In Marshall

Yesterday, I drove 806 miles from Fishers, Indiana to Marshall, Minnesota. Thus, the adventure has begun. Last night, i checked into the Comfort Inn. I stayed there last night and will be staying there tonight. I am not sure where I am laying my head after tonight. I might be sleeping at camp. I might be staying in a house of a former member of the church who is living in a different city or i may be staying in my office and showering at the Y. I am not sure - kinda odd but kinda exciting.

Today was my first day at St. Stephen and it was a great day. They have a traditional and a contemporary service with Sunday School in-between. they had baptisms at both services. There are numerous things that I saw or observed that made me glad that I am here. They are the following:

- education opportunities for almost everyone on Sunday mornings
- Sunday afternoon / evenings are "down time"
- children remain in the worship service for the entire time
- very active milestone ministry
- low-key / relaxed feel (tough to explain)
- the use of the lectionary

This morning, I sat in on the Junior High SS class that was led by an adult named Jeff who has been teaching and involved in youth programming for six years. Sunday School at St. Stephen is more low-key and fun than educational. They use it for their social component of ministry. Their transform/education/cathecism is on Wednesday nights. However, even though they had high emphasis on social - snowball fight - Jeff re-emphasized the Small Catechism and had them answering questions about it, the church and Martin Luther.

I am looking forward to confirmation. I am not the "main teacher" as I have been in the past. Instead, I am a small group leader with Brenda. That should be a blast.

Interview Questions

I am hopefully winding up my ministry search. It is my hope and dream that this time next week, I will be able to announce that I have officially landed a ministry position and what the job entails. However, in this post, I want to share with you 3 questions that one church sent to me. I interviewed with numerous churches and filled out quite a few per-screening questionnaires.  Some were very good and some were just plain awful in my opinion. The following from one church though (imo) was the best introductory questions ask. I think that after receiving the answers from the candidates, that they would definitely be able to narrow down the candidates. Here they are and combined the answers could only be 2-3 pages.

1. Please tell us about your self-understanding as a follower of Jesus Christ,
and how it relates to your potential role as Family Ministry Director.

2. Please give us as many examples as possible of the following outcomes
resulting from your past ministry leadership:

a. Numerical and spiritual growth of children, youth, and/or family
ministry. Please include details if possible.

b. Effective management of a large-scale ministry program that called
for visioning, strategic planning, long-range calendaring, and
responsible budgeting.

c. Effective identification, training, and oversight of individual leaders
and leadership teams.

d. New and meaningful relationships among families in the
congregation where you were serving.

e. Effective pastoral care (outreach, counseling, crisis response) to
children, youth, and their families.

3. What are your impressions of tour denomination? Are there
any aspects of our denominationst theology or polity that you would
struggle to support? What is your general approach to theological,
political, and social diversity within a congregation?

Killing the Sacred Cow

 The article below is not all about Killing the Sacred Cow, but it is an element. Here is the article:

What Changes Would a New YP Make at your Church

Over the years, I have seen many sacred cows; have you ?

What are some of them ?
What are some of them that need to be killed ?

Shoot for Mediocrity ?

Excellence.

It is a word that you hear frequently in the church world. We must do everything that we do with excellence. Sometimes, it comes in the following way: we are going to "eliminate" some of our programs and ministries, so that we are only doing a few things and we will do them with "excellence".

I have to be honest. I cringe at the word excellence when it comes to the church world. I do not think that it has to do with me not thinking that I can produce 'excellence". Rather it comes with my hesitation if that is what we should be aiming for and I am not sure if that is what god intended or Jesus aimed for in HIS ministry.

If we are going to shoot for excellence, that means that we are going to have to eliminate many people from ministry. Here are a few examples:

Jenny, I know that you love to sing but we just cannot have you in the praise team.
Jon, we have to move you off the AV, the sound is just "not right"
Alex, your "theatrics" are over the top; we will use someone else for the skit

We create an A-team, so we can put the best performers on the stage and ministry venue so we can create "excellence" and folks will go away impressed with how we execute and be encouraged to invite new people for this unbelievable experience.

This past Sunday, I went to a "downtown" church and they had a VBS kick-off. They may have had 10 kids. They had has many adults there grilling hot dogs, doing tattoos and a Tye-die project and playing the parachute game. It was so simple.  Yet individuals there were loving their time WITH ONE ANOTHER and everyone felt that they belonged. Any talent-scout or head-hunters would have quickly exited, I am sure -- not finding what they were looking for. However, it was beautiful.

I have a very loose connection with Karl. I have never met him. I have never talked to him. But, i am aware of his church community and love (from a distance) what they are doing. He did an article recently on striving for mediocrity not excellence and it got me pondering and thinking. The article is linked below:

Mediocrity is the Goal

Acceptance ???

