" (We had a policy at this group that no matter what you had done in between times you were still welcome to come along to the group). Sharne says to me "yeah, I'll come just give me a couple of minutes man".
I am thinking, what about the girl in the bedroom?
He goes off to the bedroom and comes back in a couple of minutes fully dressed with all items of clothing now correctly positioned. The girl is with him (about 16 years old at a guess) and he simply gives her four dollars and tells her the bus will be there in a few minutes!
I am both horrified and gob-smacked at this and I feebly try to have an unsuccesful conversation and all I wanted to do was to help her feel valued again, I am pretty sure I failed! Monumentally! I offered her a ride homw, which she refused and Sharne said, Nah, she wil be alright! And that was that.
Wth a pit in my stomach Sharne and I left, and the girl walked down the drive to the bus-stop. Sharne was worried because he had nothing to contribute to the shared feed we have, I said I had plenty.
The evening after that went as planned and just like usual. We played basketball and had a feed and hung out, there was about 15 of us and we just had a good time. Sharne and I had a couple of conversations, nothing deep but at least some acknowledgement from him that all was not well.
Toward the end of the evening we sat down to read some Scripture. That is what we do, we simply read a decent sized passage of Scripture together and leave it open for anyone to talk about it, either to the group or later to each other.
That night we read the 'lost stories' (Luke 15) Lost sheep, lost coin and lost son.
As I am reading the story of the lost Son, and I am reading about the Son's return to his family, to his father, I look at Sharne and his face simply drops. I had no idea that the story from Luke was hitting directly at Sharnes own life. Me, the bible guy, didn't even make the connection, but Sharne did, Sharne showed me the reality of that story. It was amazing to watch him hooked into Scripture as it spoke directly to the reality of his life.
The group's philoosophy of 'it doesn't matter what you have done between times, you are always welcome back' was at the heart of his experience. The hug I gave him was at the heart of his story. The women, the drugs, the drunkenness it was all there. The feed we had together or the banquet in the story! The experience for me was surreal, for the first time in my life as I read that passage I actually felt more like the father than the son!
Like I said at the beginning of the first part of this story, to the best of my knowledge Sharne has never made a faith commitment to following Jesus. However, he has connected with the Story of the grace of Jesus Christ in a menaingful way and has even experienced something of that grace through the group of guys who accepted him 'no matter what goes on between times'. How can we do more than that.
I remeber some time latter driving in my van reflecting on the story of Sharne and realising that he was still coming less and less to the group. I remember yelling to God at the top of my lungs while driving along Donbuck road "God!, I am doing my part when are you going to start doing yours" As I cried and prayed I repented also.
Today my prayer is...
God, you have done your amazing part, you are our Father, the ultimate Father. You continue to do your part and it is to your inceredible will that we submit ourselves as we constantly struggle and fail to work with young people. We delight with you in the responses to your grace and we cannot even begin to imagine how you hurt when people deny you. Lord, thankyou for a little taste of that denial, but thankyou also for shading me from the full force of pain that you must feel everytime someone denies your cross. We repent of our second-guessing of you Lord. Amen.
Of course I gave him a hug, and it wasn't a really nice hug for me, he turned it into a bear hug (he is not little) and I felt his skin peal away from my shirt as we parted... not real nice.
So his pants are on backwards and we are looking at each other and I said to him "so I guess you aren't coming tonight then?" (We had a policy at this group that no matter what you had done in between times you were still welcome to come along to the group). Sharne says to me "yeah, I'll come just give me a couple of minutes man".
I am thinking, what about the girl in the bedroom?
He goes off to the bedroom and comes back in a couple of minutes fully dressed with all items of clothing now correctly positioned. The girl is with him (about 16 years old at a guess) and he simply gives her four dollars and tells her the bus will be there in a few minutes!
I am both horrified and gob-smacked at this and I feebly try to have an unsuccesful conversation and all I wanted to do was to help her feel valued again, I am pretty sure I failed! Monumentally! I offered her a ride homw, which she refused and Sharne said, Nah, she wil be alright! And that was that.
Wth a pit in my stomach Sharne and I left, and the girl walked down the drive to the bus-stop. Sharne was worried because he had nothing to contribute to the shared feed we have, I said I had plenty.
The evening after that went as planned and just like usual. We played basketball and had a feed and hung out, there was about 15 of us and we just had a good time. Sharne and I had a couple of conversations, nothing deep but at least some acknowledgement from him that all was not well.
Toward the end of the evening we sat down to read some Scripture. That is what we do, we simply read a decent sized passage of Scripture together and leave it open for anyone to talk about it, either to the group or later to each other.
That night we read the 'lost stories' (Luke 15) Lost sheep, lost coin and lost son.
As I am reading the story of the lost Son, and I am reading about the Son's return to his family, to his father, I look at Sharne and his face simply drops. I had no idea that the story from Luke was hitting directly at Sharnes own life. Me, the bible guy, didn't even make the connection, but Sharne did, Sharne showed me the reality of that story. It was amazing to watch him hooked into Scripture as it spoke directly to the reality of his life.
The group's philoosophy of 'it doesn't matter what you have done between times, you are always welcome back' was at the heart of his experience. The hug I gave him was at the heart of his story. The women, the drugs, the drunkenness it was all there. The feed we had together or the banquet in the story! The experience for me was surreal, for the first time in my life as I read that passage I actually felt more like the father than the son!
Like I said at the beginning of the first part of this story, to the best of my knowledge Sharne has never made a faith commitment to following Jesus. However, he has connected with the Story of the grace of Jesus Christ in a menaingful way and has even experienced something of that grace through the group of guys who accepted him 'no matter what goes on between times'. How can we do more than that.
I remeber some time latter driving in my van reflecting on the story of Sharne and realising that he was still coming less and less to the group. I remember yelling to God at the top of my lungs while driving along Donbuck road "God!, I am doing my part when are you going to start doing yours" As I cried and prayed I repented also.
Today my prayer is...
