A Long-Term Effect Of Youth Ministers
The weeds had been mowed. My lawn looked ordered and green (even if the green wasn't grass).
The hockey game started & ended early.
The family was tired from a Saturday of stuff and everybody seemed to power-down, just veggin' out...except Kid1 who drove to Deep Ellum with a friend to see some bands at The Door.
The weather was cool.
My dog knew the drill: I grab a throw pillow, a blanket, a book, and start walking toward the back door. He knows we're grabbing the first hammock time of the season. He's in.
And the book I grabbed is yet another on the so-called "Emerging Church." This one's one I was looking forward to because there's been a lot of yipping back-and-forth about the "emergents" and the good/bad they're doing for the future of the Church. This game's been being played out on the Internet mostly, with the old-guard complaining about the things the old-guard is supposed to complain about & the young-guns fighting the battles they're supposed to fight with passion, excitement and enthusiasm. The best options, as always, are somewhere in the middle. The entire debate--which is going on about 8 years now--has been giving me tired-head for about 5 of those years now.
But this book was written by one of the big-dawgs of the young-guns so I thought it'd have some good insights (thus far, it's more of the same stuff I've been reading on the Internet, but I'm not even 20% finished, so we'll see). Perfect choice for the first hammock ride of the season. Lloyd agreed, so off we went.
My thoughts went in an entirely different direction after reading this:
"An unmistakable strain of the DNA of the early emergents is that we were all reared during the golden era of American youth ministry...'Relational ministry' it was often called, wherein relationships between adult leaders and teenagers had primacy...In 1965, it was unheard of for a church to have a paid youth worker; by 1985, it was virtually unthinkable not to have one.."
I sat up in my hammock. Lloyd raised his head in initial concern, but realized the movement was akin to body shuffle and had little trouble going back to sleep after the initial disturbance. Now, this isn't where the author went with the rest of his insights, but my brain went another direction.
My brain engaged because now this is personal.. It hit me for the first time that I was in the second wave of kids that had grown up in church ministries where youth ministry was professionally done (and done well in my case). Me and my friends were a part of some of the most creative and innovative youth ministries in their relatively early going. Youth for Christ. Young Life. Church youth groups with new ideas for attracting and keeping teens. We were used to changes and changing and innovation and all that.
Then some of us got into youth ministry as a profession. We saw the strengths and weaknesses of the innovations of our predecessors and built on those. Took it to different places, for better or worse. But we were trying new things and some worked and some didn't. Then we hired staffers who came through our very own ministries and they started taking what we did to different places, for better or worse.
And now those of us who earned our stripes in virtual labs of ministry are slowly starting to filter into the more traditional ministries of the church. If we're still in youth ministry it's generally in a more supervisory role letting the young Turks have at it, for better or worse.
We're used to change.
We're used to innovation.
We're used to trying and "winning," and we're used to trying and "failing."
We're used to constant turnover in our ministry since each and every year 25% of our ministry graduated and 25% of new kids entered.
We're used to volume and lighting and loud and then flipping it over to acoustic and candles and contemplative.
We're used to tears and belly-laughs.
We're used to hands-on ministry in the forms of large groups on missions and service projects large and small.
I could go on.
But now we're finding ourselves in more traditional roles with folks who have grown up in different ministries and are comfortable with their ministries the way they are now. They're tried and true. They're friendly and enjoyable. They're stable. They're successful for the most part, so don't mess with it. They're cerebral and measured. They more about funding missions and service projects.
Where the emergent movement (whatever that is) gets all wrapped around the axle in the worst of ways is the presumption that their ways of ministry are "better" or "more biblical" and that the old folks just don't "get it." This is what gives me the tired-head. The more traditional ministries have their good points we can learn from. Somebody's got to oversee the young Turks or the inmates will run an asylum. Somebody's got to fund the mission work. Somebody's got to write curriculum. Somebody's got to teach the young guns the history and values and beliefs of our local body. They shouldn't be criticized for these things like so many younger writers seem more than happy to fire away.
Where the older folks get all wrapped around the axle is that those of us who were in the golden age of youth ministry, both as participants and later as professionals, are pretty astute when it comes to evaluation of systems and correction thereof. We can do it quickly, efficiently, and with the best ideals. We can take an ideal to concrete ministry plan in about 4.8 seconds. We enjoy flux. We're comfy in checking out what Christians in the 1930's or 1830's or 1630's or 30's did and applying that to a modern context rather than dismissing them out of hand (which, interestingly, is what the Baby Boomers did: designed church as a reaction to what they didn't like about their church and now they get offended when the next generation does that very thing).
For some reason, I just never put 2 and 2 together in that I was "brought up" in the Golden Age of youth ministry...
...and that would have repercussions that run far and wide into the future because of how I see Church.
And, oddly, I'm invigorated by that.
Excited by that.
And the idea of putting my punk-rock sensitivities and theological training/beliefs and Golden Age ministry stripes in a blender and seeing what comes pouring out excites me beyond measure this morning.
*synapses firing on all cylinders*
*chomping at the bit to teach my class on Jeremiah today*
*envisioning opening my Bible on my podium at 10:45AM already*
The weeds had been mowed. My lawn looked ordered and green (even if the green wasn't grass).
