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?
Wednesday, March 7, 2007
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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