PYV Summer Camp 2019 – Day Five (New Year’s Eve) - Updated

2019 PYV Summer Camp

Today has been a fantastic, frightening, and very full day. The first post was written at 1.40am and I was tired. Now it’s time for the update.

The power wasn’t on when we got up, so it was looking like an acoustic day. We use a lot of tech gear in our sessions, so the music team were considering what songs they could play and, more importantly, what songs we might be able to sing without words on a screen. It also looked like it would be a cereal only breakfast, but the generator fired up just as breakfast was starting and received a strong round of applause from everyone. This meant the toaster worked which was satisfying for many campers.

The morning study group was great once again and the cooler weather made it even better, although it meant those groups who had been meeting outdoors needed to find a place inside as the drizzle was blowing around outside. In our study today we talked about ‘Knowing Jesus on a Cross’. It’s important to understand that the crucifixion of Jesus wasn’t an unfortunate turn of events but rather a key part of a much longer plan of salvation.

Our worship session worked well and as we had power at this stage, we were able to revert to the original plan. Andy spoke about Knowing Jesus as King and focused our thoughts on the question of ‘What should I study?’. The guidance Andy shared on this topic is helpful for many aspects of life too. Here’s a summary

·         Remember you are not the king

·         Be honest to Jesus about your heart – Ps 139:23-24

·         Read the King’s word – James 4:13-15

·         Pray to the King for wisdom – James 1:5

·         Make a decision

·         Trust the King

·         Stop worrying and be thankful

The example of Eric Liddell and his service to Jesus was a great encouragement. His desire was, in his words, to “Give glory to my master, Jesus Christ”. Someone who spent time in a prison camp with him wrote about Liddell –

“His humble life combined muscular Christianity with radiant godliness.” 

We also heard a testimony from Suzy Vines, the PYV Administration Officer.


The day became frightening when we got a message about how bad things are at Mallacoota. We have campers here with family members involved in the SUFM Beach Mission, and they were rightly worried. So before our afternoon activities session, we sat together and prayed. It was good to hear the campers praying with each other. We were very pleased to get a message later in the day that things were looking better. God is good.

The afternoon activities included a variety of stations at different places around the camp. Everyone had a go at a tug-of-war; ultimate frisbee; memory game; and more.

The prayer meeting today was well attended with a growing number of campers attending.

As usual, we got dressed into our costumes for the Board Games theme ready for our camp photo. There were a few dominoes, dice, Guess Who faces and a surprising number of Cluedo characters. The photo looks great.

After dinner we knew that the end of the year was nearly upon us and wondered what the activities for the night would be. When one of our leaders was carried in having been ‘murdered’ we learned that we would be involved in a fun game of real life Cluedo. At this point I want to give a huge shout out to Ben McLeod and Isaac Johnson who organised this. It was a creative and fun way to embrace the last night of camp and the board game theme.

Being presented with a prize for Best Costume 

by Rev Green and Col Mustard

Guess what happened next. That’s right, the Late Show that didn’t happen last night was on now. And finally the interview we’ve been waiting for all week took place. However, I’m not sure they needed to show the video of me slipping over on the water slide.

The Late Show Interview

Then we enjoyed a variety of activities before the end of year countdown. We gathered in the dining room, we worshiped and prayed into the new year.

Then we cleaned up and now I’m going to sleep.

Celebrating New Year's Eve

Beginning the year in Worship

PYV 2019 Summer Camp starts next week.

Friends and supporters of PYV. Thank you once again for your ongoing prayer for the youth of the churches in Victoria. I know that for many it has been a significant year. I hope for others it will end that way too. 

Next week our 2019 Summer Camp will be beginning at Forest Edge near Neerim South. We will have 185 people with us at the camp including campers, leaders, YouthMETRO trainees, and a few special visitors. 

