Mobilising Students

Last week I wrote a post after attending the Victorian Youth Ministers Network with Ben and Jason from youthalpha. Here's a bit more of what they had to say:

Mobilising Students

Rather than being the youth leader who goes into High Schools to build up connections with teenagers, Mobilising students to reach their friends. Being convinced that it would be effective where the students are reaching their friends rather than trying to reach the students himself. Better to become a coach to students he knew.

Students from different churches working together at school is a great way to bring and show unity among the churches and youth ministries. This is much better than just planning different events together for the youth groups to meet together.

Empowering people is always a risk, but at least ten years after these blokes have finished at their schools, the prayer groups continue.

Create environments of prayer

A space (time or place) where people can pray and so learn compassion; be confronted by God moving their heart. Learning to pray for others by listening to friends pray for others. If no room is available at the school, find the nearest church and see if you can use a room there before school.

A few students praying can change the climate of the school.

VIPx3 Very Important Prayer for Very Important People for a Very Important Purpose.

Praying for other churches; praying for each other's friends; praying for things that are happening at school. You might hear someone realise, "Oh, God listens to the prayers of fifteen year olds."

Create environments of Dreaming

When you ask kids to dream, they will normally suggest things they see at church and youth group. They can only work with what has been modelled for them. But when they get beyond that, suggestions may come. Here are some examples that were used:

•   Hot chocolate on cold mornings

•   Encouraging notes on mirrors in Girls bathroom

Dreaming happens because/when stories are being shared.

Create environments of Coaching

Succeed and fail well. Encouraging those who have had a go so they know they can go again.

Create environments of Training

How do we train our students? Grab some students and take them with you. (It would have been good to bring some students with me today!)

Ideas for additional training

I.      Spiritual disciplines

II.    Leadership principles

•   Leader is the one who serves the most.

•   Leaders show up

III.  Social Justice and sharing faith

•   Sharing what you are experts at.

Provide Resources

Resources can help remove barriers. Things like the 40 hour famine, Alpha, etc provide a way for us to start a conversation.

Keep your ear to the ground to know what students are connecting to 'now'. It can be a little embarrassing if we refer to something that we think is relevant only to find out nobody watches that tv show anymore.

We can't force students to do something they don't want to do. We can't make them feel like our friendship with them depends on them using a resource we suggest.

What we teach our students

From the Bible.

I.      The message of the gospel

•   Identity and power source comes through Jesus

•   Giving them language to communicate the gospel

II.    What is the Church?

•   Teach that it is people, not a building

•   Model and live that it is a people and not a building

III.  Power of the Holy Spirit

Youth Alpha Film Series

Youth Alpha

Yesterday I attended a gathering of the Victorian Youth Ministers Network and the guests were Jason and Ben from Canada. These two have created a film series for alpha with the aim to resourcing students to share their faith where they are. This is being used in around 100 schools in Canada, and over 5000 students in Canada have reportedly responded to the gospel for the first time. It has been translated into different languages, and professionally dubbed into Spanish and Portugese. This format is being well used in Latin America.

They have worked hard to make sure that while the videos are relevant in Canada, they can also be used across the world. As I have watched at least half of the videos, I have found that I don’t need to filter much to make it relevant for us here. This suggests an enormous amount of work has gone into the writing and preparing before filming began.

Jason and Ben, with me, talking about Youth Alpha

I should add that I was fortunate enough to be able to have some extra time with Jason and Ben before the VYMN gathering and learn more about the process and aim of the youth alpha film series.

But should we use this series?

I know that there are some in my tribe who have some concerns about Alpha – and I understand those concerns. And in the discussion yesterday there was certainly some phrases used that I would no longer use. (Such as ‘inviting the Holy Spirit in’. I believe the triune God is already there. But I get what they mean.) But I don’t think we should let that kind of language stop of us from making use of a resource that is so helpful. Wisdom matters.

Also, it's free. You can download all the videos for free. No cost. That's something worth considering. And while some free things aren't even worth that much, the quality of these video presentations are better than some things you do pay for.

Jason and Ben spoke to us on a couple of important issues for connecting the gospel with teenagers. One was ‘Mobilising Students’ and the second was ‘Reaching Students’. I’ll post about these soon. 

