Yesterday I began a review on reTHiNK by Steve Wright - you can read what I thought of the first third or so of the book here.

In the second half of the book (2/3rds to be fair) Wright takes up his prescription - co-championing the institution of the Family and the church. A partnership between parents (the primary discipler of Children) and the church (purpose to exalt, edify (disciple?), and evangelize). He then states that the key is to strike a balance where we are focusing our efforts in helping our churches be more family-centered (a good word!). His prescription goes on to help reshape our model of youth ministry helping set up parents as the primary influencer/discipler for their children.

Here is my struggle. This sounds great. It plays into the focus on the family agenda of many Evangelical churches. It even “sounds” biblical. From my understanding of culture, ancient stuff and a few years of studying the Bible - this is more of a programmatic reaction than a precise scriptural reading. I think my perspective on reTHiNK is that there is a lot of helpful suggestion (REALLY) but I don’t think it is a more “biblical framework” than many other newer ideas out there which also have the same premise* but different (equally biblically grounded) prescriptions (say Folmsbee’s “New Kind of Youth Ministry,” M. King’s “Presence-Centered Youth Ministry” or Yaconelli’s “Contemplative Youth Ministry“).

I think where Wright sells a bit too hard is in his conviction that parents are to be the primary discipler of their teen. I believe that a case can be made for this idea as it relates to children (I think their are a number of scriptures which would point to this), but to carry this idea over to one who is beyond puberty is not something that I think you can argue from scripture. In the ancient world (actually up till the middle/late part of the 19th Century) there was no appreciation of this “time between.” There was no time between childhood and adulthood. The Bible doesn’t have a word for those after puberty - other than adult. The Bible has words for infant, young child, and child. The Bible recognizes young adults, adults and older adults. The Bible writers know not a teenager (the term adolescence doesn’t appear in English till 1904).

It is anachronistic and reading our world into the text to suggest that parents are to be the primary spiritual care-taker of their teen. In biblical times once a youth goes through puberty - they had a party and ushered the “now adult” into the world of work, child-rearing and becoming contributers to the larger community. This meant the young adult often left their parents home (the ancients understood the fireworks that often occur between parents and their post puberty offspring) to enter an apprenticeship, a relationship with a “master” or Rabbi/teacher, or into the home of a new spouse (and their extended family).

In fact their seems to be more precedent from the lessons of the ancients that what human beings who have crossed over the threshold of puberty need is not more influence from their parents (they should have gotten that from the previous 11-13 years); but reinforcement and new perspectives from other experienced adults.

Wright does a good job with diagnosis. His prescription for championing the twin towers of parents and the church sounds good - but I don’t think it is the winning combination long term in most churches that he envisions it to be. The church does need to champion/help/serve/equip parents to negotiate the new relationship they have with their teen - but not as primary discipler - it is a moving slowly from being the authority to over time acknowledging each others adulthood while still being the parent - no easy task (as their young person struggles with independence, identity, and intimacy). Parents need to help their teen find other adults who can reinforce how they have been “training up their child” and move from being a primary discipler to being a primary modeler (actions over words). I think Wright does a great job identifying some of what I think are critical values for a healthy youth ministry; but I think he really focuses on one of those values far more than the others. I would have probably focused on another one to the detriment of the others - that being the value of “championing the church.” But, I probably mean something different than Wright when I say that. I think Youth Ministry must become an advocate for the integration of all ages into the life and purposes of the church. It is here that more genuine relationship and mentoring and “discipling” can take place. It is here where I see a more wholistic and Acts 2.42 kind of picture of how what we call adolescents can be best cared for.

It is worth a read. Wright is to be commended for raising the issue. I am sure it will cause many a healthy discussion in classrooms and family rooms among youth ministry practitioners trying to do their best for “their kids.” If you haven’t read it - give it a go - and then as Wright challenges us, “decide for yourself.”

*I read Wright’s premise as - those in youth ministry must rethink about the values and priorities of youth ministry because our current way or approach in ministering to teens is fundamentally flawed.

So I came across the book, reTHiNK (is student ministry working?) by Steve Wright on the recommendation of a friend. Have you seen it? I think it is worth considering. It is a book that has gotten me thinking about new approaches and new priorities in the field of ministry to adolescence. His basic premise - those in youth ministry must rethink about the values and priorities of youth ministry because our current way or approach in ministering to teens is fundamentally flawed. His prescription: create a true church/parent partnership for the purpose of spiritually impacting young people (ala Deuteronomy 6)

In this portion of my review I want to focus on what I think Wright has done well.