Andy May is our speaker and we are excited that he will be able to help our young people with the topic of "Finding God's Will for Your Life". As some of the group are finishing school and determining what to do from here, it's an important topic. Speaking of that group, some of these people have been to every summer camp through their secondary school years and we will give them a bit of a farewell at the end of camp. Perhaps you could pray for them while your praying for Andy. 

Caleb Schulz is our convener for the camp and he - with the fantastic support of his executive leaders - have brought together a wonderful team to lead our study groups, activity groups, and workshops. You can find out more about the workshops at https://www.pyv.org.au/camps/summer

Chris Shaw and Nate Barbieri are leading the YouthMETRO trainees as they have their intensive week of theology and evangelism training. Many churches have seen the positive fruit of YouthMETRO over the years. Perhaps there's someone in your church who could be exploring this for 2021. It's never too late to start the conversation about that. 

We will aim to be posting a daily update on the Ministry and Youth Blog for parents and friends to keep up with what's happening. We invite you to enjoy this each morning - https://ministryandyouth.blogspot.com/

Please continue to be praying for what God will do at the camp. 

Thank you.

Mental Health - Some resources to help you help others.

Friends, the life of those who minister to young people is often a full one. This means that we can easily become so distracted with everything that's going on, that we miss the chance to learn something new, even when it might just be something that is essential to our ministry. 

Today, I want to urge you to take some time, or find some time, to learn about Mental Health First Aid. Three years ago I attended a course on this, and am now due for a refresher. Because I did this, I became more aware of the life struggle for many teenagers in our communities. Some of these teenagers are in your youth group. 

So here are some resources that will be helpful to you. 

First, this page has a number of guides you can download. I particularly encourage you to read the ones on Depression and Suicide. Why would I do this? Because these issues have come up in the PYV camps over the last three years and we want our leaders to be better prepared. 

https://mhfa.com.au/mental-health-first-aid-guidelines

If you are coming to West Camp this weekend, I'll have some copies of these sheets for you to read through. (For those not coming to camp this weekend, please be praying for those who are.)

The second resource links to this and is a podcast. This discussion between Aaron Garth and Dr Claire Kelly deals with the issue of non-suicidal self injury. If you're a person who would rather listen to something than read it, then this will be worth your time. 

https://ultimateyouthworker.com.au/2019/03/podcast-020-non-suicidal-self-injury-part-one/

https://ultimateyouthworker.com.au/2019/03/podcast-021-non-suicidal-self-injury-part-two/

The third resource also features Aaron Garth. PYV hosted a training event with Aaron in 2017 on the issue of Mental Health first aid. It was a good event to be a part of, and I'd encourage you to listen to this at some time. 

https://www.pyv.org.au/training/pyv-training-events-recordings (scroll to "Topic: Mental Health First Aid" about halfway down the page.)

Aaron is deeply interested in supporting and training youth workers to be better helpers for youth. Have a look at the Ultimate Youth Worker site for further information - https://ultimateyouthworker.com.au/

If you sign up for the newsletter, you won't be bombarded with weekly emails. Just the occasional encouragement. 

Friends, I offer these links to you as something that might be of help to you and to the people you minister to. If there is any other way I can support you, please let me know. 

I'm praying for you and all that God will do through you. 

Rev Brian Harvey

Youth Ministries Director

Praying or Preying? What will you be remembered for?

My title comes from reading an article in the Houston Chronicle titled "Preying on Teens". It is subtitled, "More than 100 southern Baptist youth pastors convicted or charged in sex crimes."

In the article, I was introduced to Chad who was hired and ordained to be a youth pastor. Chad had a good message for his youth group about abstinence, but he also preyed on some of the girls under his leadership which made abstinence impossible. Not surprisingly, Chad was fired by the church - though perhaps not for this.

What is surprising is that these church leaders who fired Chad didn't say anything to the next church who hired Chad to be their youth leader. You'll never guess what happened next.

Actually, you probably will.

I encourage you to read the article. It can be a little confronting, but such is the reality of our world.

Read it and learn two things.

This is why screening is important. 