For more info go to http://australia.alpha.org/youthalivevic

Generation Porn 11 & 12

 Here are the final two reasons to give up porn. These will resonate mostly to Christians, and will make us uneasy. But I'm sure that point 11 is relevant to many other spheres of life too. An addiction to porn will keep you from doing many, many things.
How sad that many people have turned away from a life full of worthwhile service to Jesus Christ because of their habit and guilt. 

11.             Porn weakens your service (p11)

Hear the testimony of one user:

I’ve been less able to serve Jesus as I was in effect living two lives. The stress of managing that kept me from being of any real use in the kingdom. I helped at a church youth group for around a year, but giving talks where I was meant to be sharing about what God was doing in my life became too much of a strain, so I stopped.  (ie. stopped ministry.)

In 2007 John Piper wrote an article for Christianity Today called ‘Gutsy Guilt’. He describes speaking at a conference with Goeroge Verwer :

Verwer’s burden at that conference was the tragic number of young people who at one point in their lives dreamed of radical obedience to Jesus, but then faded into useless American prosperity. A gnawing sense of guilt and unworthiness over sexual failure gradually gave way to spiritual powerlessness and the dead-end dream of middle class security and comfort.

The tragedy is not masturbation and pornography. “The tragedy is that Satan uses guilt from these failures to strip you of every radical dream you ever had or might have. In their place, he gives you a happy, safe, secure, American life of superficial pleasures, until you die in your lakeside rocking chair.”

(Chester, p88)

Porn is a sin against your church.

·      You spend time on porn you could use in ministry

·      Your relationship with God is corroded, and so your service of others is impaired

·      Consider this: Will you ask challenging questions of your brothers if you’ve used porn in the last month. Probably not, because they might ask you questions in return.

12.             God’s wrath is against people who use porn (12)

One of the secrets of the power of porn is its Anonymity. (The other two are Accessibility and Affordability.) But porn is not anonymous.

³ But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. ⁴ Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. ⁵ For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a person is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.^{[a] 6} Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient. ⁷ Therefore do not be partners with them.

Ephesians 5:3-7

Again and again, God’s word warns against sexual sin, while celebrating sex.

Generation Porn 09 & 10

 The impact of porn on lives is significant. Here are just two more reasons to stop watching / using porn.

9.             Porn wastes your time and energy (p35)

Think about a meal. You feel hungry, you consume the mean and then you feel satisfied. Twenty minutes later, you feel full and you don’t want to eat anymore. Think about porn. You feel a desire, you consume porn, but you don't’ feel satisfied. Porn doesn’t deliver. Twenty minutes later, you still feel empty and you still want more.

Porn promises so much, but doesn’t deliver. So you find yourself on an endless quest for the perfect image.  . . Hours go by.

Hours wasted. Staying up late at night and then struggling through the next day. Inability to concentrate.

Improved concentration and memory are among the most commonly reported post-porn benefits, and they may be explained by the reversal of addiction-related brain changes. (Other frequently reported benefits after giving up highspeed porn are decreased social anxiety and depression, greater attraction to real mates, seeing potential partners as people rather than sex-aids, and return to earlier sexual tastes.)

In short, porn users who quit porn and then notice improvements in concentration and memory aren't imagining those improvements. The evidence suggests the improvements come down to the reversal of addiction-related alterations in the brain.

http://yourbrainonporn.com/no-porn-better-working-memory

10.             Porn weakens your relationship with God (p10)

King Solomon’s reign was great . . . but his reign began to unravel because of his sexual sin. 1 Kings 11 tells us Solomon ‘loved many foreign women’.

Comments from porn users;

·      It has really deadened relationship with Jesus and robbed me of joy.

·      It definitely stopped me having a close relationship with God. I experienced such joy after stopping, and my prayer life has been reinvigorated.

·      When I hear the word ‘sin’ I hear it to mean pornography.

Porn also robs you of your assurance of salvation.

·      Feeling ashamed to pray for forgiveness

·      Feeling scared to read your Bible

·      Doubting someone truly saved could struggle with such a sin

Generation Porn 07 & 08

In this series I am sharing a workshop that my wife and I conducted at a Summer Camp at the end of 2014. In it we gave 12 reasons to stop looking at porn, and once again, acknowledge Tim Chester as the writer of the book which was most helpful in our preparation.

