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.

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!