Musing on a secular age

Today (Jan 13 2017) I have read through some weighty articles relevant to ministry with youth. I write this blog post not with a definite response in mind, rather I'm working out my thoughts and writing this is helpful. The first is written by Dr Andrew Root on the creation of a secular age of unbelief. You can find it here. He takes some time to discuss two books, which is interesting and sets the foundation for his later comments, but you don't need to have read these books to pick up what he is saying. (I add here that I found Kirgiss' book to be very helpful. I have reviewed that book in a previous post.)

What I do find confronting is the thought - or realisation - that the normal world that teenagers live in today is so fundamentally different to the one in which most world history has taken place. It sounds like a blindingly obvious comment, but the more I think about it, the more I am overwhelmed with it.

I'm not talking about the fact that we now have a generation who do not know what life was like before the internet. That is just a shift in how we work and react with people and things. What I'm referring to is the change that has taken place over centuries which leads us from a society that has religion as it's normality, to a society that has secularism as it's normality.

Imagine for a moment living in a world where thunder storms and natural disasters are considered to be an act of God. Or where someone going troppo is seen as a demonic action. There was a time when this would have been the 'normal' point of view. Over time humanity has studied, tested, considered, and learned that many of these cases don't strictly have a supernatural cause to them. So - in my mind at least - there was possibly a period of history where people balanced these two, and perhaps both would be seen as 'normal'. i.e. a time when people could still see a supernatural element to life while also understanding the secular and its positive contribution to society.

But now the pendulum has kept swinging. Now our youth are growing in an age where the normal perspective is the secular one. For example, at a recent conference I attended I sat in on a presentation regarding faith and science for youth. The presenter, Rev Tony Jones from Science for Youth Ministry, made the point that for the average 22 year old in America, they have grown up with the belief that science and faith are in conflict. This is not a conclusion they have come to after careful thought and consideration. Rather, this is 'normal' for that age.

This attitude to science is just one area where this change in attitude is seen. In fact, this view is just a sign of a far deeper change - an abandoning of supernatural or religious for the secular.


For people involved in ministry to youth, we must recognise this climate and respond to it appropriately. And just because these children belong to families that come to church, we should not assume they are immune to such a worldview. School, media, other family members will all have their influence on these children and so we should perhaps accept that the default view of our young people is a secular one.

How do we challenge such a view? That leads to the second article, this time by Kevin Alton. Here he responds to Root's article by asking "So What?". You can read it here. It is much shorter, and well worth reading.

Even though you would need to read the whole article to get the full context, the paragraph I quote is one I find has grabbed my attention:

The problem with information-dump-as-discipleship is that it essentially attempts to hand to youth a very large suitcase full of answers to questions they haven’t asked yet. Worse, it hands incredibly complicated abstract things to very concrete thinkers, who are ultimately asked, “Do you hold these things to be true?” They’re forced to process it all as one solid block of yes or no, not as the amazing, intricate web of years of experience and thought that we’re given the rest of our lives to sort through. For many youth, it’s probably a relief to let go of it when they get to college.

Is this what I'm doing? Am I confronting young people with a black or white option when there are 16 million colours along that spectrum? Am I treating young people who decide to follow Jesus as wholly formed disciples, or am I seeing them as pilgrims beginning a journey that will be theirs for the rest of their lives? And then am I presenting it as a long, hard slog or am I presenting it as a journey of wonder and amazement with many astonishing discoveries to be made along the way?

My fear is that I think I'm doing the latter while youth think I'm doing the former. God, help me to be clear.

That our young people in Australia are growing up in a secular age is no surprise. Christian schools, home-schooling, youth ministry, or anything like that won't change the reality of what our society has become. What I cannot do is despair.

I am alive at this point in history and I am full of wonder and amazement at what I am seeing.

I still have much to learn and reflecting on articles like this will help with that.

PYV Summer Camp 2016 (2017) - Day 6

It's getting harder to get started. But the leaders still gathered early in the day to pray together, be informed of the activities of the day, and to encourage each other to finish the camp well. Our assistant convener, Scott, led our devotions today. Thanks Scott for helping us come to this busy day with a reminder of God's goodness to us.

Some of the campers were able to get up early, pack their bags, and still be ready for the pre-breakfast prayer meeting. May their prayers continue to be heard and voiced for many years to come.

After breakfast - pancakes!! - the rest of us quickly packed our bags and then made our way into the sessions room for our morning worship session. It was good today to hear a testimony from someone much younger. Mitch is part of the team doing YouthMETRO and while he is a young man (at least from the perspective of my age) he knows and trusts Jesus.

