Ch 1. What Should Youth Ministry Be Doing?

Christian Research Association have released the findings from research done on youth ministry in Australia. The book is titled "A Vision for Effective Youth Ministry".
There is much in this research which all pastors, both youth and senior, should take seriously. In this series of posts, I hope to give a brief summary of each chapter. Of course, you will be much better off if you purchase the book yourself.

What should youth ministry be doing?

I have many answers to this question, but I will limit myself to what this book reports.

After a few pages laying out the scene for young people in Australia, the authors cut to the chase and show us what they believe youth ministry should be. In the second paragraph on page 4 they give three directives:

1. providing a context for the development of the spirit
2. helping young people to create meaning and find purpose in their lives, to develop motivations for and ways of meeting life's challenges, and encouraging commitment to life's goals.
3. providing a context in which young people can develop the capacity for good relationships with themselves, with close others, with the wider society, with the natural environment and with God.

Many of my peers would probably look at this and think this is lacking a strong evangelical edge. While I would probably agree with them, this comment from the authors helps to guide the reader:

. .. the religious faith needs to be interwoven with the realities of society, with its expectations and responsibilities. 

Many of us who serve as youth leaders in the evangelical & reformed part of the church have an idea of what we hope the youth will be when they become adults - strong disciples of Jesus Christ. But we don't often give thought to the starting point of these same young people. CRA take some time to suggest three pictures of different starting points.

The Fun and Friend Seeker

You know those teenagers who don't seem interested in anything at church that you are promoting? Those young people who only respond when you suggest something fun? This is that group. And we can't change them quickly, if we need to change them at all. But if you are part of a small church, it can be a real struggle to keep young people interested when the big church or other clubs always seem to have bigger and better activities.

I think we have the greatest message that teenagers will ever hear, and most of them won't be hearing it at school or at Hoyts. But if we make it really dull and boring, then we shouldn't be surprised that they look bored and stop coming along. Two suggestions are made on building connections with the fun seekers. Big events and food.

Big events are places where you can be anonymous while checking out what's going on. It might be a youth camp, Christian Youth Convention, or even a local churches event, but it's a place where people can come along and join in. It's a place to start.

And who doesn't love food? There are a lot of conversations that happen while people are eating together, whether it's a proper meal, supper snacks, or even if you are making pizza together. It's a fun way to make connections.

The challenge, as the writers point out, is to provide pathways for further steps in the development of the spirit.

Taking Life More Seriously

These teenagers might still enjoy some fun, but they have also recognised that there is more to life than fun and games. They want to explore some of the deeper issues of life, and those who are coming to church youth groups are looking for more information about the Christian faith. But it isn't limited to discussions. Many are looking to solve some of life's problems. Examples are given of those involved in a school trip to Cambodia to help build housing, or of getting involved with a soup kitchen in the city. How are you teaching your youth to take the issues of social justice seriously?

Here's an interesting observation. All youth leaders say they are open to questions about faith. (If you're not, then please go and do something else.) But most will say they are not asked many questions. Here's another quote:

One church had developed a strong ethos of being open to all sorts of questions. It is probably  not a coincidence that it was in that church we met the young person who said he was there to ask questions about the Christian faith. p7

What kind of culture are you developing in your youth ministry?

Churched Youth and Their Friends

The overwhelming majority of those involved in church based youth groups were young people who had grown up in families who attended the church. That's probably not surprising. Here they are meeting with friends they are already connected to, and here is a safe place for them as Christians to talk about life issues. For those attending state schools, youth group might be the only safe place they can do this.

But, like all things, there is a dark side. Consider this comment, "some of the young people in the youth groups said that they really did not want their non-churched friends to come." Does this conflict with the message from the leaders who keep urging them to bring those friends along? How do you resolve this?

This group of churched youth are further divided into three sub-groups (there's a lot of 'threes' in this chapter.)

1. A devotional faith. These teenagers appreciate the focus on faith and that there are leaders who take an interest in their spiritual lives. They enjoy the small groups where they can discuss faith, scripture, and the connection with their everyday life. They enjoy seeing that God is a part of their lives.
2. An owned faith. Teenagers want to take things seriously, but they can't - and won't - just pretend. They don't just want to inherit faith, they want it to be their own. So how do we help youth to own it for themselves? "In some places we gained the impression that the youth leaders were imparting their understanding, but not giving much space for the independent exploration of faith by the young people themselves." 
3. An applied faith. Leaders will surely want to help teenagers apply faith to all aspects of life. Or at least, we might assume that. For sure, there are those who are considering life choices in accord with their faith, but it would seem that there are many others who are not. "Many of them saw their career as something quite separate from their faith." 