God, you have done your amazing part, you are our Father, the ultimate Father. You continue to do your part and it is to your inceredible will that we submit ourselves as we constantly struggle and fail to work with young people. We delight with you in the responses to your grace and we cannot even begin to imagine how you hurt when people deny you. Lord, thankyou for a little taste of that denial, but thankyou also for shading me from the full force of pain that you must feel everytime someone denies your cross. We repent of our second-guessing of you Lord. Amen.
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
Sharne (Part one)
Sharne was a young guy in my youth group for several years, he never made a commitment to follow Christ.
I ran a group where young people came along and we played basketball and had a meal and surfed and hung out and read the bible together. Sharne and his friends were largely marginalised by society and didn't really have too many clues about social interaction. As an example, after an evening where we talked about the concept of love and Christ one of Sharne's friends asked me "Do you really expect me to believe that someone loves me when every person in my family, and in most of my life (except here), is either a drug addict or alcoholic and is either an abuser or is being abused... and by the way I had sex for the first time when I was ten after finding my Dad's porno and deciding to try it with a girl who was there". The life experience of these guys is clearly both lacking and simultaneously excelled far beyond what is normal for a teenager.
Sharne was about 13 when he began to come along. I would pick him up each week, hang out with him and do all the things we are supposed to do as youth workers. We actually became good friends, I remember asking Sharne what he thinks about God and his reply was that he likes God but he likes his own life better.
When Sharne hit 16 he stopped coming along because he had, yet another, door to door sales job. He had been through a few of these. He had to work instead of being with us but I didn't think the job would last long so each week I would call in to see if Sharne was there... for a couple of months he wasn't.
Finally one Thursday evening I caled in and the door was open but no-one was around. I walked into the kitchen and called his name "Sharne, Sharne, you in here?"
Sharne calls back from the bedroom and comes running out into the kitchen pulling his pants on backwards! (So when I say he was running it was more of that hobbling hop that you do when you are trying to put on pants and move fast at the same time). He had no other clothes on and he stank of alcohol. His eyes clearly told me he was stoned and he was covered in persperation. As I take all this in I hear a female voice call from the bedroom "Sharne, who is it?"
It dawnes on me that Sharne has been having a 'party for two' in his bedroom and that sweat on his body is the persperation of intercourse. Now I refocus on Sharne, who has struggled to zip his fly behind himself and is standing, smiling (he has a massive grin kinda smile), with his arms wide open and he's saying "Dave man, it is so good to see you, I haven't seen you in ages, give me a hug!" His enthusiasim was obvious and he really wanted a hug.
I was faced with a choice... I was, to say the least... tense, I mean, to give a hug to a half naked 16 year old who is drunk, stoned and sweaty from sex and wearing his pants backward is not the kind of thing you do every day.
But what was my other option? To say no, hurt his feelings and potentially our relationship, and then have to justify myself and in the meantime probably condemn him and his behavior.
I didn't like either option!
Hug, or not to hug, that is the question.
His arms are open...
The next post will tell you what I did do and the surprising thing that hapened later that evening because of my response. In the meantime, ponder what you would have done.
I ran a group where young people came along and we played basketball and had a meal and surfed and hung out and read the bible together. Sharne and his friends were largely marginalised by society and didn't really have too many clues about social interaction. As an example, after an evening where we talked about the concept of love and Christ one of Sharne's friends asked me "Do you really expect me to believe that someone loves me when every person in my family, and in most of my life (except here), is either a drug addict or alcoholic and is either an abuser or is being abused... and by the way I had sex for the first time when I was ten after finding my Dad's porno and deciding to try it with a girl who was there". The life experience of these guys is clearly both lacking and simultaneously excelled far beyond what is normal for a teenager.
Sharne was about 13 when he began to come along. I would pick him up each week, hang out with him and do all the things we are supposed to do as youth workers. We actually became good friends, I remember asking Sharne what he thinks about God and his reply was that he likes God but he likes his own life better.
When Sharne hit 16 he stopped coming along because he had, yet another, door to door sales job. He had been through a few of these. He had to work instead of being with us but I didn't think the job would last long so each week I would call in to see if Sharne was there... for a couple of months he wasn't.
Finally one Thursday evening I caled in and the door was open but no-one was around. I walked into the kitchen and called his name "Sharne, Sharne, you in here?"
Sharne calls back from the bedroom and comes running out into the kitchen pulling his pants on backwards! (So when I say he was running it was more of that hobbling hop that you do when you are trying to put on pants and move fast at the same time). He had no other clothes on and he stank of alcohol. His eyes clearly told me he was stoned and he was covered in persperation. As I take all this in I hear a female voice call from the bedroom "Sharne, who is it?"
It dawnes on me that Sharne has been having a 'party for two' in his bedroom and that sweat on his body is the persperation of intercourse. Now I refocus on Sharne, who has struggled to zip his fly behind himself and is standing, smiling (he has a massive grin kinda smile), with his arms wide open and he's saying "Dave man, it is so good to see you, I haven't seen you in ages, give me a hug!" His enthusiasim was obvious and he really wanted a hug.
I was faced with a choice... I was, to say the least... tense, I mean, to give a hug to a half naked 16 year old who is drunk, stoned and sweaty from sex and wearing his pants backward is not the kind of thing you do every day.
But what was my other option? To say no, hurt his feelings and potentially our relationship, and then have to justify myself and in the meantime probably condemn him and his behavior.
I didn't like either option!
Hug, or not to hug, that is the question.
His arms are open...
The next post will tell you what I did do and the surprising thing that hapened later that evening because of my response. In the meantime, ponder what you would have done.
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Road rage and blatant racial discrimination
It has been a while but I have something to think about... When are New Zealanders going to realise that we have a responsibility toward immigrants arriving into this nation?
I ask this question because of some blatant racial discrimination I saw last week. I was driving out of the driveway of my work turning right at the traffic lights. As I sat at the intersection I saw a short middle-aged white man in a large 4 wheel drive vehicle leaning across his passanger seat yelling obsenities and racial slurs out his window at another driver. Because of the position of his vehicle and other vehicles I could not see the recipient of the monologue. It was loud, it was long and it was passionate! I cringed.
