Over the past few months, we’ve maintained the Barefoot Training Articles as a way to continue the conversation around the training content. With the impending enhancements to the Immerse Journal site, we’ve decided to move the conversation. So for all of those interested in going deeper with our training content and interacting with other youth workers please checkout Immerse Journal.
Barefoot Training Articles
Participating in the Story of God 8
Barefoot Training - Thursday, June 16, 2011
As much as we would like to provide our students with everything they need for the journey in one retreat, one Bible study, or one worship experience, or as much as we would wish to summarize everything for our youth group in one cliché, one scripture verse, or one song, the Story of God paints a very different picture for us. The people of God have always been committed to the whole. In spite of living in a dominant culture of rapid remedies and quick fixes, fast food and instant gratification, we belong to the kingdom-culture, which views life as a journey, comprised of many steps and stages.
The characters with whom we share life and ministry were not women and men who went into a situation briefly and made a big splash, thus solving all the problems and answering all the questions. Instead, they were women and men who were committed to the long haul. They neither gave up when mountain tops of victory disintegrated, nor did they run away when great battles erupted in the valley. They stayed, they persisted, they continued! Why? They knew that the story of God was not something that they must complete in a day, a month, or a year. It was greater than any one single victory; it was stronger than any multitude of defeats. And ultimately, it wasn’t their story anyway--it was God’s!
As narrative God-talkers, we also are committed to the whole. We recognize that no single verse in Scripture will provide the final answer. Instead, we are committed to the full canon of Scripture. Therefore, we allow verse after verse, passage after passage, book after book to dialogue with all of the others. We allow the pleasant and simple passages of Scripture to be read, taught, and explored right alongside the more unpleasant and complex passages. As narrative God-talkers, we are not quick to make one passage fit another, but we allow Bible passages to stand side by side, and thus permit our students to see the whole, not only one piece.
Just as we are committed to the whole of Scripture, we are also committed to the whole of spiritual formation. For individual students, as well as for an entire class, we recognize and celebrate the fact that spiritual development is an ongoing process. It began before we ever stepped into our students’ lives, and it will continue far beyond our immediate ministry with them. Rather than basing all ministry upon what magnificent accomplishments can quickly be achieved, narrative God-talkers view spiritual formation from a much larger perspective. We are committed to providing students with one passage at a time, one song at a time, and one prayer at a time. We know that the God who has called us into his ministry will ultimately bring the many pieces together into a whole--a whole that extends far beyond the years of adolescence.
At the same time, we recognize the significance of every time we get together and “God-talk” with a student, whether it be after school over a soft drink, at a campground for fall retreat, in a home for an afterglow, on Wednesday evening for worship, or around the circle for Bible study. We realize that every word we speak, every song we sing, and every silent symbol we view places one more stitch into the fabric of our students’ spiritual formation.
Like every generation that has come before us, we face the great challenge of passing the faith on to the next generation. How are we to face this challenge with integrity and faithfulness? Our story already tells us how to communicate the truth of the Scriptures: ”Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates” (Deut. 6:7-9, NRSV).
We face the challenge by being God-talkers, even theologians, who name God in the world of our students! How do we legitimately speak of God? Recognizing the creative power of language, we confidently and creatively articulate this alternative kingdom, this kingdom-culture, in such a way that our students actively participate in the community of God’s people, where they discover their true identity. Perhaps no greater calling is to be found than the calling to be a God-talker as we anticipate the question, “Why are those rocks there?”
By Tim Green
This series of reflections on a narrative model for Christian ministry comes from the book Worship Centered Teaching.
The characters with whom we share life and ministry were not women and men who went into a situation briefly and made a big splash, thus solving all the problems and answering all the questions. Instead, they were women and men who were committed to the long haul. They neither gave up when mountain tops of victory disintegrated, nor did they run away when great battles erupted in the valley. They stayed, they persisted, they continued! Why? They knew that the story of God was not something that they must complete in a day, a month, or a year. It was greater than any one single victory; it was stronger than any multitude of defeats. And ultimately, it wasn’t their story anyway--it was God’s!