So far I have shared six reasons to stop looking at porn. They are:

1. Porn wrecks your view of sex.
2. Porn wrecks your view of women.
3. Porn wrecks women's view of themselves.
4. The porn industry abuses women.
5. Porn is a sin against your wife.
6. Porn wrecks families. 

Before I start on the next section, it is worth noting that reasons 1-6 focus on the impact of porn on other people, while reasons 7-12 will focus on porn's impact on us and our relationship to God and his people.

So, with that in mind, here are reasons seven and eight.

7.             Porn is enslaving (p32)

“Death and destruction are never satisfied, and neither are they eyes of man” Pr 27:20

There is NO truth to the saying ‘it doesn’t hurt anyone.’ It hurts you.

“I kept resolving not to do it again”, says Ahmed, “only to be out buying porn the next weekend. It felt like I needed to do it to relive he desire and get it out of the system.”

Here’s a statement from one bloke who chose to give up porn:

“I feel like the next Sir Isaac Newton or Leonardo da Vinci!

Since I quit a month ago, I've literally: started a business, taken up piano, been studying French every day, been programming, drawing, writing, started managing my finances, and have more awesome ideas than I know what to do with. My confidence is sky high. I already feel like I can talk to any girl. I’m the same guy who took 2 and a 1/2 extra years to graduate from college - because of procrastination and depression.”

Gary Wilson “The Great Porn Experiment”

Porn promises so much, but it can’t truly deliver, so it leaves you wanting more – more quantity and more extreme activity.

Chester writes: Recently I heard of a Christian leader who was caught looking at child porn in an internet café. The police were called, and no he faces a prison sentence. His marriage is wrecked, perhaps irretrievably. He has been in Christian ministry for more than thirty years. You don’t think this could be you? He never thought porn would take over his life. He never started out with an interest in child porn. But porn gradually drew him deeper and deeper in.

8.             Porn erodes your character (p34)

King David didn’t decide one day to commit murder. He was on the roof of his house and let his eyes wander. And then his heart wandered. At this point he had no thoughts of murder, but sin was desensitizing him.

When you first use porn, you have to push past your conscience. Your conscience screams at you to stop. But you block your ears and close your heart . . . Gradually you’ll find it easier to use porn, as your conscience becomes a dull echo in the recesses of your heart.

Generation Porn 05 & 06

5.             Porn is a sin against your wife (p28)

Studies of women married to porn users have found it has a devastating impact: ‘effects such as fatigue, changes in appetite and libido, and other signs and symptoms of anxiety and depression, including suicidality’.

How does she feel?

·      Am I the reason he uses porn? (I’m not attractive enough)

·      He doesn’t care about me. (If he love me, he wouldn’t hurt me this way)

·      The relationship is a farce (We pretend it’s fine, but the relationship is sick)

You will start to view sex with your wife not as the celebration of your love, but as re-enacted porn.

If you’re not yet married, porn is a sin against your future wife.  You’re already committing adultery against a wife with whom you’re not even yet married. . . and you’re gifting the devil a reservoir of temptation to use against you.

“I’ll stop when I get married” Using porn is a bad way of preparing not to use it when you are married.”

6.             Porn wrecks families (p31)

There is NO truth to the saying ‘It doesn’t hurt anyone’. It hurts families

Porn is a cancer, eating away at your marriage and your enjoyment of marriage.

“Porn wrecks marriages.” That’s the conclusion of divorce lawyer Marcia Maddox. Among the five lawyers in her office, there’s always a case involving pornography being worked on at any given time.

56% of divorce cases involved one party having an obsessive interest in pornographic websites

http://xxxchurch.com/stats

“Because of pornography, I was aware that mom was not the only woman you were looking at. I became acutely aware of your wandering eye when we were out and about. This taught me that all men have a wandering eye and can’t be trusted. I learned to distrust and even dislike men for the way they perceived women in this way.”

http://www.churchleaders.com/outreach-missions/outreach-missions-articles/177023-luke-geraty-open-letter-to-the-dad-looking-at-porn.html

Porn endangers children.  If it’s at home, it’s likely to be found. And what impact does it have on the kids if they discover dad looking at porn.