The lights went green for me and I slowly pulled out as I continued to watch the drama unfold. As the recipient came into sight I was not at all surprised to see an Asian man in the driver's seat of a mid-sized sedan. He had one of those very round Asian faces like my maths teacher used to have, he reminded me of Mr Kim (maths teacher Waitara High School 1990's) a lot, one of those faces that when the person laughs the whole face lights up and shines, I remember it so well because Mr Kim rarely laughed but when he did it was one of the funniest most enchanting things I ever saw, I loved it! So the recipient of the abuse in the mid-sized sedan had one of those faces, it wasn't laughing. The look was a mixture of fear "Is this red-necked four-wheel-drive driving kiwi bully going to get out of his wagon?" and wonder "surly one little driving mistake didn't envoke the necessity for this kind of rage". (My expectations of his thoughts).
Why, why should any person have to undergo such racial discrimination. So we sterotype foreigners as bad drivers, ask any
Aussy they will tell you kiwis are the worst drivers. So many of our immigrants have never driven in conditions like ours. That is beside the point! It wasn't just a driving error that envoked such a response, it was much more than that! Clearly it was an underlying racist and discriminatory word view. Perhaps even a threatened ego?
Why do Kiwis respond so negatively to other cultures? And I know not all Kiwis respond in such a way but I also know this is not an isolated incident, ask you local foreign shop assistant or petrol station attendent. I often wonder about our immigration policies and other such things, do we have systems for dealing with such issues? While you are talking to an Indian or Asian behind the till ask them as well what they are qualified to do, you will see the lack of our systems.
I also wonder about the theological rightness and wrongness of things such as boarder controls and passports. I know the necessity of such things but immigration policies that only allow the wealthy in and perhaps de-humanise other cultures/individuals, refugee policies which are tightly controlled, the ability to reject those on the fringes of society, the ability to send back those who don't fit in our society through temporary residency etc etc, where does the church sit on these issues? What does it mean for us to interact with the marginalised in our society, usually those who are marginalised by national policy and racial discrimination.
Perhaps, if the church wanted a context within which to be Christ to the marginalised we would all be setting up immigrant centres offering help and assistance with driving, language jobs etc for any and all. Perhaps this is where the growing edge of church ministry should sit.
I ask this question because of some blatant racial discrimination I saw last week. I was driving out of the driveway of my work turning right at the traffic lights. As I sat at the intersection I saw a short middle-aged white man in a large 4 wheel drive vehicle leaning across his passanger seat yelling obsenities and racial slurs out his window at another driver. Because of the position of his vehicle and other vehicles I could not see the recipient of the monologue. It was loud, it was long and it was passionate! I cringed.
The lights went green for me and I slowly pulled out as I continued to watch the drama unfold. As the recipient came into sight I was not at all surprised to see an Asian man in the driver's seat of a mid-sized sedan. He had one of those very round Asian faces like my maths teacher used to have, he reminded me of Mr Kim (maths teacher Waitara High School 1990's) a lot, one of those faces that when the person laughs the whole face lights up and shines, I remember it so well because Mr Kim rarely laughed but when he did it was one of the funniest most enchanting things I ever saw, I loved it! So the recipient of the abuse in the mid-sized sedan had one of those faces, it wasn't laughing. The look was a mixture of fear "Is this red-necked four-wheel-drive driving kiwi bully going to get out of his wagon?" and wonder "surly one little driving mistake didn't envoke the necessity for this kind of rage". (My expectations of his thoughts).
Why, why should any person have to undergo such racial discrimination. So we sterotype foreigners as bad drivers, ask any
Aussy they will tell you kiwis are the worst drivers. So many of our immigrants have never driven in conditions like ours. That is beside the point! It wasn't just a driving error that envoked such a response, it was much more than that! Clearly it was an underlying racist and discriminatory word view. Perhaps even a threatened ego?
Why do Kiwis respond so negatively to other cultures? And I know not all Kiwis respond in such a way but I also know this is not an isolated incident, ask you local foreign shop assistant or petrol station attendent. I often wonder about our immigration policies and other such things, do we have systems for dealing with such issues? While you are talking to an Indian or Asian behind the till ask them as well what they are qualified to do, you will see the lack of our systems.
I also wonder about the theological rightness and wrongness of things such as boarder controls and passports. I know the necessity of such things but immigration policies that only allow the wealthy in and perhaps de-humanise other cultures/individuals, refugee policies which are tightly controlled, the ability to reject those on the fringes of society, the ability to send back those who don't fit in our society through temporary residency etc etc, where does the church sit on these issues? What does it mean for us to interact with the marginalised in our society, usually those who are marginalised by national policy and racial discrimination.
Perhaps, if the church wanted a context within which to be Christ to the marginalised we would all be setting up immigrant centres offering help and assistance with driving, language jobs etc for any and all. Perhaps this is where the growing edge of church ministry should sit.
Wednesday, March 7, 2007
Zacheus' house as the House of the Lord: Fringe dwelling
I love the story of Zacheus, the short guy up a tree (Luke 19). Firstly it gives short people a part to play in the Jesus movies. But also because I think it reveals to us just how bad we are missing Jesus' idea of what it was to be him. We are all trying to be him but missing the point so badly... just as we miss the point of this passage so badly. I always hear this passage talked about with regard to how keen Zacheus was to be in the presence of Jesus, or how he didn't want to miss Jesus passing by etc etc. But think about, Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem to be executed... no small point. There is a crowd of people around him and he takes the very centre of his ministry to a person on the edge of society... one of those we label as "on the fringes". Often we think about encouraging these people into our churches with a variety of programs etc, or better, I think, we think about going to them, however this is all too often with the intent of bringing them into our ministry program (probably the one set up to attract people in). I think Jesus goes further. He takes the very centre of his ministry into Zacheus' world. In fact, Zacheus' house, for all intensive purposes becomes the house of the Lord for a time.
Then at the end of this passage we get the phrase "the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost".