Conclusion

 There is much more in the report than just what I have reported here, and I hope to write more in the days and weeks to come. But even in the first chapter those involved in ministry to youth and young people will find a lot to chew over.

• How do you connect with the fun seeker and those who want to take life more seriously? 
• How do you help those in the church invite their non-churched friends?
• What space are you giving young people to ask big questions?
• How will you help people connect faith to the whole of their lives?

Keep with me and I'll tell you some more.
 

PYV Summer Camp 2015 - Day Six

 Day Six (Friday Jan 1)

The Whole Fairy Tale Gang

It was a weary, but excited group of leaders who gathered for the daily leader’s meeting a little later than usual. We opened with a devotion from Job 28, a favourite passage among Christians who work in the science field, and Colossians 2:3 “In Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” Human wisdom is unable to mine the deepest and ultimate source of wisdom – Jesus Christ. Our prayer meeting had a smaller crowd than through the week, which is probably understandable after such a late night, but our youngest camper was there. Thank God for young people who are learning to pray.

Who would like pancakes for breakfast? Everybody would like pancakes for breakfast on New Year’s Day and we enjoyed what had been prepared for us. Which leads me to say that there has been plenty of food at this camp. The staff have worked hard for us to make sure we have had plenty to eat at each meal. However, I will add this. There might be more vegetarians among us when we next visit Rawson Village. Those meals looked fantastic!!

Our morning session was our final worship session for this camp (Yes, all of life is worship, but you know what I mean). A song that will be stuck in our heads for a while to come is “Build your kingdom here” by Rend Collective. We sang this with great enthusiasm partly because it’s a catchy tune, but there are great words in here too. If your children were at Summer Camp, play this at home and see if their faces light up.

Andrew preached “Be Patient in Suffering” from James 5:7-11, a topic that is certainly relevant for Christians in other countries and will likely become more relevant in the lives of these teenagers. We can be patient because Jesus is coming. “Jesus is coming. So patiently keep living for him and his kingdom.”

While we live in a society where almost everything is instant – digital cameras, microwave ovens, etc, - we should not expect that we will have everything from God now. Nor should we expect that we will have everything from others now. And nor should we expect to live in a friendly world now. But there is still a promise of such a world.

That led us into our next study where we opened our Bibles to Revelation 21:1-8. In this passage we read about the society of the future – God’s good and perfect society where everything is as it should be. As we talked through the questions based on this passage, we were able to look into the future and see just how different that society will be, a place where our desires are different, where the hurts of the past are fully dealt with, and a place where our deepest desire is Jesus himself. (O Lord, haste the day!)

I don’t often serve at camps as a study leader. But this year it has been my delight and privilege to share the leadership of a study group. Here I have heard young men talk about their faith and understanding of Jesus. Some of these young men have been converted at this camp, so their faith is young. And yet as I listened to them talk, I have no doubt it is solid. God is still at work changing hearts and lives. I look forward to seeing what will happen for these young men in the future.

Summer Camp Leadership Team

After cleaning out our dorms and bedrooms and enjoying a final meal together, we gathered for the final time in our sessions room. This hour was a chance for us to say a huge “Thank you” to those who have worked so hard to make this camp great. We also took some time to hear from YouthMETRO Trainees about what they have learned over the intensive week. They have all had some “Aha!” moments as they have listened, discussed, and read a lot over these few days. They have also been busy putting their learning into action as they have shared Jesus with the campers. It is through them that God has been pleased to change many lives. Again, I look forward to how God will use these new evangelists in their own communities and church families as they go home from camp and continue their training.

Pastoral Care Team and some W.A Visitors.

I want to record here a huge “Thank You” to our convener, Kirsten, for the great team she brought together to prepare for camp. This team has worked hard for many months to get things ready. I also want to say “Thank You” to Lilly, PYV Administration Officer, who put in some long hours before Christmas to make sure everything was in place. We are greatly blessed to have skilled people working for Jesus in these ways.

There are too many others to thank – but a big thanks to those who worked hard cleaning up after the camp. This always seems to take longer than we hope, but we make sure we leave the campsite as clean as possible.

Our God is a great God. And this camp has been a great camp. It was great to be there and enjoy the fun and food and worship and everything else. I come home from this camp, as I do from many others, exhausted and exhilarated.

Glory to God. 