Mother Theresa said,“The biggest disease today is not leprosy or tuberculosis but rather the feeling of being unwanted, uncared for and deserted by everybody”

This morning, I read the quote above from Mother Theresa and it definitely got me thinking. I made it as my status on facebook with the following addition:

So, my fb friends, I challenge you today, to make sure that those who come across your path do not have this tragic disease.

Then, I was thinking of it later this morning about the ramifications of the statement in the context of the local church and the local youth ministry setting and I sighed.

For you see, relationships: feeling wanted, feeling loved and feeling accepted; are crucial for individuals and too often, we are too busy with things that don't really matter and the folks who are coming through the door looking for love, acceptance and a sense of belonging leave ....

They leave and when they leave, the feel unwanted, uncared for and deserted and they grab a hold of this feeling and insert it at the end of the sentence; like this:

The church makes me feel unwanted, uncared for and deserted.

They then leave.

We, as a church, need to change this. We, as individuals, also need to have our eyes, ears and hearts open to reach out and love those individuals. In our world today, we should not have folks feeling this way.

Now for me to chew on what ramigications this could have on "ministry".

XP3: Teen Strategy

I am created to pursue an authentic relationship with my Creator

I belong to Christ and define who I am by what He says

I exist every day to demonstrate God’s love to a broken world

Wonder ..... Discovery ..... Passion

I agree with "Orange" that if we could get each student "tuned" into these three "dials"; their lives would be changed forever.

But remember, no one has more potential to influence a child or student more than a parent.

Unity

I am reading "simple student ministry" and two paragraphs jumped off the page tonight. Here they are:

Selfish behavior and selfish mind-sets always produce disunity. Disunity, in return, destroys the alignment of a group of people who are on the same mission. No longer is everyone striving to accomplish the same mission, but rather his or her own version of what that mission should be.

People who are called to the same mission but act independently of each other aren't unified. Simply existing together or wearing the same student ministry shirts doesn't ensure alignment. Players can be on the same team but have completely different goals.

I know that unity has been a problem forever, but that does not mean that we should throw it to the wayside. as Eric Geiger says, " when believers are unified, an unbelieving world is attracted. "

Individuals, those outside of the church, will be attracted to church and Christian who show great love and unity to one another.

I think that many times, Jesus must be up in heaven wiping away tears ( yeah, I know the scripture of no tears in heaven ), going, "I wish they could just get along". I think he could then lean into his Father and go, " I think that is why so many people love us, but do not like the church "

Maybe, I am wrong and maybe i am nuts; but i think that we need re-alignment in many churches and I think that we need to be intentional about it.

Teens Embedding

This news article is over 14 months old, but I just came across "embedding" in some research and here is an article that Reuters did.

Signs of elaborate acts of self-harm by U.S. teens
Julie Steenhuysen
CHICAGO
Wed Dec 3, 2008 2:27pm EST

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Some troubled teens are embedding nails, paper clips, bits of rock, glass and even crayons in their bodies as a way to cope with disturbing thoughts and feelings, U.S. researchers said on Wednesday.

U.S.

They described cases in which teens had forced numerous objects into their arms, hands, feet, ankles and necks in a condition they are calling self-embedding disorder, a step beyond more common forms of self-mutilation.

"We identified a group of 10 patients over a three-year period of time that have this pattern of self-inflicted injury," said Dr. William Shiels, chief of radiology at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. He presented his findings at the Radiological Society of North America meeting in Chicago.

"It's cutting gone to the next level," Shiels said in a telephone interview.

Shiels, who is developing a minimally invasive surgical technique for removing objects accidentally embedded in the skin, saw his first case of what he called self-embedding in 2005, and recently has seen a cluster of cases.

"We had never seen this prior to 2005." he said.

Self injury can involve a number of actions, including cutting of the skin, burning, bruising, hair pulling, breaking bones or swallowing toxic substances.

It is often kept secret, but some studies suggest that 13 to 24 percent of high school students in the U.S. and Canada have practiced deliberate self-injury at least once.

Wendy Lader, a psychologist and co-founder of S.A.F.E. Alternatives, a treatment program for self-injury disorders in Naperville, Illinois, said the practice of self-embedding was not new but it may be on the rise.

"It's not a new manifestation. Whether it's growing, that may be the possibility," Lader said in a telephone interview.

Lader said radiologists will be some of the first people to notice this trend, but she said self-injury was growing in frequency and severity.

Shiels said nine of the patients were female and one was male, all were between 15 and 18 and most had significant psychiatric problems, including depression.

He said the teens described being in an agitated state and said embedding offered a measure of comfort.

"The consistent theme is one of being angry and upset. Some of the patients have had very recent sexual abuse encounters, and they feel no one is taking them seriously," Shiels said.

"Patients will usually have reported behavior that includes cutting and even ingesting things like battery acid and Drano (drain cleaner) before they engage in self-embedding," he said.