The sermon from Jared today pointed us to the Passover. While this would have been a truly horrific event for the Egyptians, Jared helped us to see that it was not the fact that some people were Israelites that protected them, but rather that it was those who acted in faith who found themselves safe. In faith they sacrificed a lamb and put the blood on the doorframe. God has redeemed his faithful people.

Through the sermons Jared has helped us all to see that Exodus shows God to be a God:

• who is faithful
• who is holy
• who sends
• who makes himself known
• who is Lord overall
• who redeems. 

Breaking into our study groups gave us the opportunity to discuss again what we had just heard and to see how it applies to our lives.Just as the Israelites put themselves under the blood of the lamb, as God had instructed them to do, we now put ourselves under the blood of Jesus.

The final page of our study group questions made us look back at all we had been discussing over the week and see what the implications are for our own lives:

• If God is faithful, then I will . . .
• If God is holy, then I will . . .
• If God sends, then I will . . .
• If God makes himself known, then I will . . .
• If God is Lord overall, then I will . . .
• And if God redeems, then I will . . .

Good questions to reflect on.

After lunch we had our final session together. This was a chance for us to say 'thanks' to all those who had worked so hard in many roles on camp. There are study leaders, dorm leaders, activity group leaders, (and a large group doing all three!), camp parents, leaders' chaplains, first aid, tech team, musicians, and the executive team. All these people did an amazing job to get everything done, and get it done safely.

Good job Kirsten. (Is she singing?)

I want to give a huge 'THANK YOU' to our convener for Summer Camp, Kirsten Bryant. Kirsten has had a busy year, but she is well organised and was able to lead a great team. This is the second camp she has been convener for, and both of them have been terrific.

Kirsten has a great desire to serve Jesus. If you would like to read more about that, you can follow her blog at Surrendered Dreamer.


Parents came, picked up their tired and excited children, and went home. Leaders worked to finish packing and cleaning while others talked with parents.

And then it was over.

I (eventually) jumped onto my motorbike to begin my ride to Sydney for a conference. But that's another story.

PYV Summer Camp 2016 - Day 5

Today has been full. Beyond full. I haven't been able to find time to write my blog. But I will when I can.

I know that by then everyone will be home and you can just ask your children what happened. But maybe reading it in a few days' time will be an encouragement to get them talking anyway.

(Nearly one week later)

Day five has been a full and a fun day. We started as usual with our leaders meeting which had the opening devotion from Sarah Weber. We have been greatly blessed with the pastoral care team we have on this camp. They have great experience and compassion and are able to talk to our campers and leaders with wisdom and grace. 

Prayer meeting was a little small today, but still a good number attended. 

In our worship session today, the campers heard a testimony from the oldest bloke in the room (when did I suddenly become the oldest bloke in the room?!?!?!!) Rather than recite it now, if you had children at the camp ask them what they remember. I also got conned into doing a 'dab'. I still don't know what that is!

More importantly, we heard a great sermon from Jared about the plagues that came to Egypt. There is so much to learn about these plagues and why they are relevant for the people of Egypt at that time. Three things stood out for me. First, these plagues were natural events of biblical proportions. Some have suggested that this means they really are a run of bad luck with natural events, but that cannot explain the final plague. Second, these plagues directly challenged the gods of Egypt, even pharoah himself. Third, when Pharoah said, "Who is the Lord?", the plagues answered that question in a powerful way. 

Our study groups had a good chance to talk through these issues and see how the Pharoah responded to each of these plagues. How sad that the more he hardened his heart, the more he found his heart being hardened. There's a good lesson there for all of us. 

We had planned to take a large group of campers to the local pool for a swim, but a breakdown in communications somewhere meant there was only one guard on duty and we had to limit the numbers Once again the activities team were able to make some changes and divided the group into three so they could all have about an hour each at the pool. I was one of the leaders who spent the afternoon at the pool with these groups. 

When we returned, it was time to get into our New Year's Eve costumes. The theme for the camp was 'Cartoons' so people had all kinds of cartoon characters costumes. We had at least two Pikachus, but I think one of them was too tall. The team who made up 'Winnie the Pooh' characters looked great -  except for the dragon. Why was there a dragon in this group?

I always enjoy the colour and spectacle of this part of the camp. Well done everyone for making the effort. And thanks once again to David Johnstone for taking some great photos.

