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.
- 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.
A Conversation Partner on the Way Forward
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]
An Exercise For Youth Workers
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.
Conclusion
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.
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Barefoot Training - Tuesday, May 31, 2011
When I was a teenager, my dad and I sat in the woods for hours hunting. Those long hours of silence and whispered conversations reaped less food for our family than they did memorable times with my father. He often talked about beauty and the sense of amazement he felt being in the forest. Our conversations led me to accept that there was a greater reality than I could name at work in our world.
That same sense of wonder and amazement resonates in “The Poetic Echo,” by Jeremy Steele. Jeremy narrates his continuous encounter with God through poetry and science. He puts to words the reality of the thoroughness of God in God’s creation that is helpful both for youth worker and youth.
Jeremy suggests that the church’s practice of youth ministry include training youth “to live in the awareness that we cannot escape the presence of God.” Leaning into a theological conviction born from practical theological reflection, he articulates a doctrine of general revelation that emphasizes the graciousness of God’s self-disclosure to all in and through creation and the humanities. He contrasts this with the articulation of mountaintop events or programs in the church that are depended on for the self-disclosure of the divine.
We need to teach youth that God can be found both in the eventfulness of life and in the ordinary. I come from a tradition that has had on ongoing dialogue regarding the event versus process in the growth of faith. The conclusion I have come to is that it is not an either/or but a both/and reality. There is a whole process of preparation that opens people up to an experience of the divine in the movement toward an event like camp. There is also the reality that the thoroughness of God in God’s creation is a reality that awaits us each and every day.
Let’s find a way to embrace events in the lives of youth and in the lives of our faith communities in such a way that we prepare for new encounters with God as we daily encounter God. Let us emphasize ordinary faith practices in our preparation. Let’s expect God to show up during the event. Then let’s move out from the event, continuing to emphasize ordinary faith practices that sustain our relation to God.
Let’s also practice the sacredness of all of life with youth. From our daily conversations with them to our stories of encountering God, let’s share stories of how God continually reveals himself to us. Let’s become aware of the divide between the secular and sacred that still exists in the North American context and work to counter that assumption with youth.
In the end, I agree with Jeremy that God is everywhere. May the Spirit awaken us to this reality.
By Paul Sheneman
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Barefoot Training - Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Great article (Bonhoeffer’s Discipleship by Jon Wasson in Immerse Journal) and great thoughts. What I have also found linked with radicalism is emotionalism; that somehow the level of emotion that one experiences in their worship, prayer, testimonies, etc, is an accurate gauge of our discipleship and growth as believers.
I speak as one who was quite susceptible to this as a teenager in the youth ministry. Discipleship was about who generated the greatest emotional response to a sermon, music set, at a retreat, an alter call, and so on. One particular night I remember my youth pastor challenging us during a time of corporate confession around a fire to "not hold back and be real before Jesus." As students began to share, I was well aware of my sin and didn't want to 'hide my sin from Jesus.' So, as a 17 year old teenager I shamefully admitted to everyone my battle with lust in front of a group that consisted partially of 12 year old girls. While I believed I was being obedient at the time, I look back at the whole experience and cringe, even though what I shared was definitely the most 'radical.'
Fast forward several years and I find myself as a youth minister. My first year at my church, we attended 'Acquire the Fire' because "that is what our youth group did every year before you became our youth pastor." With the help of smoke machines, loud bands, and youth speakers who can tell gripping stories, ATF has mastered the skill of evoking an emotional response from teenagers. And just like all highs, it is and was just a matter of time until the crash.
My church no longer attends ATF. Every once in awhile a parent or student will come up to me and ask why we don't go anymore or why other churches go and we don't. While my response obviously varies depending on who is doing the asking, my most common response is, "Because discipleship is a marathon... It is a daily decision and a daily directing of our paths toward Christ and in general, I believe ATF suggests something different."
