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?

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

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!

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!