I think we miss the seek side of the equation. We have, for the most part just put programs out there for the lost to seek us (which may happen from time to time). What does it look like for us to make the lost the very centre of our ministry? To dwell there (metaphorically or actually).
Ah the fringes of society... it is such an interesting discussion that rages on about how the church meets with the finges of society... it is so hard when for so long we have considered ourselves the centre of society (perhaps rightly so for a time, but I am not convinced that it was a good thing for us). Now we are so fooled by our history that many Christians still consider Christianity as the centre of society but I think if we do then we may be fooling ourselves. It is this fooling of ourselves that makes it so hard for us to reach the fringes! But don't worry, don't stress, it will only take a few more years until we are so marginalised by our own inability to truly connect with the real influencers of society that we will suddenly realize we are the fringes. Perhaps when we get out there then we may be able to connect with those around us... our fellow fringe dwellers, Zacheus and the sinful woman and blind Bartemaus and the heamoraging woman and the Samaritan woman and the demon possesed man and all their friends! (Including the homeless guy on "Bruce Almighty", see my earlier post).
We are so worried about the marginalisation of Christianity... perhaps it is not such a bad thing after all?
Then at the end of this passage we get the phrase "the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost".
I think we miss the seek side of the equation. We have, for the most part just put programs out there for the lost to seek us (which may happen from time to time). What does it look like for us to make the lost the very centre of our ministry? To dwell there (metaphorically or actually).
Ah the fringes of society... it is such an interesting discussion that rages on about how the church meets with the finges of society... it is so hard when for so long we have considered ourselves the centre of society (perhaps rightly so for a time, but I am not convinced that it was a good thing for us). Now we are so fooled by our history that many Christians still consider Christianity as the centre of society but I think if we do then we may be fooling ourselves. It is this fooling of ourselves that makes it so hard for us to reach the fringes! But don't worry, don't stress, it will only take a few more years until we are so marginalised by our own inability to truly connect with the real influencers of society that we will suddenly realize we are the fringes. Perhaps when we get out there then we may be able to connect with those around us... our fellow fringe dwellers, Zacheus and the sinful woman and blind Bartemaus and the heamoraging woman and the Samaritan woman and the demon possesed man and all their friends! (Including the homeless guy on "Bruce Almighty", see my earlier post).
We are so worried about the marginalisation of Christianity... perhaps it is not such a bad thing after all?
Thursday, February 15, 2007
One of the things I am more convinced of all the time is that as youth workers we should be re-telling the story of Scripture.
I don't think the following from Deut 4 was purely an O.T. idea...
What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the Lord our God is near us whenever we pray to him?
And what other nation is so great as to have such righteous decrees and laws as this
body of laws I am setting before you today?
Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them. Remember the day you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, when he said to me, “Assemble the people before me to hear my words so that they may learn to revere me as long as they live in the land and may teach them to their children.”
Deut. 4:7-10 TNIV
What does a passage like this mean to us in the light of Christ? God is still near to us when we pray... but we now have the Holy Spirit and the revelation of Jesus Christ to allow his nearness to be much more real (perhaps! I say perhaps because I don't know what the experience of God's nearness was like pre-Christ). The righteouss decrees and laws exist in the form of story and grace as we read them in all Scripture, not just the Torah (Yes grace and law do belong together in a paradoxial kind of way... is that a word 'paradoxial'?).
Oh and haven't so many of us faithful followers of Christ forgotten to 'watch' ourselves that we 'do not forget the things our eayes have seen or let them slip from our hearts...' What does it mean to watch ourselves, ('we should all buy a rolex' would seem to be the interpretation that may fit some teaching) that we know the stories, the things we have read and engaged with that we do not forget. The reality that Christ is! Yet we forget as we go about entertining with soft melody driven pop rock music (thinly discuised as worship) and games justified as relationship building and entry level Christianity.
Teach them to your children and to their children after them. Remember the day you stood before the Lord your God at... where were you? Where was it that you stood before Christ and decided to follow him? Where was it that you decided one expression of following Christ would include involvement in youth ministry? It is this remembering that partly compels us to teach the stories to our children and our children's children. In today's society I don't think that statement is limited to those you helped to produce (whatever part you took). Rather any and all children... sadly, those of us in youth ministry may have forgotten this concept and we probably have an enhanced opportunity to teach the stories. We are equipped to do so by hearing the stories ourselves. We hear through Scripture and good preaching and a variety of other mediums.
How can we hear, and also, how can we teach and tell the stories?
I guess when I read this I think of the nation wandering in the wilderness, a homeless bunch of people sitting around the fire at night talking to each other as their children listen in, they tell the story of how they came to be the people of God, and of how they came to be homeless, and of the promise they have for the future.
We tell the story of how the church came to be the people of God... of how Christ, a Jew, came into the world and created a part for us to play in the story that is the revelation of God, we tell the story of how we personally came to participate in the story, we speak about how our Whanau became a part of the story, how our friends joined with us in the story, how we connected with our particular chapter of the story... always in the light of standing before Christ! Like the few disciples at the transfiguration (Mat 17) we stand in the light of Christ who ultimately redefines all stories, the one whom all stories MUST connect with and point to if we are to tell them from a faithful Christian position. As Kenda Creasy Dean puts it in "Starting Right" we need to become like John the Baptist who doesn't say 'come to me' rather we say 'Go to Him'. Every story, our own and scriptures story and stories must say 'Go to Him'.
“Assemble the people before me to hear my words so that they may learn to revere me as long as they live in the land and may teach them to their children.”
Let's assemble, yes! Let's hear and let's teach the words to our children. Let's not have another biblically illiterate generation of Christian young people.
I don't think the following from Deut 4 was purely an O.T. idea...
What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the Lord our God is near us whenever we pray to him?
And what other nation is so great as to have such righteous decrees and laws as this
body of laws I am setting before you today?
Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them. Remember the day you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, when he said to me, “Assemble the people before me to hear my words so that they may learn to revere me as long as they live in the land and may teach them to their children.”