The hockey game started & ended early.
The family was tired from a Saturday of stuff and everybody seemed to power-down, just veggin' out...except Kid1 who drove to Deep Ellum with a friend to see some bands at The Door.
The weather was cool.
My dog knew the drill: I grab a throw pillow, a blanket, a book, and start walking toward the back door. He knows we're grabbing the first hammock time of the season. He's in.
And the book I grabbed is yet another on the so-called "Emerging Church." This one's one I was looking forward to because there's been a lot of yipping back-and-forth about the "emergents" and the good/bad they're doing for the future of the Church. This game's been being played out on the Internet mostly, with the old-guard complaining about the things the old-guard is supposed to complain about & the young-guns fighting the battles they're supposed to fight with passion, excitement and enthusiasm. The best options, as always, are somewhere in the middle. The entire debate--which is going on about 8 years now--has been giving me tired-head for about 5 of those years now.
But this book was written by one of the big-dawgs of the young-guns so I thought it'd have some good insights (thus far, it's more of the same stuff I've been reading on the Internet, but I'm not even 20% finished, so we'll see). Perfect choice for the first hammock ride of the season. Lloyd agreed, so off we went.
My thoughts went in an entirely different direction after reading this:
"An unmistakable strain of the DNA of the early emergents is that we were all reared during the golden era of American youth ministry...'Relational ministry' it was often called, wherein relationships between adult leaders and teenagers had primacy...In 1965, it was unheard of for a church to have a paid youth worker; by 1985, it was virtually unthinkable not to have one.."
I sat up in my hammock. Lloyd raised his head in initial concern, but realized the movement was akin to body shuffle and had little trouble going back to sleep after the initial disturbance. Now, this isn't where the author went with the rest of his insights, but my brain went another direction.
My brain engaged because now this is personal.. It hit me for the first time that I was in the second wave of kids that had grown up in church ministries where youth ministry was professionally done (and done well in my case). Me and my friends were a part of some of the most creative and innovative youth ministries in their relatively early going. Youth for Christ. Young Life. Church youth groups with new ideas for attracting and keeping teens. We were used to changes and changing and innovation and all that.
Then some of us got into youth ministry as a profession. We saw the strengths and weaknesses of the innovations of our predecessors and built on those. Took it to different places, for better or worse. But we were trying new things and some worked and some didn't. Then we hired staffers who came through our very own ministries and they started taking what we did to different places, for better or worse.
And now those of us who earned our stripes in virtual labs of ministry are slowly starting to filter into the more traditional ministries of the church. If we're still in youth ministry it's generally in a more supervisory role letting the young Turks have at it, for better or worse.
We're used to change.
We're used to innovation.
We're used to trying and "winning," and we're used to trying and "failing."
We're used to constant turnover in our ministry since each and every year 25% of our ministry graduated and 25% of new kids entered.
We're used to volume and lighting and loud and then flipping it over to acoustic and candles and contemplative.
We're used to tears and belly-laughs.
We're used to hands-on ministry in the forms of large groups on missions and service projects large and small.
I could go on.
But now we're finding ourselves in more traditional roles with folks who have grown up in different ministries and are comfortable with their ministries the way they are now. They're tried and true. They're friendly and enjoyable. They're stable. They're successful for the most part, so don't mess with it. They're cerebral and measured. They more about funding missions and service projects.
Where the emergent movement (whatever that is) gets all wrapped around the axle in the worst of ways is the presumption that their ways of ministry are "better" or "more biblical" and that the old folks just don't "get it." This is what gives me the tired-head. The more traditional ministries have their good points we can learn from. Somebody's got to oversee the young Turks or the inmates will run an asylum. Somebody's got to fund the mission work. Somebody's got to write curriculum. Somebody's got to teach the young guns the history and values and beliefs of our local body. They shouldn't be criticized for these things like so many younger writers seem more than happy to fire away.
Where the older folks get all wrapped around the axle is that those of us who were in the golden age of youth ministry, both as participants and later as professionals, are pretty astute when it comes to evaluation of systems and correction thereof. We can do it quickly, efficiently, and with the best ideals. We can take an ideal to concrete ministry plan in about 4.8 seconds. We enjoy flux. We're comfy in checking out what Christians in the 1930's or 1830's or 1630's or 30's did and applying that to a modern context rather than dismissing them out of hand (which, interestingly, is what the Baby Boomers did: designed church as a reaction to what they didn't like about their church and now they get offended when the next generation does that very thing).
For some reason, I just never put 2 and 2 together in that I was "brought up" in the Golden Age of youth ministry...
...and that would have repercussions that run far and wide into the future because of how I see Church.
And, oddly, I'm invigorated by that.
Excited by that.
And the idea of putting my punk-rock sensitivities and theological training/beliefs and Golden Age ministry stripes in a blender and seeing what comes pouring out excites me beyond measure this morning.
*synapses firing on all cylinders*
*chomping at the bit to teach my class on Jeremiah today*
*envisioning opening my Bible on my podium at 10:45AM already*
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