"When they reach the point to where they are embedding things in their body, 90 percent have suicidal ideation."

Lader said that was consistent with many cases of self-injury. She said while the act of cutting may not represent a suicide attempt, 90 percent of these patients are suicidal. "They are trying desperately to find ways to cope with life's problems, and suicide is definitely an option," she said.

(Editing by David Storey)

For those in YM that minister to "hurting kids" or "at-risk" kids, I am sure that this will be something that you have/will encounter.

Breathe

A few individuals came me that advice today via facebook and they are absolutely right that I need to breathe. I also need to pick-up my morning walk (maybe not as early or as far). I need tothink and clear out the mind a little and create some "space".

There is change in the air or at least steps to make changes that will occur in 37 days and there is a lot to do before it happens. In a sense, I am not really worried about that because I think that it will com all together just like VBS but here is hesitation in my step and I need to have that removed.

There are a few quotes that are pouncing my head and I am going to blog about them the next week. The first one will be the following:

Your direction, not your intentions will determine your destination.

I believe for us to end up where e want/need to be then our direction needs to change.

Back In Ohio

I am back in Ohio.

It was a great trip to New Orleans. We had an absolute blast.

The 19 hour drive down there ( 2 days - hotel stay in Tuscaloosa ) was great and very uneventful. We did run into some heavy rain in Alabama and Mississippi, but nothing that was over-bearing. We decided to park in the Park-N-Fly by the airport and ride the shuttle to the airport and then ride the hotel shuttle in (smart move). All of that was fantastic and smooth.

Our hotel was unbelievable. It was the nicest hotel that I believe that I ever stayed at. The hotel was the Chateau Bourbon and is located at the corners of Iberville and Bourbon and Canal ( a whole block ). It is in a fantastic location - great walking distance to everything.

The one thing that I love about NOLA is the food, it is out of the world and we had some great times at the restaurants. There is probably only one that I would cross off my list for the next time that I am in the city and that would be Deanie's. We only chose that because it was very late - Sat night - and it was next to our hotel.

I think that my favorite few hours of the trip was our Saturday morning walk to Jackson Square to go to Cafe Du Mounde for beignets. We sat on the steps across the square and enjoyed the morning. We then walked back to the hotel and swam for 90 mins - we were the only ones in the pool and then went to the Red Fish Grill for lunch on Bourbon Street. Those 5 hours were a total blast.

The main sessions were great. It was wonderful being there with 37,000 people worshiping God. The house band was excellent, the variety of speakers were very good and the musicians were good (especially Skillet).

Our drive home was once again excellent and this time we stopped in Cullman.

The 7 youth and 3 adults that went made up an excellent team and I am extremely thankful for them. I also am very thankful for the awesome support of their parents and churches who made this happen. It will be an experience the youth will not forget.

VBS is Upon Us

On Monday, VBS starts. It has been a very long week wrapping everything up. There have been many 12 hour days. Thus, I have not been in contact with many people.

I am looking forward to the week, it should be fun. We have 58 kids pre-registered. I am not sure how many of them will show or how many more we will have come that have not registered.

Almost everything is set.

Ready, Set, Go.

New Orleans: Dry Ground

In about 7 weeks, we are headed down to New Orleans. it has almost been 4 years since Katrina hit. i cannot believe that it has been that long ago. At the time, we were living in Birmingham and we "felt" the effects of the storm and our church made several trips down to the coast. I remember going down there about 6 weeks after the storm and was amazed.

Please take a few minutes and watch the video as it explains that, yes, there is dry land, but that is just the beginning.

What & Why of Orange

What is Orange?

I am headed to the Orange Conference in Atlanta in 11 hours and I have had a few individuals ask me about it and what it means. Here is a snipit from their site that explains it pretty well:

The Orange Conference is an opportunity for churches to have their key leaders in a room together being challenged about what it means and what it takes to reach the next generation. It's not a children's ministry conference. It's not a youth ministry conference. ORANGE IS THREE CONFERENCES ROLLED UP INTO ONE EVENT. It's the only place that a senior pastor, student pastor, children's pastor and volunteers that work within these ministries can learn together and begin formulating a strategy to impact the lives of the people in your congregation by...

...creating a plan for handing off kids from preschool ministry to children's ministry; from children's ministry to student ministry; from student ministry into college ministry - a plan that works among these age groups to build a strong foundation of faith, grow it, challenge it and mature it before students leave your ministry to become independent adults in this world.

...equipping parents with kids at every age level to become the primary spiritual leader for their kids - to partner with them so that the one hour the church has with kids each week is multiplied at home.

...creating opportunities for families to invite their neighbors to a relevant and engaging environment at your church - to see what happens to their own faith when they begin investing in those around them.

This gets me excited and makes me dream of the possibilities that could occur when church deliberately took steps to be "orange".