When someone wants to be a leader with PYV (Presbyterian Youth Victoria) we ask them for some referees that we can talk to, and we ask which church they previously belonged to. In talking to referees we are able to learn about the character of the person who is applying for a leadership role. This is important. I might only know this person as an acquaintance. Maybe we've met at a camp or two and I have an impression that they are interested, and growing in godliness.

When I call their pastor, or youth worker, or an AFES leader, I get to talk to someone who works with them much more consistently. If those people have some concerns, then they will carry more weight than my initial impression. And that is as it should be.

We ask about a previous church so we can call someone from that church to determine if there were any circumstances that are important for us to be aware of. In Chad's case, if the second church had called the first church, and the first church had been honest, at least one girl would not have been abused. And if we can protect that one girl, we will.

In Victoria, we are required to have a screening program in place for anyone involved in ministry to youth or children. We will take that seriously.

What not to do if you're attracted to someone in your youth group?

I'd like to think that any youth leader would know how to answer this, but apparently not. And we can't say, "Well, they're just immature adults in a sexualised society" as though that makes it all ok. This article refers to Chad, who was 30 when he was doing this, and Gary, who was nearly 40 when he started cultivating his victim. She was 13.

There are reasons we tell youth leaders not to have one to one phone or messenger conversations with teenagers. There are reasons we tell youth leaders not to be alone in a room with a teenager.

Ensure your relationship to each of the young people under your leadership is above board.

You will destroy your reputation, the lives of the people involved, their families, and possibly the church community if you mess this up.

We are in a time now where such sins will not be covered up, where church leaders cannot cover it up without facing significant consequences themselves, and this is absolutely as it should be. May we never return to times when such cover-ups happened.


Another thing to note:

Are teenagers safe to disclose abuse in your church?

Do teenagers in your church community know that they can talk to someone if they are asked to do something they're not comfortable with? Or if they think their leaders are acting in ways they shouldn't?

You will probably say to me, "Of course. We always let them know they can talk to us if they have any concerns."

That's great. But I'd challenge you to be specific. Talk about sexting. Use the right terminology (you might need to find out what the current terms are). And if parents tell you they don't want their young teenagers dealing with this, get them to read this article. You see, if the 13 year old girl knew that what her youth pastor was doing was wrong, maybe she wouldn't have waited until she was 16 before she did raise the issue.


Friends, let's do all we can to help people grow in grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. And let's do all we can to keep these people safe.



Photo Credits:
Phone - Photo by rawpixel on Unsplash
Couple - Photo by Cristian Newman on Unsplash

Teaching Outside the Box - Chapter 5. Revisiting the Contemplative Approach

There are a few things that really annoy me about church. But perhaps the most significant one (at least today) is that we meet together for a short period of time in the week and allow almost no time for God to speak. Don't misunderstand me here. I believe that God speaks whenever we read the Bible together. And I believe that in the preaching of God's word, God is speaking, though sometimes we preachers do get in the way.

What I'm getting at is this - we fill the time with noise and activity. Our communal worship is now structured ahead of time so the musicians can practice the songs we are going to use, and so the presentation slides are all in order and ready to go. THIS IS A GOOD THING, but it can be a downfall. Have we allowed space for God to speak? Or are we so busy being talked to that God has to dramatically interrupt us before we even look for him?

Some of you who read this will no doubt respond, "Brian, we have only a short time together to sing and pray with each other. It is while we are alone during the week that we can spend time reading the scripture that we might expect God to speak to us." Fair enough. But do your youth know that? Or is the example of faith and worship they see on Sunday morning, or Friday evening, the only approach to worship that they know?

This is where using the Contemplative Approach can be really important. Zirschky titles this chapter 'Revisiting the Contemplative Approach' because there was a time in the late 90s and early 2000s that such an approach was fashionable amongst youth groups. It has since died out, and I'm not sure why. Probably because it wasn't well explained, possibly because some people thought it was too Catholic. (I once read an article where someone wrote, "When the candles come in, the gospel goes out." It's complete tosh of course, but easy for youth leaders to take on board.)