1. He has raised a fair argument to suggest that youth ministry and it’s current dominant models of attractional evangelism, event oriented programs, and being an alternative to secular society aren’t working (as seen through numerous studies.) He also shows that youth workers are not adequately trained or prepared to carry out the demands that the current dominant models of youth ministry (as seen through studies that suggest youth worker retention, satisfaction and health are poor).

2. Wright does a good job identifying and evaluating the current values that inform the dominant models of youth ministry operating in the Evangelical Church of the West. He then offers alternatives. Here I think Wright is at his strongest. He suggests the following values as a correction:

moving from separation from parents to partnership

moving from student ministry to student development

moving from cultural relevance to biblical faithfulness

moving from internalized ministry to championing the church

Now - to be fair Wright sets these up as “either/or” options. Which probably is not realistic in every case. And the terminology does need some explanation - but here is my perspective (probably diverting a bit from Wright) on his 4 youth ministry values (revalued):

Family Ministry - a reframing of our purpose to embracing the whole family unit

Spiritual Formation - we must reconsider our role moving from program directors and communication specialists to spiritual directors and mentors who accompany youth through life.

Immersing Teens INTO the Story - adolescents don’t need bleeding edge technology (they may want it or it may be hip initially) what they are looking for ultimately is a story or narrative that makes sense of their past, present and future. Young people need to find an embracing epic that inspires, informs and is worthy of their investment. What students need is what we all need - not facts, figures, and statistics about the Bible - what we need is to be read by the Bible, to be immersed, caught up in, to find ourselves in the story.

Youth Ministry as a ministry OF the Church - no more is youth ministry done in isolation in the church. Youth ministry must be integrated into the life of the church allowing for a natural process of intergenerational ministry; mentoring; “on-the-job” training; and real-life experience of the ways, joys, and struggles of Christ’s Church. Young people need to both give and receive as vital members of the church - youth ministers need to be advocates for integrating young people into the life and ministry of the church.

To be fair, I am not sure if I have fairly represented Wright’s values in the four points above. But after reading the book and reflecting on it - this is my “reTHiNk.” What do you think?

So the first 1/3 or so of this book is what I have presented - Wright’s research on the dominant models of youth ministry (they aren’t working) and a revaluing of what youth ministry should be about. I think much of what he suggests in this part of his book is worthy of consideration. The book is a helpful read for this alone. His remodeling of youth ministry follows over the remainder of the book (I have mixed feelings about it) and I will look at that tomorrow.

It is such a beautiful and glorious thing when heaven touches earth. It is always an awe inspiring moment to glimpse some evidence of God’s Kingdom revealed here. It is what I sensed as I read the post written by Jeremy Bouma.

For two years I taught middle school in a rural Virginia school. It was a meaning-filled and life-changing experience - one I treasure to this day, with great memories, so many lessons learned and besides what I gained, I loved teaching. It also gave me a new perspective on what kids (and my child) endure at school - the stresses, the competitiveness, the social pressure and for many the cruelty of their peers. I also witnessed the special kind of rudeness that many kids reserved for the lunch room (often at the expense of those who served them).

So it was especially touching to read Jeremy’s post, here is how he begins,

So about a month ago a high school senior whom I mentor at the church I’ve begun interning at wrote me an email. Here is a piece of it:

Oh! And I have a question for Jon, but I’ll run it by you quick too. I want to organize a dinner for our lunch ladies at school. Do you think it’d be possible to use the kitchen and tables at Fellowship? Cam and I have been chatting about it a little bit, and thought it was a good location, if it all worked out.

I positively melted!

Two graduating seniors from a local public high school wanted to love on the ladies who have served them for four years by providing a dinner at our church!

How
cool
is
that?!

Continue reading Jeremy’s post entitled, This Is Why I Do What I Do here.

ht - light lady

The Association of Youth Ministry Educators published a study back in 2002 and I just stumbled across it. It would be terrific for someone to follow up and see if the findings are still true. They measured a ton of stuff among active and former youth workers - studying length of tenure in youth ministry locations; age when a person began the ministry; salary information; as well as satisfaction or “well-being” in a number of categories.

The issue that jumped out at me for obvious reasons was, most former youth workers (over 70%) reported that their relationship with God improved dramatically upon leaving full-time youth work.

That should tell us something.

It seems to me that the current or dominant models of “doing” youth ministry are not healthy for those who are carrying it out. Or the majority of those who are carrying out the dominant models of youth ministry are employing the current ministry models in a fashion that is detrimental to their spiritual health.

Something needs to change. This is unacceptable.

It is an older study - but I have a hunch based solely on my own anecdotal evidence gathered over many breakfasts and lunches with youth workers over the past few years - and I bet a new study would find very similar findings.