Why Orange

Orange is a color that symbolizes INTEGRATION. It's the brilliant result of a merger between two more traditional influences - red and yellow. Just like something radically new happens when red and yellow come together, there is a different kind of culture that is established when the Church understands the value of a true partnership with the family. There is a different kind of culture that is established in a church that really values a compreshensive and integrated strategy. When church staff members step out of their silo-style departmental thinking and start playing together, it creates synergy. Your team must be intentional about alignment. You can never get on the same page if you don't spend quality time in the same room discussing the things that really matter.

Orange is a color that suggests CHANGE. It's the primary color for autumn, a season of transition. You might be thinking, "Don't things turn orange right before they turn brown and die?" Actually, smart leaders realize there's a life-cycle to any organizational model. Every innovative idea and creative program will ultimately grow old. Styles and methods need to change more frequently than we are willing to allow. That's because the idea of change makes comfortable Christian leaders nervous, and it keeps the Church lagging behind culture. As a result, we give a generation the perception that the Church and maybe even God are irrelevant. Churches are notorious for feuding over what is already dying while they lose focus on the timeless principles that really matter. Just remember, even the most ground-breaking version of today's Church will ultimately have to be redesigned and reborn.

It is my belief that we definitely need change in the church and this is a great avenue of change and so much of the change is grounded in the Deut. 6 priniple within the ministry of Orange.

Effective Youth and Family Ministry is: Rooted

Effective Youth and Family Ministry is: Baptismal

As I have mentioned, I am going to be "blogging" through a document that comes out of the ELCA YM NETWORK. It is "definition of effective youth and family ministry". They have placed te document out there and are asking for feedback and discussion. I have decided to copy and paste the document. The document will be in quote block and my thoughts and reactions will be in regular text.

Effective Youth and Family Ministry in ELCA congregations is:

1. Discipleship
2. Baptismal
3. Rooted
4. Excellence
5. Welcoming
6. Cross Generational
7. Advocacy
8. Congregational
9. Connected
10. Partnership

Effective Youth and Family Ministry is: Rooted

Statement: The Lutheran Biblical understanding of God’s love and grace is one that young people and families desperately need to hear.

Biblical Basis: “For by grace you have been saved through faith. This is not your own doing but is a gift from God.” - Ephesians 2:8

Rationale: There was a time when people lived in a much more “rooted” environment.

Rooted is an area where we need to take a long look at and see how it can be applied to our ministries to children, students and parents. If we take a look at our ministries and look at th children and teens involved; we will notice that alot of them come from families that have been up-rooted and many do not have extended families near them.

Thus, we as a church can use this has a ministry opportunity by placing "spiritual" aunts/uncles/grandparents among them. We can also create ministry opportunities that will allow them to feel "rooted".

• Extended families tended to live in fairly close proximity to each other, allowing for relationships to develop between uncles, aunts, nieces, nephews, and grandparents.

• The length of time people would work not only on a single profession, but quite often for a single employer, was significantly longer than it is today. It was not uncommon for people to spend 20 to 30 years, or perhaps even an entire career, with loyalty to a company or a supervisor.

• The length of time people would live in a single home was much longer than it is today. The concept of “starter,” “middle,” “dream,” and “retirement” homes is a relatively new phenomenon in our social structure.

• The speed of change in our culture has continued to increase. New technologies and the availability of communication in ways we couldn’t even dream of just 20 years ago have completely changed the way we live. And the world we live in is socially and theologically pluralistic. Absolutes are rare and values of individualism are celebrated culturally over values of community.

These four factual statements stand-alone. They give us a strong foundation for why that we need to think/rethink about the Gospel and Being Rooted.

So how do people of faith live in this type of a world? How do we relate to a narrative that we consider to be unchanging and enduring across time?

For me, I think that is is very important that we remember that we are part of the active-narrative. We are part of God's narrative. The story of His creation and world still occurs today. Too often, I think that individuals believe that "the story" has been sealed with the conclusion of the Bible.

How do we live in this type of the world? I think that we try to live out the very important words of Jesus: Love God / Love Others. We also look through the lenses of "being rooted" and reavh out to those who do not have permanent/visible roots in our community AND we make sure that we reach out and include them in an intimiate community.

Effective youth and family ministry is rooted. We are rooted to avoid our theology and our doctrine from being blown about by the winds of change. That is not to say that we don’t continue to ask questions, to examine doctrine, and to grow. However, we must be rooted.

We are rooted in the Word of God in written form which is the norm of our faith. All that we do in youth and family ministry must tell the story of the God of love. We are rooted in the Word of God incarnate, which centers our faith on the love and grace of God as the initiating factor of our relationship with the Holy. All that we do in youth and family ministry points towards Jesus Christ.

We are rooted in Word and Sacrament, receiving the gifts and the promises which God gives freely to all of God’s people. And we are rooted (but not bound by) our Lutheran traditions, which have historically framed our life together.

