Relational and Incarnational Youth Ministry 10
Session 10
This final session gave people the chance to ask questions. Andrew gave lengthy answers to these, and there was a lot that was worth hearing, but I couldn't get it all. One of the students was recording the sessions, so I have asked him for a copy.
Anyway, here are some questions that we were asked to use in reflection of what we have learned.
Questions:
How has your view of ministry changed since starting this class?
What in your perspective of ministry has been affirmed?
What has been challenged?
What questions do you still have?
What issues/ideas woud you like to explore further? How will you?
What narrative still sticks with you? Why?
Which reading or part of your reading helped you think most deeply about God's activity? About your activity?
What is one theological perspective you will take with you? How will it impact your ministry?
Small Group Discussion Questions of Narrative (Movies / stories)
Where is the suffering of the cross?
What are the forces affecting the Characters' lives?
What issues are they dealing with?
What relationships are broken?
Why are they broken?
Do you see God as active in any of the characters' lives?
Following the cross, if you were to encounter one of these people in real life where would you be called?
What things would you do to help?
What things could your church do?
What other theological issues do you see (sexuality, violence, etc), and how would you deal with these?
What insights does this story give to the stories of the kids you work with?
How does this story connect with God's story in scripture and more specifically in the incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection.
Some other things that came up in discussion.
Same and Different
Change in energy regimes, but humans are still the same ontologically (created in the image of God) to what degree to we work in the spirit of the age, or where do we work on people as 'image of God'?
We can't escape our cultural time, but has the cultural times so influenced us to see the ministry as just an idea of our time? Point of discussion - why do we think we need to get them together in a cohort of youth every week and an inter-generational event every now and then? What if we flipped that around? How would this change our ministry? Here's another suggestion. If the church has a mission trip, why does it need to be a 'youth' mission, or a 'young adults' mission trip. Why can't we have a church mission trip that involves all ages? Truth is, we can.
Live your life with young people and wait for God to strike in the heart of youth. Live your life in place-sharing with young people, and even though you will screw up sometimes, live your life with God. (Quote from Luther - "If you are a preacher of Grace, then preach a true, not a fictitious grace; if grace is true, you must bear a true and not a fictitious sin. God does not save people who are only fictitious sinners. Be a sinner and sin boldly, but believe and rejoice in Christ even more boldly.")
Scripture
Some use scripture like a sticker to give validity to what we're doing. Rather than just using Bible studies, why not have a Bible reading group. The story of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch is used by Root in his book "Taking Scripture to Youth Ministry". Churches grieve that youth don't read the Bible, but no one is meeting with the youth to read the Bible with them. What is confusing to you? What's exciting? Where are you?
Read the Bible and read your life alongside that.
Influence
If I make the goal more important than the person, then there's a problem. eg. If I have goals or expectations for my child to reach at school, and then find that she has a learning difficulty, the goals collapse and need to change.
Jesus
Get some key church leaders / people together. Ask the question "Where is Jesus in the context of this youth ministry?"
Start with the adults. Maybe as the youth pastor, be the place - sharer with the adult leaders.
Ask the leaders to talk about a relationship that was transformational for them. Then consider how we can place that in the context of our ministry.
Place-sharing
Think of this happening in a small group. How do I best connect with the people of this group? Create opportunities for an encounter between people of different generations. Create space. Create space! Create Space!!
Find the adults in the congregation who can connect with the kids in your group.
Don't leave here and just think you can spend time with people as the end point of ministry. We spend time with people trusting that God will break in to those spaces. God breaks in and participates in the life of humanity so that humanity can participate in the life of God. Our shared experiences of life - place-sharing - are an image of Jesus sharing the experience of life.
Final video: jasonheadley.com "It's not about the nail"
No comments:
Post a Comment