———————–
ADDENDUM - by the way my own experience reinforces the findings of this study.

Ministry can be a deceptive thing. We can begin to do ministry as a big fish in a small pond mentality pretty quickly (starting to think ministry is about us - rather than the bigger picture of being a small part of God’s grand epic - the unfolding and revealing of God’s Kingdom). We can begin to have poor motives - ambition; success mentality and using people to forward our own agenda can all start to seep in and get mixed into our “ministry approach.”

So how do we avoid or at least attempt to keep our motives and ministry approaches fresh and pure? Regular time away with God and laying our motives before Him can be a great practice. Another simple practice is inviting a trusted friend who knows you and your ministry for feedback providing us another perspective on how we are doing. It takes rigorous discipline and some uncomfortable practices to serve God well and according to His will and way.

In that spirit here are 10 questions that could help in revealing and correcting our motives that can cloud and corrupt our best ministry.

Ten Questions: Ministry
By Craig Groeschel

1. Is our vision so big that we obviously can’t accomplish it without God?

2. Am I doing ministry from memory or from fresh direction from God?

3. What ministry (or program or meeting) has lost its effectiveness and should be stopped?

4. Is there a person who needs to be moved to another role (or removed), and I haven’t done it?

5. What faith risk is God calling me to take?

6. Have I repented to my team at least once in the last year for a failure in leadership?

7. Have I done everything in my power to make sure my team is living without unconfessed sin?

8. Am I expressing love and care for my team members’ families?

9. Am I living with delayed obedience toward God in any area of leadership?

10. Is Jesus my sole motivation for ministry or has my motivation become clouded?

My family’s calendar is probably one of the most important documents in our home. Before things are scheduled; before answers are given; before money is spent - the calendar is consulted. What is already on our family agenda? Who is already committed?

You get the picture. I bet you can relate - as well!

Our agenda’s and the agenda’s of others converge and make for the need to schedule, plan, look ahead, budget, make decisions, weigh options and create deadlines. We live by schedules - daily plans, weekly schedules and monthly and yearly calendars - and we try to balance a life of activity that too easily can spiral out of control with planned activities (trying to fit more and more into an unforgiving, inflexible, 24 hour day, 7 day week and 365 day year).

Enter the interruption.

The unexpected guest, the unscheduled “drop-in,” the knock at the door (”who could that be?”), the ringing phone, the “can we slide that appointment up?” How do we respond to the immediate need or interrupting visitor impinging on our well-planned agenda?

Jesus never met an interruption. It seems every intrusion (whether a Samaritan Woman crowding into a quiet moment by a well or a sick woman latching on to his garment holding him up for an important appointment) was welcomed not as an interruption but as an appointment - a divine intervention. Jesus’ agenda was always submissive to the Father’s agenda.

This kind of perspective is so foreign to me (and also our culture) where efficiency and effectiveness are the measures of all things successful and “right.”

“The effectiveness of work increases according to geometric progression if there are no interruptions.”
- Andre’ Marois

As I look back these past couple weeks it seems that the lesson and the pattern of my life has been - welcome the interruption as an in-breaking of God’s agenda. As I have been open to this and surrendered my calendar and agenda (and wishes and hopes) to the serendipity of God’s timing (interruptions) it has been amazing the conversations, opportunities and even accomplishments that have ensued. Long standing plans have delayed to open up an opportunity to serve a friend and organization; a knock at a door opens to a neighbor needing to talk; working in the barn is interrupted by another lonely neighbor; a “last minute” e-mail invites me to speak to my favorite youth ministry… and so it goes?

How open am I to this? Well, truth be told I like to know what I am doing and when… but I am learning God calls us to live by faith, not certainty.

I still cringe at the interruption - so I am praying, “God open my eyes to see you in the now. May I be willing to embrace your interventions and appointments that come my way.”

“Interruptions can be viewed as sources of irritation or opportunities for service, as moments lost or experience gained, as time wasted or horizons widened. They can annoy us or enrich us, get under our skin or give us a shot in the arm. Monopolize our minutes or spice our schedules, depending on our attitude toward them.”
- William Arthur Ward

I think the concept of helping people immerse themselves into the biblical story is one that we can’t take too seriously. I believe it takes time, energy, creativity and engaging the five senses to really begin to understand and perceive the mystery and the magnitude of what scripture is conveying then and now. It takes more than one step to move from revelation to application. To move from “what it says” to “so what” demands more than just a casual thought - and more than a single step.

How can we engage ourselves and others in the scriptures so that we capture the flow, the time, the issues, the heart, the emotion, the force and the tension that is present throughout the story of God and His people? I think at the heart of the question is the idea of how do we begin to “embody God’s word?” How do enter in and join in the unfolding narrative?