Dinner was magnificent, and then we began the New Years Eve activities. It started with a Trivia Quiz. A shout out to the YouthMETRO team for joining in here tonight. This was a good and simple way to start the evening. One the sun was setting, it was out to the oval for an outdoor cinema experience. Now, I'm not a big fan of youth group movie nights. It makes little sense to get a group of teenagers together and tell them not to talk to each other for two hours. But tonight was great. Perhaps that had something to do with it being an outdoors cinema, or because it was near the end of a long camp, or because it was a lovely night, or because it was The Lion King. I don't know what made it work, but it did. (The popcorn and zooper doopers probably helped too.)

After the movie some people enjoyed the dance floor, some enjoyed board games, and others played table tennis or just talked. Whatever they were doing before midnight, at midnight we were together to welcome in the New Year. After a few cheers and handshakes, we sang. We sang to God's glory as one year ended and another began. Then we broke into our study groups and we prayed. What a privilege was mine to sit with this group and pray for those who are beginning at university in 2017.

What a great way to finish one year and to start a new one. 

It was a full day. 

PYV Summer Camp 2016 - day 4

It was a bit foggy this morning

The rain came yesterday, but the cabins were still warm, even a little uncomfortable. Or perhaps it was just me who didn't have a great night's sleep. Either way, I was up early to get ready for our leader's meeting. Today it was Clinton's turn to lead our devotion and he did so by reading from a children's book that helps children see the big picture of the Bible. We do well to start helping our children to see the Old Testament as much more than a collection of moral stories. 

Our prayer meeting was smaller today, which might reflect the fact that people are feeling more tired as the camp goes on. Nonetheless it was a good gathering of people to pray. 

After another great breakfast our study groups meet again to discuss what we heard from the sermon the night before. As we answered some questions about Moses and his encounter with God at the burning bush, we saw not only that God was able to answer the objections Moses had, but we also saw the connection between Moses' experience and our own. Moses was reluctant to be God's spokesman to Pharaoh and most of us feel the same. "Send someone else." 

But as we compare what Moses was told in Exodus 3&4, with the instruction and promise we have for the disciples of Jesus in Matthew 28:18-20 we found the same promises - we go in the authority of Jesus and we go with the assurance of his presence with us. This should be a great encouragement for us all. 

The morning activities had groups running around the campsite looking for princesses and other cartoon based prizes. The weather was closing in but we were able to get through the activities without being disrupted. 

Today's timetable is different to other days and we had our worship session in the afternoon. During the session we heard a great testimony from our camp convener. God is at work in our lives. 

Part of theYouthMETRO Crew

I missed the sermon today as I went to sit in with the YouthMETRO crew. This group of young people are learning what it is to have a ministry mindset and how to put it into action. This afternoon they were doing some evangelism training and I was witnessed to by a team of them. It's encouraging to hear this group taking some solid steps in sharing their faith. Please pray that what they share with their friends will reap a harvest. 

Tonight we had another session with our study groups. This time our focus was what happened to the Israelites when Moses began to speak with Moses. Basically, it doesn't go well for them. But really this doesn't last for ever. Again, we were able to see the relevance of this for our own lives. We were able to also see the fulfilment of those promises in Jesus. (Romans 8:28)

"You can do it!"

Then with the weather cooling and dry, our evening activities could go ahead without any need to worry about changing our plans. I'd like to explain what was happening with this event but I missed the explanation of the rules and when I went out to watch, it looked like a big game of capture the flag and rugby union (without the tackling). The boys in my dorm certainly enjoyed it. 

My dorm is made up of some of  the young men who are heading into year 11/12 next year. I have greatly enjoyed the conversations that have happened in this room and the encouragement that has been shared. There's been a whole lot of laughter as well. 

Now we prepare for New Year's Eve. It should be fun.

PYV Summer Camp 2016 - day 3

As I commence this entry I am sitting under a shady tree enjoying a lovely breeze and a good view of trees & hills. Why would I be doing this in the middle of the afternoon of a camp? Well it's not because I'm being lazy nor because I'm hiding from everyone. Quite the opposite. I am here because our activity groups have been instructed to find me near the Rawson Village sign. When they get here I ask them a series of riddles they need to solve before moving to the next challenge.

"a seven letter containing thousands of letters."

Why are we doing this in the afternoon? To answer that we need to go back to what happened this morning.

Like all days, we began with a leader's meeting. Today we were encouraged by the words from Philippians 4 "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." As leaders of a youth camp, this is a very important reminder. We rely on the strength of Christ to serve him at this time & in this way.