Deut. 4:7-10 TNIV
What does a passage like this mean to us in the light of Christ? God is still near to us when we pray... but we now have the Holy Spirit and the revelation of Jesus Christ to allow his nearness to be much more real (perhaps! I say perhaps because I don't know what the experience of God's nearness was like pre-Christ). The righteouss decrees and laws exist in the form of story and grace as we read them in all Scripture, not just the Torah (Yes grace and law do belong together in a paradoxial kind of way... is that a word 'paradoxial'?).
Oh and haven't so many of us faithful followers of Christ forgotten to 'watch' ourselves that we 'do not forget the things our eayes have seen or let them slip from our hearts...' What does it mean to watch ourselves, ('we should all buy a rolex' would seem to be the interpretation that may fit some teaching) that we know the stories, the things we have read and engaged with that we do not forget. The reality that Christ is! Yet we forget as we go about entertining with soft melody driven pop rock music (thinly discuised as worship) and games justified as relationship building and entry level Christianity.
Teach them to your children and to their children after them. Remember the day you stood before the Lord your God at... where were you? Where was it that you stood before Christ and decided to follow him? Where was it that you decided one expression of following Christ would include involvement in youth ministry? It is this remembering that partly compels us to teach the stories to our children and our children's children. In today's society I don't think that statement is limited to those you helped to produce (whatever part you took). Rather any and all children... sadly, those of us in youth ministry may have forgotten this concept and we probably have an enhanced opportunity to teach the stories. We are equipped to do so by hearing the stories ourselves. We hear through Scripture and good preaching and a variety of other mediums.
How can we hear, and also, how can we teach and tell the stories?
I guess when I read this I think of the nation wandering in the wilderness, a homeless bunch of people sitting around the fire at night talking to each other as their children listen in, they tell the story of how they came to be the people of God, and of how they came to be homeless, and of the promise they have for the future.
We tell the story of how the church came to be the people of God... of how Christ, a Jew, came into the world and created a part for us to play in the story that is the revelation of God, we tell the story of how we personally came to participate in the story, we speak about how our Whanau became a part of the story, how our friends joined with us in the story, how we connected with our particular chapter of the story... always in the light of standing before Christ! Like the few disciples at the transfiguration (Mat 17) we stand in the light of Christ who ultimately redefines all stories, the one whom all stories MUST connect with and point to if we are to tell them from a faithful Christian position. As Kenda Creasy Dean puts it in "Starting Right" we need to become like John the Baptist who doesn't say 'come to me' rather we say 'Go to Him'. Every story, our own and scriptures story and stories must say 'Go to Him'.
“Assemble the people before me to hear my words so that they may learn to revere me as long as they live in the land and may teach them to their children.”
Let's assemble, yes! Let's hear and let's teach the words to our children. Let's not have another biblically illiterate generation of Christian young people.
Thursday, February 1, 2007
Being youth ministry.
Okay, this whole 'being' thing is getting a little out of hand in Christian circles at the moment when you really think about it, but I think there is something in it.
Marko O. (Director of Youth Specialties) recently posted a blog on his blog site where he bassically said youth specialties has done a lot of stuff wrong in the past, they have led people up the garden path of attractional ministry, build it they will come etc etc. Firstly, bravo for tough honesty, secondly, it was for a time but now we move on... we move on from doing to being... and being will happen for a time and we will probably move on to something else. But here are my thoughts on the attractional thing its connections with being and perhaps a slightly different take on some ideas.
YES, we do need to attract people to something and with something... trouble is we have been attacting to concerts with bands, to relationships with cool personalities, to church with the promise of family... if everything is found in Christ and if Christ is the alpha the omega and the climax of our faith then please, please can we start attracting people to Christ (something we would all say we are trying to do) with Christ (something we have probably never thought much about or even have the faintest idea where to start).
Let me scream it again ATTRACTION ISN'T THE PROBLEM! HOW, AND TO WHAT, IS
C.S. Lewis (Narnia), Tolkien (Lord of the Rings) Jackson (Lord of the Rings movies), Cartoonmakrers of "Prince of Egypt", Mel Gibson (Passion of Christ), Makers of 'Nativity' movie just relaeased, perhaps even Jim Carey and "Bruce Almighty" are all, whether they knew it or not and whether they did it on purpose or not attracting people to Christ, with Christ. They tell the Story of Christ
The Story of Christ as it is told from Gen to Rev and continues to be told in our lives is what will attract people to Christ. Parts of the Story ie 'Prince of Egypt' telling the Exodus story, actually point people and attract people to Christ. That is the whole point! One of the youth workers key tasks then is to tell the Story in creative ways and through a plethora of culturally relevant mediums! Not rocket science.
What does this have to do with 'being'. The way we live, the way we be a youth pastor or a bible study leader or a rock star (which too many Christian youth people think they are) is actually the way we tell the Story. My story, your story and the Story of Christ are connected, explicitly and implcitly. As we live we are re-packaging something of the Story of Christ, something of the revelation of Christ to humanity.
What I love about 'Bruce Almighty' and why I mention it earlier as a telling of Christ's Story is the poor beggar. Remember "When you do it for the least of these you do it for me". God was the Black guy with the clapper jokes and the seven fingers and the file cabinet trick that really happened and Christ was the least of these... BEING! The Story of Christ repackaged in a beggar who couldn't write a sign properly, that is genius! Almighty Christ revealed in rags... who would have thought of that?
Not only do we be the Story but our youth ministry program also 'BE's' the story. Doesn't make gramatical sense I know but who cares it is a blog not a thesis. The place we create, the environment we bring people into is a part of the Story... how we attract people is a part of the Story. Are we cultural or counter-cultural? Are we servants of masters or some random mix of both that perplexes and intrigues people? (Again, who would think of that?). What will our youth ministry BE. Will we be the Story and use the Story to attract people to the Story and ultimately to the most brilliant narrator of the Story, Christ?