As narrative God-talkers, we also are committed to the whole. We recognize that no single verse in Scripture will provide the final answer. Instead, we are committed to the full canon of Scripture. Therefore, we allow verse after verse, passage after passage, book after book to dialogue with all of the others. We allow the pleasant and simple passages of Scripture to be read, taught, and explored right alongside the more unpleasant and complex passages. As narrative God-talkers, we are not quick to make one passage fit another, but we allow Bible passages to stand side by side, and thus permit our students to see the whole, not only one piece.
Just as we are committed to the whole of Scripture, we are also committed to the whole of spiritual formation. For individual students, as well as for an entire class, we recognize and celebrate the fact that spiritual development is an ongoing process. It began before we ever stepped into our students’ lives, and it will continue far beyond our immediate ministry with them. Rather than basing all ministry upon what magnificent accomplishments can quickly be achieved, narrative God-talkers view spiritual formation from a much larger perspective. We are committed to providing students with one passage at a time, one song at a time, and one prayer at a time. We know that the God who has called us into his ministry will ultimately bring the many pieces together into a whole--a whole that extends far beyond the years of adolescence.
At the same time, we recognize the significance of every time we get together and “God-talk” with a student, whether it be after school over a soft drink, at a campground for fall retreat, in a home for an afterglow, on Wednesday evening for worship, or around the circle for Bible study. We realize that every word we speak, every song we sing, and every silent symbol we view places one more stitch into the fabric of our students’ spiritual formation.
Like every generation that has come before us, we face the great challenge of passing the faith on to the next generation. How are we to face this challenge with integrity and faithfulness? Our story already tells us how to communicate the truth of the Scriptures: ”Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates” (Deut. 6:7-9, NRSV).
We face the challenge by being God-talkers, even theologians, who name God in the world of our students! How do we legitimately speak of God? Recognizing the creative power of language, we confidently and creatively articulate this alternative kingdom, this kingdom-culture, in such a way that our students actively participate in the community of God’s people, where they discover their true identity. Perhaps no greater calling is to be found than the calling to be a God-talker as we anticipate the question, “Why are those rocks there?”
By Tim Green
This series of reflections on a narrative model for Christian ministry comes from the book Worship Centered Teaching.
Participating in the Story of God 7
Barefoot Training - Thursday, June 09, 2011
As identity is shaped, character and lifestyle emerge. From the preface to the Ten Commandments (Exod. 20.2) to the outset of the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5.1-16), the people of God have consistently recognized that our way of living is the direct result of who we are. And who we are is always the direct result of what God has graciously caused us to be. As narrative God-talkers, we do not seek to moralize or heap disconnected rules upon students. Rather, by inviting students to see themselves and others within the Story of God, we provide the setting where authentic character and ethic can develop and grow. As a result, lifestyle becomes a genuine fruit of identity. The life of holiness is then viewed not as what makes our students holy, but as the result of God’s gracious, mind-transforming work in their lives. The answer to the question, “What are we to do?” emerges out of the answer to the question, “Who are we?” As a result, when students confront new moral dilemmas or situations, the kingdom-identity being shaped in their lives will inform their decisions.
By Tim Green
This series of reflections on a narrative model for Christian ministry comes from the book Worship Centered Teaching.
By Tim Green
This series of reflections on a narrative model for Christian ministry comes from the book Worship Centered Teaching.
Living An Alternative Story for Extended Adolescence
Barefoot Training - Wednesday, June 08, 2011
The old push back. Someone gives you a nudge and you nudge right back.
I enjoy a good intellectual push back. An intellectual push back helps us gain insight by looking at a situation from a new perspective. It also allows for a more robust dialogue and hopefully a more faithful engagement with the world. So I welcomed Mark Oestreicher’s (Marko) recent article This is Your Brain On Adolescence: A Push Back on Accepted Views of Underdeveloped Brains in the latest issue of Immerse Journal.