Using a Contemplative Approach amongst the youth doesn't mean lighting candles or walking a labyrinth. It is much more than that. It means both allowing space for God to act, and looking/listening to what God is doing. Youth leaders can do this in some simple yet meaningful ways.

Preparing

Ask questions to get the teenagers thinking. "How is God present?" or "Where have you noticed signs of God?" People in the New Testament experienced the presence of Jesus while they were doing the most normal of things. Maybe it still happens today.

Pointing

Your teenagers probably can't see what God is doing for them as clearly as you can. There's a few reasons for this, but I'll leave that to your thinking. You can help your teenagers by pointing out to them what they cannot see - God is working in their lives.

Naming

How do you help teenagers describe what has been happening in their lives? Let me encourage you to take the time to give them the words to use. Don't just let them say 'lucky' when you know it is God acting for them. Tell them that. Was it really a coincidence or was God bringing things together?

Nurturing

I'll just quote Zirschky here. "We nutrure the ability of teenagers to discern the voice and activity of God by providing opportuities for creative prayer and listening experiences. Leading students into contemplative practice in our formal teaching times nurtures their ability to listen for God in Scripture both individually and corporately."


Is such an approach to scripture dangerous? Yes, I believe it can be, and for much the same reasons that using the Liberation approach can be dangerous. Without a solid grounding our teenagers can become too introspective and too lost. But, when this approach backs up the Instructional approach, I think you're on to a good thing.

This book has been a good one to read - I even read it twice - and I'm pleased to share some of it with other youth leaders. Let me encourage you to add this to your list of books you might read this year. It will do you well. If you do, let me know. I'd love to talk with you about it. You can buy it at Koorong in both paperback and electronic versions.

I had the chance to meet Andrew Zirschky at a Youth Conference in Jan 2017.

I'm also a fan of his book "Beyond the Screen", also available at Koorong. Or you can read my thoughts about that here.

Teaching Outside the Box - Chapter 4. The Liberation Approach

This book is more than just a "How To . . ." kind of book. There are two main characters in the book. Jeremy is a local church youth pastor who is struggling to see any growth in his ministry. The youth come along, mostly, but they have become disinterested and disconnected. Jeremy knows this, and is trying to work out what to do but is at a roadblock.

Seymour is retired and in an aged care home. But in his younger days, Seymour had been a youth worker himself and had written a book on various approaches to teaching.

These two have no reason to meet, and wouldn't have, except for Jeremy's senior pastor who knew them both and created the meeting. Jeremy didn't arrive at Seymour's place with any enthusiasm, and while he enjoyed the first chapter of Seymour's book, he would have been pleased if that was the end of it and he didn't need to meet with Seymour again.

By the time we get to chapter four however, the relationship between these two men has deepened and Jeremy is beginning to learn some great things from this old man. (There's a lesson for youth workers here - the old guys know stuff you don't. Ask and listen.)

This fourth chapter is possibly the one chapter that would really make many evangelical pastors nervous. There's some good reasons for this, but let's actually read what Zirschky is saying before flying into a rage.

The teaching part of the chapter opens with the words of Jesus when he said:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour.” Luke 4:18-19

Zirschky then clarifies that the goal of the liberation approach is to bring awareness and consciousness of features of our social systems that are contrary to God's ideals (p104). As Christians in first world countries, we can become very concerned about the places in the world where Christians are persecuted. This is surely right. But we can be completely complacent about the people in our neighbourhoods who are starving and cold. This is wonderfully - and confrontingly - illustrated in Yancey's book 'What's So Amazing About Grace' where he describes the hidden hypocrisy of his childhood church. This was a church that would raise funds to support work in Africa to provide food and water to africans, while at the same time men would have baseball bats in their cars in case black african-americans tried to come into their church. (That's how I remember the story anyway.)