Up until just a year or so ago, I experienced quite a bit of guilt and shame when I would compare our student ministry with that of the one I was a part of during my teenage years. I remember the emotion filled testimonies... I remember worshiping with my peers... I remember some great retreats that we went on together. Honestly, I don't see that as much with the youth ministry at my current church. However, what I have begun to see is something that has less highs and lows and something that appears to be more true and lasting. I have concluded that emotion/emotional response is not something to be avoided, however, it must not be abused in order to evoke an emotional response, which is manipulation.
By Jay McPherson
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Barefoot Training - Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Read “Mama Bears,” by Jen Bradbury, from the March/April edition of Immerse Journal
I was just out of college and confident that I knew more than any person in the local church about all things God. Full of arrogance and testosterone, I jumped headfirst into the solo youth ministry gig. I made the necessary changes to programming to reflect a more relevant youth ministry model. I flexed my intellectual prowess in my theologically rich yet entertaining sermons. I used the perfect mix of sarcasm and empathy to connect with students and give patented Christian life lessons. I was on track to be rookie youth pastor of the year until I encountered a mama bear.
In my desire to open youth to all the “important” experiences of faith, I inadvertently began scheduling multiple events a month. I didn’t see any problem with doubling up in a month, since students were going to learn about service and evangelism. I quickly became aware of the issue(s) it causes when one mother came to me and told me her daughter would not be attending the second event that month.
Innocently, I asked, “Why?”
“It’s a little much for her to participate in two events this month,” she respectfully replied.
In my overconfident and slightly sarcastic way, I replied, “So two events is too much to ask a person to follow Jesus. I can see that.”
I’ll admit those were not the best choice of words, nor was it the best tone of voice. But I was the youth pastor with a college degree, and I knew more than anyone in the local church about all things God. Right?
Well, that respectful mother let me have it. She didn’t stop with my rude and sarcastic comment. She systematically picked apart the paradigm by which I was building my whole youth ministry. From the relevant programming to my patented Christian life lessons, she tore me to pieces. She left me wondering if I was even following Jesus.
I’m glad Jen Bradbury had such a great experience with a mama bear. Her experience reveals in a redeeming way the need for mama bears. And she is correct that we should hope and pray for more of them in our churches.
For those who experience or have experienced a mama bear in a less than positive way, let me just say that they are still needed. My experience led me to rethink several aspects of my relationship with God and others. It also led me to begin the difficult but necessary process of engaging parents and including their voices in the development of youth ministry. It was a much-needed learning experience, even if it was not wanted at the time.
So thanks, Jen, for letting us know about mama bears. I just wish you had told me sooner.
By Paul Sheneman
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Barefoot Training - Wednesday, March 30, 2011
“There is a difference between a business and a ministry, and we walk a dangerous path when we forget this.”
How important is wisdom to you?
Christian wisdom formation refers to our ongoing journey of imagining, gaining insights, and deciding how to live as faithful and responsible Christians. It’s rare to find an emphasis on Christian wisdom in youth ministry and even harder to find those who publish articles laced with it. But that is exactly what I found in Amy Jacober’s article, “Holistic Discipleship,” in the current issue of Immerse Journal.
Amy poses the question, “What if leadership wasn’t the goal but what happened along the way to doing what is right?” This insightful question both subverts much of the contemporary conversations on leadership in youth ministry and reorients leadership around discipleship. The question also sends Amy into a journey in search of wisdom for leadership and discipleship. The journey leads her to embrace several insights through the mentorship of a Ghanan pastor named Asare and her studies in leadership and discipleship.
I have used Amy’s insights as a way to evaluate my life and ministry during this Lenten season. I did this evaluation with a ministry friend who had also read Amy’s article, and it proved fruitful for both of us.
So I encourage you to join me in evaluating your life and ministry in order to grow in wisdom.
Click here for the evaluation.
By Paul Sheneman
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Barefoot Training - Tuesday, February 22, 2011
“Then
a brilliant college professor taught me...that each of us are
mini-trinities, we’re three-in-ones—minds, spirits and bodies all
wrapped into one being (Mark 12:30; 1 Thessalonians 5:23).”