For more camp photos, go here: https://www.facebook.com/Presbyterian.Youth.Victoria/

For more info on PYV, go here: www.pyv.org.au

My thanks to David Johnstone for the photos on this post.

#pyvsummercamp15 #onceuponapyvsummercamp

PYV Summer Camp 2015 - Day Five

Our faithful and brave leaders

Day Five (Thursday Dec 31)

The leaders gathered together again this morning, although I think it’s getting harder to be here ready to start at 7.00am! Today we referred to 1 Corinthians 15:9-10. In this chapter Paul notes that he is what he is “by the grace of God” and so it is for us. All that we are is by the grace of God. A good reminder for us at the start of the day.

Our prayer meetings through the day have been well attended. It has been exciting to see some of our youngest campers meeting with others and praying together before we have breakfast.

Because we have some incredible activities planned for tonight, we had our worship session straight after breakfast. Our video today featured Paul from Canterbury church and a team who work with him providing meals and a safe place to eat together for homeless people. It has been inspiring to watch this series of videos and realise that there are people in our denomination who are living out their faith in wonderful and practical ways. May there be more and more.

Andrew’s message to us today came from James 5:1-6 and confronted our attitudes to materialism. And the video message we started with was confronting. We know that there isn’t a fair and equal distribution of wealth in this world, but to realise just how much wealth of the world is held and controlled by a small percentage of people is  . . . well, frightening! Andrew helped us to look at what the Bible has to teach us about materialism and the impact it can have in the world. “Poverty in our world is wide. Selfishness in our world is deep.” So, the challenge for us is to let go of our ambition for luxury and instead strive for justice and equality.

“Poverty in our world is wide. Selfishness in our world is deep.”

After morning tea we divided again into our study groups to discuss what we had heard in the talk and how it can apply to our lives. For this we looked at 2 Corinthians 8:9-15, a passage which has much to say about having a good attitude toward money. And here we are confronted by an attitude and an action. “What practical things do we need to do in our lives so that our “willingness” translates into “action”? Here’s my answer:

Determine what I can give. Determine where I can give. 

Our final dinner for 2015

Fairy Tales in 3D

Today is hot. Very hot. So the opportunity for a water fight on the oval was taken up with a lot of enthusiasm. I want to say a huge “thank you” to those who prevented a bucket of water being poured over my head. I might have enjoyed it, but I did have my phone in my hand at the time. My intended assailant did end up very wet. Which made me smile.

Every PYV camp has a theme. And on the last night at each camp most everybody dresses up in a costume matching that theme. For Summer Camp 2015, the theme has been “Fairy tales”. There has been some good work done by campers and families on costumes for tonight’s dinner and photo. There was a few dwarves, a lot of Red Riding Hoods, some little pigs, and if you looked carefully, you would also find the Big Bad Wolf wandering around. A special mention must be made to Thor and the work on his hammer. It looked fantastic! (Whether or not “Thor” or “Lord of the Rings” are fairy tales is open to debate.)

Just some of the talent

After dinner, we had our first “Open Mic Night”. And if I thought that there was some talent shown in the pirate ships yesterday, and in the costumes people dressed in, that was just a shadow compared to the talent on display tonight. We had some guests to play for us after the open mic night. “Babel’s End”, a trio of men who attend Cranbourne Presbyterian Church, play hard and play loud, and use their talents – which are significant – to glorify God. A huge thanks to the two of the trio who travelled up to Rawson just for this. 

Babel's End

A late evening of different activities gave us all the chance to enjoy being outside as the weather mercifully cooled down. Living the old Fairy Tale theme meant we could make armour, enjoy some jousting (pool noodles), fencing (textas and old t-shirts), eating apples hanging from a string, and throwing food at people in stocks. I think some people enjoyed this activity a bit too much.

Happy New Year!!!

From 10.30pm the music cranked up and those who wanted to dance the year to an end crowded into a sweaty room while the rest of us enjoyed playing quieter games, or just being together. At midnight there was a great cheer and a welcome into the new year.

And then comes what is, for me, the greatest start to a new year. We sing. Not the songs that people have been dancing to for the last 90 minutes. That won't help us into the new year.  Instead we sing the songs of praise, we sing with enthusiasm, we sing to a God who is beyond ages - the God of our salvation. Then we split into our study groups and pray together.

Praying our way into 2016.

New Years Eve at Summer Camp is a very long day. And it is a great day.

All glory to God!

#pyvsummercamp15 #onceuponapyvsummercamp