We enjoyed a time of prayer and then breakfast, although some boys were almost determined to miss breakfast. They said that 'someone forgot to turn on the alarm.' Don't worry mum. We got them out of bed and made sure they could have breakfast.

From there we went to our study groups to talk through some questions based on the sermon from last night. A key focus here, or at least one that I thought stood out, was recognising the holiness and love of God without being focused on just one of these. It was good to hear this group talk through the dangers of just focusing on the holiness of God & rejecting his love, and vice versa.

While we were in our groups, the rain began to fall, which meant that some of our groups needed to move under shelter. It also meant we needed to change our plans. So, because we have bold and talented leaders on this camp, a decision was made to follow morning tea with the second session of workshops. This was a good move.

Today I sat in on the workshops on "Pleasures we can't have" and the second half of "Too far gone". I am very pleased that our teenagers are being challenged to live holy lives while also being reminded that in Jesus we can find forgiveness. This is a message that never gets old.

The workshops led to lunch, which was plentiful today, and then to our afternoon of activities.

I'll add some more notes later today.

Some Time Later

The afternoon activities kept people busy for a good while today. Free time gave people a chance to play soccer, board games, table tennis, or just sit and chat together. Or they did until the storms that ravaged Melbourne made their way here. It got really wet really quickly. 

Which meant that again the planned activities for the evening needed to be changed. I want to give a big shout out to Callum & helpers for being ready to change their plans quickly and still have something for us that keeps us active and entertained. Tonight was the biggest game of fruit salad I've ever seen, and was a whole lot of fun. 

Fruit Salad

Between dinner and our activities we had our third worship session. Tonight we answered some questions (What is predestination?) sang some great songs and heard another great sermon from Jared. Tonight we heard about Moses wanting to avoid what God was asking him to do and putting up all the objections. But God answered all his objections and urged him to stop looking at himself and start looking at God instead. 

That's a good lesson for all of us.

Pictionary

PYV Summer Camp 2016 - day 2

7.00am. Leader's meeting. It feels like an early start, but all the leaders are in the room together. Clearly we all had a good night's sleep 😎

"Whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God" were the Bible words we start the day with. We are reminded that what we do impacts the campers, so we want to be like Paul when he said "Do what I do" and be a faithful example for others to follow. 

Breakfast was good and as most people love a cooked breakfast, they were well fed. From breakfast (after a quick break to brush our teeth) we divided into our study groups to discuss what we heard from Jared last night, to see how the words of Exodus are relevant to us today, and to get a glimpse of how this points to Jesus. I really enjoyed the group I am leading this year. There is good conversation happening amongst the group and some good wisdom being shared. 

The weather did get in our way today for the planned activities. But because we have talented and capable people in charge of things at PYV camps, we moved chairs around and moved indoors while the rain was falling.

After lunch we had our first session of workshops for camp. Rather than list them all here, you can see that list in a previous post here. I sat in on the Gospel workshop with Sam and greatly enjoyed watching people learn what Romans 6:23 has to say about the gospel of Jesus Christ and then talking to each other about what they had just learned. Brilliant.

Our worship session again gave us the opportunity to sing in worship, pray, read the scriptures and listen to excellent preaching. Tonight Jared show from Exodus 3, the burning bush. We have been confronted with God's great holiness and how wonderful and terrifying that is. Then we were confronted with the fact that even in his awesome holiness, God allows Moses to approach him. What an awesome God we worship.

We also heard a testimony from one of our younger leaders. God bless those who challenged her about her own faith and then encouraged her to grow as a disciple of Jesus.

God is good in all things. Please keep praying for what He is doing among us here.

PYV Summer Camp 2016 - day 1

Where's the sun?

After spending much of this week concerned about the expected heat I arrived at the campsite with rain and a cool breeze.

It was good to see people arriving, registering, finding their rooms, and talking with each other. I always enjoy seeing teenagers reconnect at the start of camps.

We started with some large group games on the oval. It was humid and uncomfortable for some of its, but it didn't stop anyone getting involved. From there we went into our first session together, but this wasn't a worship session. Instead we spent the time introducing our key leaders, the pastoral carers, & camp parents.

Dinner was great, and the noise suggested people are talking with each other across the tables.

Our first worship session tonight included the first message from Jared Keath from Exodus. Tonight we heard about God's faithfulness being shown as he was quietly keeping his promise to Abraham even in times of difficulty & oppression. God's faithfulness makes a difference in our own lives too. We might not see all that he is doing, but he is there.

Our camp has begun well, and we look forward to more.