The key to all of this is the type of people we put in leadership... ask yourself this... what do I and the leaders around me in youth group, church or whatever, what do we use to attract people? If your answer is anything other than Christ, grace, love (and a whole bunch of other synonyms) then you have a choice... change or get out!
Marko O. (Director of Youth Specialties) recently posted a blog on his blog site where he bassically said youth specialties has done a lot of stuff wrong in the past, they have led people up the garden path of attractional ministry, build it they will come etc etc. Firstly, bravo for tough honesty, secondly, it was for a time but now we move on... we move on from doing to being... and being will happen for a time and we will probably move on to something else. But here are my thoughts on the attractional thing its connections with being and perhaps a slightly different take on some ideas.
YES, we do need to attract people to something and with something... trouble is we have been attacting to concerts with bands, to relationships with cool personalities, to church with the promise of family... if everything is found in Christ and if Christ is the alpha the omega and the climax of our faith then please, please can we start attracting people to Christ (something we would all say we are trying to do) with Christ (something we have probably never thought much about or even have the faintest idea where to start).
Let me scream it again ATTRACTION ISN'T THE PROBLEM! HOW, AND TO WHAT, IS
C.S. Lewis (Narnia), Tolkien (Lord of the Rings) Jackson (Lord of the Rings movies), Cartoonmakrers of "Prince of Egypt", Mel Gibson (Passion of Christ), Makers of 'Nativity' movie just relaeased, perhaps even Jim Carey and "Bruce Almighty" are all, whether they knew it or not and whether they did it on purpose or not attracting people to Christ, with Christ. They tell the Story of Christ
The Story of Christ as it is told from Gen to Rev and continues to be told in our lives is what will attract people to Christ. Parts of the Story ie 'Prince of Egypt' telling the Exodus story, actually point people and attract people to Christ. That is the whole point! One of the youth workers key tasks then is to tell the Story in creative ways and through a plethora of culturally relevant mediums! Not rocket science.
What does this have to do with 'being'. The way we live, the way we be a youth pastor or a bible study leader or a rock star (which too many Christian youth people think they are) is actually the way we tell the Story. My story, your story and the Story of Christ are connected, explicitly and implcitly. As we live we are re-packaging something of the Story of Christ, something of the revelation of Christ to humanity.
What I love about 'Bruce Almighty' and why I mention it earlier as a telling of Christ's Story is the poor beggar. Remember "When you do it for the least of these you do it for me". God was the Black guy with the clapper jokes and the seven fingers and the file cabinet trick that really happened and Christ was the least of these... BEING! The Story of Christ repackaged in a beggar who couldn't write a sign properly, that is genius! Almighty Christ revealed in rags... who would have thought of that?
Not only do we be the Story but our youth ministry program also 'BE's' the story. Doesn't make gramatical sense I know but who cares it is a blog not a thesis. The place we create, the environment we bring people into is a part of the Story... how we attract people is a part of the Story. Are we cultural or counter-cultural? Are we servants of masters or some random mix of both that perplexes and intrigues people? (Again, who would think of that?). What will our youth ministry BE. Will we be the Story and use the Story to attract people to the Story and ultimately to the most brilliant narrator of the Story, Christ?
The key to all of this is the type of people we put in leadership... ask yourself this... what do I and the leaders around me in youth group, church or whatever, what do we use to attract people? If your answer is anything other than Christ, grace, love (and a whole bunch of other synonyms) then you have a choice... change or get out!
Thursday, January 25, 2007
How do we be what we are meant to be?
I had a conversation with a student just yesterday which has had me thinking. We started out by talking about church and modernity and Paul and Corinth and how Paul subverted the political and social structures of Corinth (heavy I know). He was asking how do we as the church subvert the structures of modernity... I had a bit of a chuckle to myself as I explained to him that in actual fact the church was one of the pillars of modernity... we are looked upon as one of the structures that has set up and maintained the modern approach to life for a very long time, funny really when you think about what modernity stands for and where it comes from etc, you would think we would all be rushing to leave it behind, but no we aren't, well some of us are. And that was really his question. As we talked what we realised we needed to be asking was "So how do we subvert church?" How do we make church something that is not a pillar of modernity, rather something that (dare I say it) is truly post-modern in its approach to community, being, and spirituality. (A scary thought I know).
We always talk about what church should be like and I think that many of us have a good handle on some of the ideals of how postmodern, Christian church should operate, or, rather, what postmodern, Christian relationships should look like. BUT (and it is a big BUT) I don't think many of us have any idea how to BE someone who makes this happen. How to even BE what we are hoping the church will become. Hence the question, "How do we BE what we are meant to BE?"
You will notice I haven't defined what we are meant to be, that's because we always define it, and I don't think we are meant to be the definers! Therefore in the very act of defining it we are undermining what we are actually meant to BE... here-in lies the difficulty of postmodernity and spirituality and many other things. So the question for me has moved from "What are we meant to BE", I would lke to leave that open, to "How do we BE what we are meant to BE". And perhaps, what we are meant to BE is very different for me and my student and for you also.
Is this just nonsense?
Let me put some real life in there. This particular student gets frustrated at the lack of commitment of many of his classmates to the Scriptures and to their own personal search for truth (I can relate to that, both sides). He loves to seek and explore and study the Word (very comendable). He also tells me that church should be a place where people come into real relationship across boundaries etc etc... all the stuff we all know it should be. However, I then asked him "so what did you and your little group of friends (there are three or four of them who are quite tight) do to create that kind of place in the college community here at BCNZ all of last year? What is one thing you did that made a difference, any or all af you? He had to admit that they had not done a heck of a lot... in fact none of them had done anything at all! Typical hypocritical Christian attitude (we both agreed and confessed to that, maybe not in those words).
You see the thing about our community is that it is multicultural (European, P.I., Maori, and Asins from a variety of countries) BUT the students don't integrate as well as him and I would both like to see. Also our community is interdenominational (baptist, anglican, presbyterian, pentecostals, charasmatics, independant churches, bretheren, AOG etc), our community has people from city and country and representatives from many different theological backgrounds and perspectives, we have x cons, and recovering alcoholics (generally well into a clean period), we have young and old, married and single, conservatives and not so conservatives and all of these live together eveery day (and some stay at night as well), and all of these come together to study, and most of these know (or have a fair idea) what church is supposed to be BUT few of these are actually being it! When you scratch below the surface of "keeping up Christian appearances" division is often more real than connection or relationship.