I suggest that you read Marko’s article in order to get the nuance of his push back. I won’t try to interpret it hear because it won’t do justice to the article.
Extended Adolescence is Real but Doesn’t Have to Be
Extended adolescence or emerging adulthood is a description of what is some believe to be a distinct developmental stage for people in their twenties. Some practicioners in psychology are attempting to describe the unique tasks that are emerging among the current generation of twenty-somethings who are delaying marriage, career choices, and other choices associated with adulthood.
A few years ago I relocated to Kansas City from rural Ohio. For some who are in more metropolitan areas they will read that and think not much of a change. But there are significant cultural differences between a blue collar rural township (not big enough to be a town) and a metropolitan area. The transition was full of surprises not the least being the realization that extended adolescence was a real phenomenon.
In the community that I came from most youth that I knew where working part-time before the age of 16 or just after. If they didn’t work for wages they had to work on the family farm. So when I encountered extended adolescence or emerging adulthood for the first time I was pissed. There was a group of twenty-somethings who had grown up in the church that I attend in Kansas City. They seemed more interested in playing video games then being adults. They seemed happy to just coast through life on their parents dime and when I asked them about their calling to serve the Lord they responded with blank stares like the pre-teens in my previous faith community.
Now I’ve grown in the few years that I’ve been a part of their life. I’ve seen a couple of them make the transition from adolescence to adulthood. Some are taking their calling as Christ followers as central to their identity and they have accomplished the developmental tasks of adolescence.
My experience makes me believe that extended adolescence doesn’t have to be real. Despite what those writing on emerging adulthood as a new developmental stage might say I believe that this cultural norm isn’t and doesn’t have to always be as it is.
And one of the big issues for me regarding emerging adulthood is the impending social changes that will ensue if it is accepted as a norm. If the historical development of adolescence is any indication of what will happen with extended adolescence then I don’t want any part of it. Colleges will have to start offering 10 year undergraduate degrees to allow 20 year olds time to explore their interests more. The government will have to provide more money to the corporate world for the transitional period of emerging adults to adapt to corporate life. New laws will have to be created to take into special consideration the unique needs of a 28 year old as distinguished from a 33 year old. These imaginative social changes reflect much of the educational, corporate and legal changes that emerged after the acceptance of adolescence as normative. Again, I don’t think this is healthy for a society nor developing persons.
The Way Forward
Whether you agree with Marko’s push back or not, he proposes a way forward that I believe is a type of via media that all youth workers can find some agreement. Marko suggests that we live in the tension between the reality of the cultural norm of extended adolescence and the hope that it doesn’t always have to be normative. Marko explains that to live in these two tensions requires that youth workers both practice being with youth who experience extended adolescence as normative and practice guiding youth into adulthood.
Here are a list of things Marko is doing to live in the tensions of the norm of extended adolescence and being countercultural.
I just finished reading the book Consuming Youth before I read Marko’s article. They would wholeheartedly agree with Marko’s push back that extended adolescences doesn’t have to exist. They would hold that emerging adulthood is a cultural phenomenon and not a distinct psychological and physiological developmental stage.
They suggest that one way the church can respond is by being a community that focuses on vocation for youth and young adults much like Marko’s suggested countercultural actions. They suggest the church promote three destinations for youth’s participation in Christian community.
I suggest taking these tensions and possible ways forward to parents, families, teenagers and young adults in our communities. Let’s get those implicated in this conversation to respond and allow them to create the change in our faith communities and local communities. You can pass around the article for a read but here is another suggestion…
Join Marko and giving a little push back to the cultural norm of extended adolescence. God has given us all we need through Christ active in the community of believers. The church can be an alternative culture that allows, encourages, and guides youth to transition into adulthood in the faith. Let’s embrace our calling and promote a way forward for teens and young adults.
By Paul Sheneman
[1] John Berard, James Penner, and Rick Bartlett, Consuming Youth: Leading Teens Through Consumer Culture (Zondervan, 2010), 71.