The above three sections all come together. It is very important that are ministries our based on the Word. We need to make sure that we are connected/rooted in Scripture. There are many ways for us to do this. One key compontent is for us to have time where we can study the Scripture and see where it plays out into our daily lives.

I think that the ELCA has a great tool for this in the FaithLens. This is the curriculum that ties the lectionary into current issues. I think that it is vital that we take a look at Scripture and we wrestle it with the current issues that our students are seeing and facing.

Finally, we are rooted in the Great Commission, which calls us to reach beyond ourselves to people in need to serve as witness to God’s love, and which calls us to look beyond our traditions to reach to those we have never reached to before, sharing God’s love and including all in the inheritance and blessing that is the grace of God.

If I am completely honest, this is a paragraph that currently has punched me in the gut. I do not think that many of us are "rooted" in the Great Comission. Or, we have a misconception of the Great Commission.

We need to make sure that we are sharing God's love and that we are showering/showing/telling people about the Grace of God. The one thing though that I want to make sure that happens is that we are not doing this just to get "butts in the pews".

Currently, I am part of a project that is bringing poverty to the surface. However, much of the faith community is absent from the table and this saddens me. I think that showing individuals compassion and helping them out of poverty is one way to begin to show and live out the Great Commission. However, I am finding that most do not believe this to be the case.

To be rooted is to always ask ourselves the question: “Is what we’re doing focused on forming faith in the God who creates, redeems and sustains his people?” A ministry that is mature can look at what it does and boldly answer “yes!” to this question.

The last paragraph does a great job in summarizing this scon and it does a wonderful job in laying it down to one simple question. How are you and your ministry able to answer the question ?

I think at times, I am able to say yes. However at times, I think we fall into a rut. I think we fall into the trap of preparring for Sunday, we fall into the trap of doing the status quo and the answer falls to ----- not really.

We must change that and move the focus to being rooted and forming faith and I think that we are making great strides at that here with our family sunday school concept.

-------------------------------

Introduction
Discipleship
Baptismal

Effective Youth and Family Ministry is: Baptismal

Effective Youth and Family Ministry is: Baptismal

As I have mentioned, I am going to be "blogging" through a document that comes out of the ELCA YM NETWORK. It is "definition of effective youth and family ministry". They have placed te document out there and are asking for feedback and discussion. I have decided to copy and paste the document. The document will be in quote block and my thoughts and reactions will be in regular text.

Effective Youth and Family Ministry in ELCA congregations is:

1. Discipleship
2. Baptismal
3. Rooted
4. Excellence
5. Welcoming
6. Cross Generational
7. Advocacy
8. Congregational
9. Connected
10. Partnership

Today, we will be looking at Baptismal

Statement: Effective youth and family ministry focuses on the promises of the God who calls us unconditionally into the relationship begun when we are claimed in the waters of baptism and lived out in the calling of our vocation.

Biblical Basis: “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” - 1 Peter 2:9

Rationale: The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is slowly beginning to look more like a melting pot of humanity, less like a weekly reunion of people with Northern European ancestry. Along with the rich diversity of people sitting in the pews of our churches and gathering as youth groups and children's ministries comes a kaleidoscope of cultures and traditions, and an increasingly eclectic theology of who we are and how we see God at work in our midst.

I enjoy the introduction and the three segments that they focus in on. In their opening statement; the sentence that I want to echo loudly to everyone is "unconditional". There are still too many people out there that believe that they must be perfect or at least have their life in order to enter into a relationship with God. We need to be shouting (not in a mean way) that God loves you and that the love is unconditional.

The scripture that they use is a very powerful scriptural verse and one that we need to be imprinting onto peoples hearts. We need to let people know about priesthood. We need to share about the calling out of the darkness and into the light. We belong to God, how powerful and how sweet is that statement.

To be honest, i am not sure how to take the rationale portion of the section. If this is occurring in other areas; that is great and fantastic. In my neck of the woods, it does not seem to be occurring. On the large scale though, I do believe that people are not so concerned about the denomination that they grew up in or are comfortable with - thus this is bringing great diversity into church communities. The great thing about this document, in my opinion, is the nuggets of truth that are sprinkled through the entire document. The sentence that does that for me in this segment is the following: a kaleidoscope of cultures and traditions, and an increasingly eclectic theology of who we are and how we see God at work in our midst. We need to keep our eyes and heart open and see where God is working at - in our midst.

While we celebrate the truth that God is at work in all Christian Churches, as Lutherans we center on the ministry of Word and Sacrament. Sacramentally, we understand that our identity is woven into the promises received and gifts given in baptism. Youth and family ministry that is effective rotates around the promises of grace, forgiveness, eternal life, identity and community, and the gifts which through the Holy Spirit bring and sustain life to all. This has absolutely nothing to do with us. It has everything to do with God, with God's love, mercy, and grace. God initiates the relationship. It is effective because of God's grace in Jesus!