So here again is my question...
HOW DO WE BE?
We always talk about what church should be like and I think that many of us have a good handle on some of the ideals of how postmodern, Christian church should operate, or, rather, what postmodern, Christian relationships should look like. BUT (and it is a big BUT) I don't think many of us have any idea how to BE someone who makes this happen. How to even BE what we are hoping the church will become. Hence the question, "How do we BE what we are meant to BE?"
You will notice I haven't defined what we are meant to be, that's because we always define it, and I don't think we are meant to be the definers! Therefore in the very act of defining it we are undermining what we are actually meant to BE... here-in lies the difficulty of postmodernity and spirituality and many other things. So the question for me has moved from "What are we meant to BE", I would lke to leave that open, to "How do we BE what we are meant to BE". And perhaps, what we are meant to BE is very different for me and my student and for you also.
Is this just nonsense?
Let me put some real life in there. This particular student gets frustrated at the lack of commitment of many of his classmates to the Scriptures and to their own personal search for truth (I can relate to that, both sides). He loves to seek and explore and study the Word (very comendable). He also tells me that church should be a place where people come into real relationship across boundaries etc etc... all the stuff we all know it should be. However, I then asked him "so what did you and your little group of friends (there are three or four of them who are quite tight) do to create that kind of place in the college community here at BCNZ all of last year? What is one thing you did that made a difference, any or all af you? He had to admit that they had not done a heck of a lot... in fact none of them had done anything at all! Typical hypocritical Christian attitude (we both agreed and confessed to that, maybe not in those words).
You see the thing about our community is that it is multicultural (European, P.I., Maori, and Asins from a variety of countries) BUT the students don't integrate as well as him and I would both like to see. Also our community is interdenominational (baptist, anglican, presbyterian, pentecostals, charasmatics, independant churches, bretheren, AOG etc), our community has people from city and country and representatives from many different theological backgrounds and perspectives, we have x cons, and recovering alcoholics (generally well into a clean period), we have young and old, married and single, conservatives and not so conservatives and all of these live together eveery day (and some stay at night as well), and all of these come together to study, and most of these know (or have a fair idea) what church is supposed to be BUT few of these are actually being it! When you scratch below the surface of "keeping up Christian appearances" division is often more real than connection or relationship.
So here again is my question...
HOW DO WE BE?
Thursday, January 18, 2007
World View
I went to 'Compass' (a youth conference)recently where the topic of their conversation (for a week) centres around building a Christian worldview which is in line with the narrative of scripture. It was truly refreshing to see some real depth coming out in the world of youth ministry. I think so often we are too scared to loose the attention of our youth or too afraid that they won't 'get it'. It was crazy. A whole bunch of teenagers and earl;y 20's engaging with humanists such as Peter Singer (apparently he loves beastiality) and older philosophers such as Plato, Descarte, Nietzsche, Rousseau. Not only that but they are camparing the world views of these philosophers to a biblical Christian understanding of life. A view which is built up over the entire narrative of scripture.
I wonder if we should be doing more of this type of thing in youth ministry? Where are we headed? Why is it that Christians are so against really thinking through the issues at the moment... it almost seems like we rest back on the "God has it in control" idea. While I don't disagree with that I do think that we need to take our responsibility to seek and to know our own world and our own faith more seriously.
Really is it any wonder that young people give away their faith as they move off to university, where for the first time ever they are asked to engage with a variety of worldviews and to critique a variety of worldviews (including the Christian one) and not from a Christian perspective! The Christian faith is just not explored enough... we don't probe enough into our own belief or the alternative beliefs of the world... we are too concerned with being the moral police (NO SEX, DON"T SMOKE, DRINK OR EVEN HOLD HANDS!). There is a big part of me that has had enough! Really is the best we can hope for from our churches a little Bible verse and a couple of stories with a little bit of morality attached on the end... (So... so you should all give to the poor, and don't swear either!) I am a huge advocate of social justice and morality BUT there is a lot more depth to the Christian faith than just that... there is a lot more to our world-view. For goodness sake when was the last time I heard something really decent on what it means to be a human being? Lets stick the Christian understading of "Being the image of God" alongside of the understanding of humanity that we get from a variety of other historical and contemporary pghilosophers and let's do it in church? I Dunno. I just think we need more clever people around! People who understand their identity as it is exposed and revealed in the narrative of scripture.
That is all for now. I really should tell someone about my blog one day, maybe someone would post the first reply to some of my thoughts!
I think I am going to do some studies in philosophy this year theough Massey University... They wouldn't let me into their postgrad diploma program with a Masters in Theology... obviously the field of Theology in itself is not as respected as it once was... probably because of all the stupid things the church is saying these days when they are the ones who are supposed to be in charge of theology, so I can't really blame Massey Uni. Bit pissed of through.
Oh well, God Bless. Bye
I wonder if we should be doing more of this type of thing in youth ministry? Where are we headed? Why is it that Christians are so against really thinking through the issues at the moment... it almost seems like we rest back on the "God has it in control" idea. While I don't disagree with that I do think that we need to take our responsibility to seek and to know our own world and our own faith more seriously.
Really is it any wonder that young people give away their faith as they move off to university, where for the first time ever they are asked to engage with a variety of worldviews and to critique a variety of worldviews (including the Christian one) and not from a Christian perspective! The Christian faith is just not explored enough... we don't probe enough into our own belief or the alternative beliefs of the world... we are too concerned with being the moral police (NO SEX, DON"T SMOKE, DRINK OR EVEN HOLD HANDS!). There is a big part of me that has had enough! Really is the best we can hope for from our churches a little Bible verse and a couple of stories with a little bit of morality attached on the end... (So... so you should all give to the poor, and don't swear either!) I am a huge advocate of social justice and morality BUT there is a lot more depth to the Christian faith than just that... there is a lot more to our world-view. For goodness sake when was the last time I heard something really decent on what it means to be a human being? Lets stick the Christian understading of "Being the image of God" alongside of the understanding of humanity that we get from a variety of other historical and contemporary pghilosophers and let's do it in church? I Dunno. I just think we need more clever people around! People who understand their identity as it is exposed and revealed in the narrative of scripture.