It is easier asked then answered. I think those involved with teaching and desiring to see people formed by the pages of scripture have been asking this for a long time. I know that there is no easy one-size-fits-all answer. Different learning styles, differing abilities, and differing needs of people means that we must have an assortment and variety of tools and strategies to capture the attention of students.

Well, I don’t intend to solve this problem in a blog post, don’t worry! But I hope we will work at attempting to be creative and be willing to take risks to help people get closer and more personally engaged (in a multi-sensory way) with God and the words that He has provided.

A few years ago I developed an experience designed to help students walk through the life of Jesus. It was an attempt to help students become familiar with key events of the life of Jesus and to move through His life devotionally. Through 13 scenes the participant focuses on His coming and on the final days of His life. It is an active process where I envision groups physically walking through the “scenes” in a manner similar to the Stations of the Cross. It is meant to be done with each station lasting on average of no more than 5 minutes so that you can complete the experience in a little more than an hour… or take a bit more time and complete it in two 35-40 minute sessions (you could divide it fairly neatly between the “Public Teaching of Jesus” and “The Lord’s Supper”). You could also use this effectively on a retreat where you were teaching on the life of Jesus… well there are many different scenarios - check it out and see if you can use it.

It is just sitting around collecting dust - read it; change it; use it; toss it; just download it! I only ask that if you use it you send me an email or leave a comment sharing how you used it.

journey-with-jesus.pdf

I took this test - from the Upper Room the other day and I found it both helpful and affirming. (I was reminded of it by my blogging friend - Brian Eberley) It reinforces an idea of mine that our temperament and our “personality” can actually be transformed. For many years while I was in full time Youth Ministry I proudly wore the badge of Type A - driven personality. I found that to be something that could excuse my plowing people over and being emotionally and relationally unengaged…

But over time I came to see that Type A personality in my life for what it was - an excuse to sin! After my life began to come apart at the seams I sought God in new ways (new to me - not new mind you - actually kind of ancient ways!) and over time I began to be put back together.

That was nearly 10 years ago and I have attempted to stay on the path that I started journeying on for that amount of time. So it was a real joy to see some of the results of this test and others like it. It is not scientific or even close to 100% accurate - it does however reveal that a transformation has taken place in my life! That is encouraging to me. God does transform us. It is a mystery how it happens, often slowly and over time, bit by bit God rearranges, replaces, composts, and recycles our sin and brokenness to create us into a whole new creation that honors Him.

So anyway the test I took - reveals that I am part of the school of the mystics (a far cry from the driven results oriented, just the facts kinda guy I tried to be [and thought was desireable] in my earlier days of youth ministry).

The Test Results Write Up:

You are a Mystic, known for your imaginative, intuitive spirituality. You value peace, harmony, and inner silence. Mystics are nurtured by walking alone in the woods or sitting quietly with a trusted friend. You may also enjoy poetry, meditation, wordless prayer, candles, art, books, and anything else that helps you connect with God.

Famous Mystics:
Thomas Merton | Enya | John (the Gospel writer) |
Brother Lawrence (Practicing the Presence of God) |
Desert mothers and fathers | Charlie Brown |
Sister Wendy | Phoebe Buffay (Friends) | Julian of Norwich |
Luke | Anthony de Mello

Hey if you want to try the test check it out over at The Upper Rooms Spirituality program called Method - X

I have been repeating that six word prayer - as I have, one of the layers that has become exposed is - the is-ness of God. I am sure the following quote has something to do with piquing my awareness.

“The contemplative dimension of the Gospel is Christ’s program for getting acquainted with the Ultimate Reality as it really is, which is “no thing.” “No thing” means no particular thing, whether concept, feeling or bodily experience. God just is — without any limitation. And the way to connect with this “is-ness” is to just be, too.” [Manifesting God by Fr. Thomas Keating p. 2]

By the way - I found a pdf of an article I wrote that appeared in the Sept/Oct ‘07 edition of the Journal of Student Ministries - you can check it out by hitting the downloads tab up above (the newer article is called, “The Disciple As Refuge”).

A good friend and I were discussing the need for good spiritual practices this past weekend (I was speaking and he was leading music for a winter retreat for teenagers). As we were talking around a nice fire on a cold afternoon he reminded me of this old prayer and the value of regularly repeating it from the heart - it could do a world of good.

Hopefully I will follow this sage advice!

A Collect for Purity

Almighty God,
unto whom all hearts are open,
all desires known,
and from whom no secrets are hidden
Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts
by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit,
that we may perfectly love you,
and worthily magnify your holy Name;
through Christ our Lord.

Amen.