Not growing up in the Lutheran church this statement (in a sense) "bit" me. To me, it can come off a little snobby. I know for a fact that this is not the case but perceptions can hurt as well. It (the statement) looks like we focus on the right things and everyone else focuses on the wrong things and I do not believe this to be true. Here is the statement that I do like though: Youth and family ministry that is effective rotates around the promises of grace, forgiveness, eternal life, identity and community, and the gifts which through the Holy Spirit bring and sustain life to all Now how that would look, work, be evaluated, developed and shared would definitely be up for argument and I would love for folks who are attempting to be led in this way ... what are you experiencing?

First, as professionals and volunteers in youth and family ministry, we have the privilege of entering into the brokenness of life with young people, and to accompany them as they experience God’s grace, receive the gifts, and are restored in and through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

I definitely have considered it a privilege over the last decade+ to work with youth and to enter into their lives. There is definitely darkness and pain and brokenness that the students are living in the midst of. It seems to be that there is more brokenness, however I am sure that there many would argue that this simply is not the case and that we are just aware of things more now then we have been in the past. The great thing is that by journeying with them and sharing with them God's grace and light that they are moved from the brokenness. The power of the resurrection is wonderful power.

Second, we enter into relationship with the young person, their family, and their entire support system, making a covenant together to become the village that literally raises this child. And so we accompany and support the ministry of parents by walking alongside them as they experience the joys and struggles of raising their young people. We provide resources, we teach the children, and we teach the parents how to be church together.

It makes me smile and laugh a little when I see this statement. It reminds me of Hilary Clinton. Numerous individuals "crucified" her when she spoke the words "it takes a village ......" However, her words do ring true to me and I think that the above paragraph and the church community bring new light to the discussion. The paragraph once again highlights the importance of the Deuteronomy 6 principle. It is also the reason that we, at Zion, have begun to switch our focus and move to more families/parent ministry philosophy. We cannot do ministry in silos away from parents. We, as churches, must shift our focus and priorities to parents. We then MUST be the church together.

Finally, we represent the church which fully embraces and welcomes the young into the mission of God, and equips them to live out and to share the grace of the God who loves them first and foremost.

We must do this if we want to live out the calling that God has called for us.

Our call is counter cultural. Many of these youth have been conditioned to believe that their value is defined by performance in the home, at school, at church, in relationships in every arena of their lives. And we remind them that they are justified not by what they do, but through the love and grace of God. Along with the body of Christ, they are all sinners...all saints...and all justified by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.

In the culture that we live in, this might be the most important thing that we do. Everyday, it seems like we run into students and individuals that are "identified" by what they do. They are measured in so many different areas and the parents and schools push them - they are defined. We need to give them the gift that they are children of God who loves them no matter what. Our words and our teaching MUST (in my opinion) be centered on the love and grace of God.

Our baptism as infants, children, youth, or adults makes us heirs of that promise. How important is our baptism? Jesus’ final command in the book of Matthew is to "Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit." Equally important though is to remember that this command is wrapped inside a promise: “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." (Matthew 28:19-20)

This past week, I received The Connect magazine and the focus (theme) was on baptism which was very timely in not only the doctrinal topic and discussions going on but with this series. We need to wrap our arms around Matthew 28. When I reflect on this Scripture, I am reminded of a 6 word theme for a convention that I participated in. The theme was the following:

Committed to God
Commissioned by Christ

May we be effective in ministry.

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Introduction
Discipleship

definition of effective youth and family ministry

As I have mentioned, I am going to be "blogging" through a document that comes out of the ELCA YM NETWORK. It is "definition of effective youth and family ministry". They have placed te document out there and are asking for feedback and discussion. I have decided to copy and paste the document. The document will be in quote block and my thoughts and reactions will be in regular text.

Effective Youth and Family Ministry in ELCA congregations is:

1. Discipleship
2. Baptismal
3. Rooted
4. Excellence
5. Welcoming
6. Cross Generational
7. Advocacy
8. Congregational
9. Connected
10. Partnership

Today, we will be looking at Discipleship

Statement: Effective Youth and Family Ministry is adults and young people walking alongside each other in relationship as both grow and mature in faith in Christ.

I am not sure if there are many that would disagree with this statement. I am sure that there are a few that would argue differently on what this would look like and how to accomplish it. There are also many that would want a clearer definition and "spiritual maturity" of the adult in the mentor and mentoree relationship.

However, what I absolutely love about the statements is that youth and adults are together and that they are walking alongside each other and making the journey together. We need to make sure that we "are together". This is an area that I am not creating "much success" at in the jr - high school level but there is TREMENDOUS amount of groundwork being laid down inthe children ministry.