[2] Ibid., 73.
I enjoy a good intellectual push back. An intellectual push back helps us gain insight by looking at a situation from a new perspective. It also allows for a more robust dialogue and hopefully a more faithful engagement with the world. So I welcomed Mark Oestreicher’s (Marko) recent article This is Your Brain On Adolescence: A Push Back on Accepted Views of Underdeveloped Brains in the latest issue of Immerse Journal.
I suggest that you read Marko’s article in order to get the nuance of his push back. I won’t try to interpret it hear because it won’t do justice to the article.
Extended Adolescence is Real but Doesn’t Have to Be
Extended adolescence or emerging adulthood is a description of what is some believe to be a distinct developmental stage for people in their twenties. Some practicioners in psychology are attempting to describe the unique tasks that are emerging among the current generation of twenty-somethings who are delaying marriage, career choices, and other choices associated with adulthood.
A few years ago I relocated to Kansas City from rural Ohio. For some who are in more metropolitan areas they will read that and think not much of a change. But there are significant cultural differences between a blue collar rural township (not big enough to be a town) and a metropolitan area. The transition was full of surprises not the least being the realization that extended adolescence was a real phenomenon.
In the community that I came from most youth that I knew where working part-time before the age of 16 or just after. If they didn’t work for wages they had to work on the family farm. So when I encountered extended adolescence or emerging adulthood for the first time I was pissed. There was a group of twenty-somethings who had grown up in the church that I attend in Kansas City. They seemed more interested in playing video games then being adults. They seemed happy to just coast through life on their parents dime and when I asked them about their calling to serve the Lord they responded with blank stares like the pre-teens in my previous faith community.
Now I’ve grown in the few years that I’ve been a part of their life. I’ve seen a couple of them make the transition from adolescence to adulthood. Some are taking their calling as Christ followers as central to their identity and they have accomplished the developmental tasks of adolescence.
My experience makes me believe that extended adolescence doesn’t have to be real. Despite what those writing on emerging adulthood as a new developmental stage might say I believe that this cultural norm isn’t and doesn’t have to always be as it is.
And one of the big issues for me regarding emerging adulthood is the impending social changes that will ensue if it is accepted as a norm. If the historical development of adolescence is any indication of what will happen with extended adolescence then I don’t want any part of it. Colleges will have to start offering 10 year undergraduate degrees to allow 20 year olds time to explore their interests more. The government will have to provide more money to the corporate world for the transitional period of emerging adults to adapt to corporate life. New laws will have to be created to take into special consideration the unique needs of a 28 year old as distinguished from a 33 year old. These imaginative social changes reflect much of the educational, corporate and legal changes that emerged after the acceptance of adolescence as normative. Again, I don’t think this is healthy for a society nor developing persons.
The Way Forward
Whether you agree with Marko’s push back or not, he proposes a way forward that I believe is a type of via media that all youth workers can find some agreement. Marko suggests that we live in the tension between the reality of the cultural norm of extended adolescence and the hope that it doesn’t always have to be normative. Marko explains that to live in these two tensions requires that youth workers both practice being with youth who experience extended adolescence as normative and practice guiding youth into adulthood.
Here are a list of things Marko is doing to live in the tensions of the norm of extended adolescence and being countercultural.
- Learn about emerging adulthood and the challenges facing teenage development
- Allow space in the church for teens to interrupt programs and to have a lack of impulse control.
- Create opportunities for teens to make decisions and allow space for those decisions to be both good and bad.
- Move away from treating teens like children (infantilization) and treat them like teenagers who are moving toward adulthood.
- Promote and create opportunities for meaningful relationships between teenagers and adults.
I just finished reading the book Consuming Youth before I read Marko’s article. They would wholeheartedly agree with Marko’s push back that extended adolescences doesn’t have to exist. They would hold that emerging adulthood is a cultural phenomenon and not a distinct psychological and physiological developmental stage.