Many of our youth ministries work to protect our young people from some of the problems of the world around them, and in so doing we are suggesting that these young people couldn't possibly be involved in any solution. Our youth are some of the most creative and passionate people in our communities. Allow them to spread their wings and stretch their faith and you might be astonished at what they do.

Zirschky shows how this approach can challenge two assumptions made by other approaches. First, it critiques youth ministry that is more concerned with personal belief or knowledge than action. Here is where the liberation approach can become uncomfortable in evangelical churches. We always challenge youth about their personal belief, and we do this with good reason. We believe that people are saved by faith alone so what they believe is fundamentally important. However, the liberation approach can add a helpful balance that is, I believe, missing in a number of churches.

Youth ministry that lingers in the youth room must be replaced with learning that invades the world in the form of critically reflective action. p108

Second, it questions the tendency of youth ministry to treat teenagers as objects to be filled with Bible knowledge in order to produce and unquestioned, socialized 'faith'. If all we want is knowledge and an ability to answer the questions in a correct way, then we are really asking our youth to be nothing more than spectators. For sure, some might get a little more involved by becoming teachers and leaders, but what are they teaching? Is it in the end nothing more than a Christian version of "Trivial Pursuit" where you get a token for a correct answer, but it doesn't really change anything? We can do better.

Now, I believe that if the only approach you use in teaching is a Liberation approach, you will end up with a shallow perspective of scripture. You will probably end up with a group of teenagers who are determined to make the world a better place, but I'm not convinced they would fully understand why they are doing this. They might be able to quote some relevant passages of scripture, but miss the fullness of what the Bible is teaching. I have a similar concern about the fifth approach even while appreciating the strengths of the approach.

That being said, why not open the story of the prodigal son with your youth and ask them to consider why the older brother acted like he did; why the younger brother acted like he did in the first place; and what were the cultural norms that were guiding them both. Then look at the people in your own community who seem to be the oppressed and outcast and begin to ask what the kingdom of God might look like in their lives.

Living in a Gray World - A review

Living in a Gray World

Preston Sprinkle

Zondervan, 2015

This book is now three years old, but is still relevant to the discussion. If I’d been made aware of this book back then, I would have happily added it to my bookshelf. Sprinkle aims to have a conversation with his readers rather than just being the author telling people what to think. A difficult thing to achieve in a book, but I think he does it well. 

In this conversation Sprinkle raises the questions that are in the minds of many people. “What does the Bible say about Homosexuality” is handled carefully and, I believe, correctly. This chapter follows his comments on what the Bible says about Marriage, which is a good way to start. “My best friend is gay . . . now what?” is a question that will be asked by more and more teenagers in our churches. This chapter provides some helpful guidance on how to react, what not to say, and making sure you understand what your friend is talking about. 

This leads me to some of the very positive aspects of this book. Sprinkle helps to better understand what different terms mean. For example, when we are asked “So you’re a Christian. What do you think about homosexuality?” the answer shouldn’t be a quick one. He writes:

“The topic of homosexuality is far too complex; it defies quick answers. It requires a conversation, . . . Blurting out quick answers will usually shut down any opportunity of having that conversation.” (119)

Perhaps understanding what the questioner means will help to answer the question in a way that is right, gracious, and actually answers the question being asked. 

I was also pleased with Sprinkle’s advice to the teenager who gets a negative reaction from friends and family when they ‘come out’.

“You’ve got to give your parents and friends some grace. For most of them, they simply don’t know what to say or how to react. They don’t realize how painful or ignorant their responses can be.” (92)

Preston Sprinkle writes in a way that is engaging and easy to read. This is what makes the book something that can be shared with all people. He also writes with a firm conviction to the Bible and the truth it teaches on issues like marriage and sexuality. So for me, as I read this book, my biblical convictions were affirmed and some of my attitudes were challenged. 

If you’re looking for some wisdom, this will help you. If you’re trying to work out where you stand, this will help you. If you are convinced that your opinion is the right one, this might help you think deeper on where you stand. 

I purchased this from Booktopia on recommendation from someone at a youth ministry conference. I’m glad I did.