Biblical Basis: “Therefore, let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity” - Hebrews 6:1

The Scripture that is used is a great Scripture and one that needs to be placed out in front of our students all the time. We need to make sure that we are moving forward and that we are placing steps down so the children and youth will be making strides from elementary teaching to teaching that will bring them maturity.

I know that the Lutheran church and that the children, youth and familiy ministry model is very strong and they care about that deeply. One of the things that I would love to see in addition to the Hebrews passage is the Scripture from Deuteronomy 6.

6-9 Write these commandments that I've given you today on your hearts. Get them inside of you and then get them inside your children. Talk about them wherever you are, sitting at home or walking in the street; talk about them from the time you get up in the morning to when you fall into bed at night. Tie them on your hands and foreheads as a reminder; inscribe them on the doorposts of your homes and on your city gates.

Partnering with the parents and placing them as the spiritual providers for their family is vital and we (the church) need to be there giving them the strength, the encouragement and the tools to do it.

Rationale: Maturity in Christ is a journey, not a destination. The reality is, the entire life process from birth to death is a process of maturation. There is never a point when we suddenly are "complete." There is never a point when our relationship with Jesus Christ has become one of full maturity. We only achieve this point when through death in this life, by the grace of God, we are reunited with God in a new life. There, we experience this maturity.

The Journey ..... this keeps popping its head up. I love the visual imagery of The journey and it is one that I think is very vital. I think that with The Journey, we can "mark" many mileposts that will help individuals along their way in the journey that they find themselves in. I think it is also important for us to keep "emphasizing" that it is an entire life process; not a one and done event.

So what happens in the space between? How do God's people grow towards maturity in Christ as they live their life journey? This is a faith experience we call discipleship.

Discipleship is the key. It is a word that many get a little squirmy over and a number of people have a hard time grasping it. Last week, Pastor spoke to us a little about this. Here is a sample:

Well, that’s not the definition that we are going to use. Discipline actually comes from a Latin word which means “instruction or learning.” Therefore a “disciple” – one who “disciplines himself” – is a pupil or a student who learns through instruction. A “disciple” is a pupil or a student who follows and learns. A “disciple” is a pupil or a student who repeatedly practices something until he is prepared to go out and do it.

You know, I remember when I played football I use to really hate practices. We would go over and over and over certain things – angles of attacks – footwork – over and over and over again. And finally one day I asked the coach why do we go over and over and over these things. And he said, “We go over and over and over those things so that you will do them when no one is watching. You will do them without having to think about it. It will be who you are and not what you do.” “It will be who you are and not what you do.”

There is a parallel there between that and what we do here. We go over and over things here too. We talk about the love of God – over and over and over again. We talk about how God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son – over and over and over again. We talk about how this should motivate us to love God in return for all that He has done for us – over and over and over again. We talk about Grace being the underserved love and kindness of God. And we do that over and over again. We talk about how being a child of God means that we should love one another – and that that love should be unconditional. And we do that over and over and over again. And why do we do that – over and over and over again? We do that so that we might be disciplined. So that these things become so much a part of who we are – how we think – what we do – that these things are who we are – not just what we were are taught to do. We love God – because that is who we are. We love one another because that is who we are. We do these things when no one is watching. We do these things without having to think about them. We do these things because that is who we are and not just what we do. We are the children of God who live out our lives as children of God. Other people will do whatever it is that they do. We, however, are the children of God and we live out each and every moment as children of God.

As Lutherans, we tend to shy away from this word. It has echoes of "works righteousness" that scare us away. To be a disciple is to take action within our faith, and anything that causes us to take action might be confused by some as action required for the grace of God. We know, however, that discipleship is
not so much about what we "do" as Christians, but who we "are" as Christians. Living out our baptismal promises, we become followers of the living God and at the same time, leaders in the world around us. We receive God's grace and share God's love.

I think that the most important line in the paragraph is the following:

We know, however, that discipleship is not so much about what we "do" as Christians, but who we "are" as Christians. I am just beginning to read a book on monastic traditions and how we can try to live it out in the 21st century and one of the key phrases is "being" in the midst of "doing". I think this is very important and will share more about that (the book) outside of the YM blog series.

In Jewish tradition, rabbis took disciples who followed the rabbi, learned from the rabbi, and modeled their lives and ministry after the rabbi. In Christian practice, Jesus Christ is our rabbi, and as Christians, we try to follow, learn from, and model ourselves after Him.

I think that this is pretty simple and straight-forward. Now, I did not say easy, I said straight forward and simple. We need to look at Christ and His example and follow Him. It is a tough challenge but a challenge that we need to accept.

Effective youth and family ministry then, is the tending of these faith journeys, on behalf of and alongside the lives and faith of young people and their families. We do not take disciples, nor do we create them. We walk alongside the called, and build relationships with, teach, and tend those who are on the discipleship journey. We do this by encouraging and teaching the disciplines of prayer, service, worship, scripture, and faith talk and traditions.