They suggest that one way the church can respond is by being a community that focuses on vocation for youth and young adults much like Marko’s suggested countercultural actions. They suggest the church promote three destinations for youth’s participation in Christian community.
- Youth Independence: commitment to youth independence and the right to theological vocation, joyful service, and good accommodation within our faith community.
- Youth Influence: genuine opportunity for youth influence and participation in the community at large.
- Youth Resource: youth commitment, creativity, and critical thinking are viewed as resources[1]
I suggest taking these tensions and possible ways forward to parents, families, teenagers and young adults in our communities. Let’s get those implicated in this conversation to respond and allow them to create the change in our faith communities and local communities. You can pass around the article for a read but here is another suggestion…
- Send a link out to a TED talk to all involved in the youth ministry within your local church[2]http://www.ted.com/talks/kiran_bir_sethi_teaches_kids_to_take_charge.html
- Invite them to have a conversation about their view and your faith community’s view of teenagers and young adults.
- Present Marko’s tensions and three destinations for youth presented above as suggestions on a way forward.
- Challenge them to brainstorm ways that your faith community can guide teens and young adults into adulthood with faith.
- Allow all of them to implement the change in your local church.
Join Marko and giving a little push back to the cultural norm of extended adolescence. God has given us all we need through Christ active in the community of believers. The church can be an alternative culture that allows, encourages, and guides youth to transition into adulthood in the faith. Let’s embrace our calling and promote a way forward for teens and young adults.
By Paul Sheneman
[1] John Berard, James Penner, and Rick Bartlett, Consuming Youth: Leading Teens Through Consumer Culture (Zondervan, 2010), 71.
[2] Ibid., 73.
Participating in the Story of God 6
Barefoot Training - Thursday, June 02, 2011
As we participate in kingdom-culture and as we discover our connectedness to persons across all space and time, all of life begins to be viewed against the backdrop of this Kingdom. Particularly, our very identity is transformed as we see ourselves in light of the kingdom community in which we live.
The kingdom-story begins to shape us. Stories of our origins, our struggles, our victories, and our future begin to mold every aspect of who we are. Rather than measuring our identity according to the yardstick that the dominant culture uses, we increasingly see ourselves in relationship to this Kingdom. Kingdom priorities begin to inform our decisions. Kingdom values begin to shape our relationships. And kingdom hopes begin to mold our dreams.
Narrative God-talkers recognize that the formation of a student’s identity itself is at stake. The language that we are using, the kingdom-culture that we are demonstrating, and the community that we are a part of will provide the backdrop against which our students will come to understand who they are. No doubt, just as the people of God have always had ongoing competition, so will we. The industries and media of our dominant culture have a great deal at stake in shaping the identity of our students. However, we are called to the same boldness and integrity that the people of God have always demonstrated in speaking of another kingdom. Without apology, narrative God-talkers speak of a whole other way of being in this world.
By Tim Green
This series of reflections on a narrative model for Christian ministry comes from the book Worship Centered Teaching.
The kingdom-story begins to shape us. Stories of our origins, our struggles, our victories, and our future begin to mold every aspect of who we are. Rather than measuring our identity according to the yardstick that the dominant culture uses, we increasingly see ourselves in relationship to this Kingdom. Kingdom priorities begin to inform our decisions. Kingdom values begin to shape our relationships. And kingdom hopes begin to mold our dreams.
Narrative God-talkers recognize that the formation of a student’s identity itself is at stake. The language that we are using, the kingdom-culture that we are demonstrating, and the community that we are a part of will provide the backdrop against which our students will come to understand who they are. No doubt, just as the people of God have always had ongoing competition, so will we. The industries and media of our dominant culture have a great deal at stake in shaping the identity of our students. However, we are called to the same boldness and integrity that the people of God have always demonstrated in speaking of another kingdom. Without apology, narrative God-talkers speak of a whole other way of being in this world.
By Tim Green
This series of reflections on a narrative model for Christian ministry comes from the book Worship Centered Teaching.
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