That is all for now. I really should tell someone about my blog one day, maybe someone would post the first reply to some of my thoughts!
I think I am going to do some studies in philosophy this year theough Massey University... They wouldn't let me into their postgrad diploma program with a Masters in Theology... obviously the field of Theology in itself is not as respected as it once was... probably because of all the stupid things the church is saying these days when they are the ones who are supposed to be in charge of theology, so I can't really blame Massey Uni. Bit pissed of through.
Oh well, God Bless. Bye
Monday, January 15, 2007
Tell the Story
I have recently been doing a bit of thinking around what we are doing in youth ministry. I think something is missing. I have come to the conclusion that we are not telling the story. By THE STORY I mean the biblical story of the grace of Jesus Christ. (That is what I call it). I think that the Bible is one cohesive story, yes it has lots of bits and diversions but central to the Bible is a narrative about a man named Jesus.
Here is the problem... most youth workers don't realise this, and most small group leaders in youth ministry can't tell the story, therefore most young people in our youth groups will never hear the story. (What then are they respponding to when they raise their hands to follow Jesus?). In addition to this, I want adolescents to more than hear the story, I want them to experience the story!
By that I mean I want adolescents to come to a place that is continuous with the environment of the life and grace of Jesus Christ. That may seem a little harsh at times... an environment that is consistent with the pain of a death on the cross... yes... dying is a part of the experience but the cross is perhaps the greatest expression of grace as Jesus says "Father forgive them they don't know what they do". That took character on the part of Christ. In the midst of his own dying he exhibited grace... he maintained a gracious attitude and created an environment of grace about himself. That is what we need to be doing in youth ministry to allow teenagers to experience the story! This requires a depth of character on the part of those who are creating the environment in any youth ministry program or setting.
My conclusion is that the key tasks of any Christian youth worker are this: To continually and creatively tell the story of the grace of Christ in an environment that is continuous with the story. What do you think?
Next post will consider ourselves as the continuation of the story!
Here is the problem... most youth workers don't realise this, and most small group leaders in youth ministry can't tell the story, therefore most young people in our youth groups will never hear the story. (What then are they respponding to when they raise their hands to follow Jesus?). In addition to this, I want adolescents to more than hear the story, I want them to experience the story!
By that I mean I want adolescents to come to a place that is continuous with the environment of the life and grace of Jesus Christ. That may seem a little harsh at times... an environment that is consistent with the pain of a death on the cross... yes... dying is a part of the experience but the cross is perhaps the greatest expression of grace as Jesus says "Father forgive them they don't know what they do". That took character on the part of Christ. In the midst of his own dying he exhibited grace... he maintained a gracious attitude and created an environment of grace about himself. That is what we need to be doing in youth ministry to allow teenagers to experience the story! This requires a depth of character on the part of those who are creating the environment in any youth ministry program or setting.
My conclusion is that the key tasks of any Christian youth worker are this: To continually and creatively tell the story of the grace of Christ in an environment that is continuous with the story. What do you think?
Next post will consider ourselves as the continuation of the story!
Thursday, January 11, 2007
First Up
Well, just getting into this blogging, if you find it, great!
What do ya say, I guess I should start with mentioning the fact that I just got married to a girl who lived in Aussie up until we got married. A bit different for most people, we only knew each other two years and never lived in the same country until we got married. In fact, the most time we ever spent together before getting married was 20 days. Some say that is a little crazy but I love it! Have been married two months now and it is interesting seeing how Mili, that is my wife's name, is settling into N.Z. Fascinating times figuring out how we live together (I think we do very well). At the moment we are doing all the usual things, library card, looking for work etc etc. Mili wants to work in environmental education so if ya know of any jobs in West Auckalnd in that field let us know.
It is a funny thing marriage, a little outdated I suppose but we like it. It is nice to have the commitment and affirmation from someone. It is nice to know that at the end of the day you are still together. I love having someone to talk to all the time. Someone who gets me! Prior to being married I flatted in various flats for a decade... (I am 31). Marriage is nothing like flatting ('rooming' if you are American). I thought it would be comparitive but it just isn't. It is totally different. I loved my flats and my flatmates but in a sense they were always temporary living partners, Mili is permanent and I love that.
Anyway, gotta go for now. Am working hard at redisigning course outlines and re-working course content for my students who will be arriving this year. I love it when we get new studens!
What do ya say, I guess I should start with mentioning the fact that I just got married to a girl who lived in Aussie up until we got married. A bit different for most people, we only knew each other two years and never lived in the same country until we got married. In fact, the most time we ever spent together before getting married was 20 days. Some say that is a little crazy but I love it! Have been married two months now and it is interesting seeing how Mili, that is my wife's name, is settling into N.Z. Fascinating times figuring out how we live together (I think we do very well). At the moment we are doing all the usual things, library card, looking for work etc etc. Mili wants to work in environmental education so if ya know of any jobs in West Auckalnd in that field let us know.
It is a funny thing marriage, a little outdated I suppose but we like it. It is nice to have the commitment and affirmation from someone. It is nice to know that at the end of the day you are still together. I love having someone to talk to all the time. Someone who gets me! Prior to being married I flatted in various flats for a decade... (I am 31). Marriage is nothing like flatting ('rooming' if you are American). I thought it would be comparitive but it just isn't. It is totally different. I loved my flats and my flatmates but in a sense they were always temporary living partners, Mili is permanent and I love that.
Anyway, gotta go for now. Am working hard at redisigning course outlines and re-working course content for my students who will be arriving this year. I love it when we get new studens!
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