There are so many things that are "packed" into this small paragraph. It really is remarkable especially if you try to break it down and then expound on each area. But, I believe that youth and family ministry would be radically different if we truly focused on building relationships and in the midst of these relationships, we focused on: prayer, service, worship, scripture, and faith talk and traditions. What would ministry look like / What would are weekly schedules consist of if we truly did this style of ministry ?

Effective youth and family ministry addresses both the young person as an individual and the young person in the context of their family. It recognizes that their family, whatever that looks like, is the primary incubator for faith. It works to equip parents be the primary faith role models, and provides opportunities for families to “practice faith” together.

Here is the paragraph that blends perfectly into the Deuteronomy passage that I mentioned early on in this post. We have to connect with the family and we (as churches) really need to focus in on "programming" better so we do not split the family up anymore then it already is.

Discipleship is less though about what we do and more about what God is doing in the lives of people. It is about naming God's grace and work in the lives of young people. It is occasionally about "nudging" young people and families in their lives and faith. It is by continuing and encouraging the process of discipleship and faith formation that God's transformative grace can become understood in the lives of God's people.

I think the key here is highlighting what God is doing in the lives of people. Too often, we focus on the "nots". The things that the children, youth and family ARE NOT doing. We need to allow God's grace to work in their lives and we need to focus in on what God is doing in their lives.

What do you think of Discipleship ?
Where / How does it Belong in Youth Ministry ?

Effective Youth & Family Ministry

I have been wanting to do a post series that has some "meaning" to me and hopefully others. I have been struggling with the topic. There are a few that are really close to my heart at the present time: adoption/foster care, ending poverty, state of our economy, theological difference, partnering churches to name a few.

However, the one that keeps coming to my mind is youth and family ministry. There are many different paths that I can take with this but this morning; I chose one. Here it is:

Effective Youth and Family Ministry in ELCA congregations is:

1. Discipleship
2. Baptismal
3. Rooted
4. Excellence
5. Welcoming
6. Cross Generational
7. Advocacy
8. Congregational
9. Connected
10. Partnership


Over the next few weeks, I am going to take a look at these 10 items and see how they play out in youth and family ministry. I obviously believe that these extend far outside the walls of the ELCA. However, with working in the ELCA and this being an ELCA document; I thought it would be a great place to brainstorm.

A new series, I hope that I will carve the time out to do this. I think that it will be very beneficial to me, the church that I serve and hopefully some of my readers.

Ministry Conversations

Yesterday evening, I was helping out at DZ@6 with a couple of the youth from the church. Afterwards, we went to Starbucks to have a drink and to have some conversations. If anyone is interested; this is what I had:

Mint Mocha Chip Frappuccino® blended coffee with Chocolate Whipped Cream



Classic chocolate and spearmint flavor combined with Starbucks coffees and milk, mocha sauce, Frappuccino® chips, blended with ice, and then topped with chocolate whipped cream and mocha sauce

Anyways, it was a beautiful night and we sat outside and talked about the ministry at Zion, specifically about high school ministry and what we were going to be doing this fall. We have some "major" changes that are going to occur and some people may think that we are NUTS but that is okay.

I am not going to get into much of the specif is at this time because the point of this post (for me) is that I had a great time sitting there with the utes and LISTENING and HEARING what they are thinking and what is connecting and resonating in their lives and more importantly what IS NOT connecting in their lives.

One of the changes that will be occurring is that we will no longer be having Sunday School for them. We felt that SS and Youth were "competing" with each other and that we wanted to eliminate that for the students. Our hs students are being STRONGLY ENCOURAGED to help out in the children Sunday School (mentors, shepherds, drama, etc....).

We are going to create a "process" for the students to go through and the process WILL HOPEFULLY help us a a student ministry accomplish the mission of tHe church:

BE DISCIPLES & MAKE DISCIPLES

I Am Back

I am back. I got in yesterday evening. It was a fun week with the girls. I got the opportunity to know them better and had a great time during the worship, hanging out at the beach and even a few of the shopping trips.

Over the next few days, I am going to post some of the pictures and a few videos up here on the blog. One of the things that I enjoyed this year was my early morning walks. One the walks, I had some great god Talk time and the scenery at times was breath-taking.

Here are two pictures to make you go .... hmmmmmmmm

Pink Finger Nails ??



All the girls in the van received pink fingernails .... I did not want to be left out.

Luau Attire



I am ready, doesn't the cocunut bra tshirt look good on me ?

Confirmation Class of 2008

Congrats to the Confirmation Class of 2008



These were the 6 students who were confirmed last week and myself. I only had these students one of the two years, but I enjoyed getting to know them. They are a very unique group of individuals and they each have talents and gifts - even the ones who do not realize it.