-Laurin Makohon, “The Journey to Becoming More.” Immerse Journal Jan/Feb 2011 issue.
We are a unity of head, heart, and hands.
This
revelation of our humanity led Laurin Makohon on a personal journey to
engage the fullness of life that God created us to live. What we catch a
glimpse of in Laurin’s story is a picture of what youth ministry and
youth’s lives can be.
After
reading Laurin’s article, I began to imagine how my students are
already experiencing the fullness of the life of faith described in
Laurin’s story. They already encounter God through their minds,
feelings, and actions because the Holy Spirit is always present in their
lives. And I thought, What would it look like if I did a qualitative assessment of my students through this lens?
A
qualitative assessment in this instance gleans stories of how teens
encounter God through their heads, hearts, and hands in order to discern
their awareness of God’s activity and the impact that it has made on
their lives of faith. If you have been following the Barefoot Training
articles, then you know my definition for faith. With this definition I came up with two questions for each of the three dimensions of our humanity.
I
encourage you to ask your students these simple questions in small
groups or in casual conversations. It will open up the exploration of
the fullness of the lives of faith God has in store for them.
If you are looking to go deeper with your assessment and connect it to spiritual growth, then check out this article, by Mark Maddix.
By Paul Sheneman
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Barefoot Training - Tuesday, February 08, 2011
Questions
scare me. They push me to reflect on my own ideas, actions, and
attitudes. Questions can lead to new possibilities that are
unpredictable. The bottom line is that questions are uncontrollable.
And if I am honest, I admit the one thing that I don’t want is to lose
control in youth ministry.
When
I read Jim Kast-Keat’s Praxis column titled “Ahh, That’s a Good
Question” in Immerse Journal, I found that his youth ministry practice
of encouraging youth to ask questions is uncontrollable and filled with
possibilities. He convinced me that losing control in youth ministry is
alright.
His
question practice is quite simple. He hands out note cards to everyone
(teens and small group leaders) and asks them to write down a question
concerning the night’s teaching. During the small group time the
leaders give time for everyone to read and explore their question. The
point of the practice is not simply to find answers but to unearth
deeper questions.
I gave Jim's question practice a whirl with my youth group.
I am excited to report that one of the outcomes is that the teens began
to teach and encourage one another. They heard the questions of others
and felt safe to share their perspective. It led to one of the best learning moments in our youth group.
I
recommend giving Jim Kast-Keat’s question practice a try in your youth
ministry. It might open up your group to new possibilities even if it
means that you lose control.
By Jim Pearce
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Barefoot Training - Tuesday, January 25, 2011
The
pressure was too much for me some days in that quasi-studio classroom. A
crazy-haired former hippie rambled about expressions and feelings
pouring out of us and into objects. I found it difficult to express what
I wanted for lunch in junior high, let alone create something that
connected to my emotions. To say the least, my introduction to the
practice and appreciation of art was difficult.
The
story was completely opposite for me in science and math. It was like
the world of analytical thinking was weaved into my DNA. I hummed the
melody of the scientific method before I could articulate it. Thus, in
my early years, I cried a silent slogan, “Death to art! Long live
science!”
But years later, I read a little book that would pull me back into the world of art, Henry Nouwen’s Return of the Prodigal Son.
The deep connection Nouwen articulates in his reflections on
Rembrandt’s painting “Return of the Prodigal Son” stirred my emotions
and convinced me of God’s consuming love for me. Nouwen’s journey into
the life God through the painting and the parable reformed my journey.
I was pleased to find the heartbeat of Nouwen when I read “Pleasures of the Imagination: Developing the Relationship Between Aestheticism and the Church,” by Aaron Mitchum in the current issue of Immerse Journal.
Mitchum weaves together a story of human and divine connectedness
through the practice and appreciation of art. At the end of his call for
a way of knowing through beauty in the church is a great narrative for
cultivating creative environments in youth ministry.
I share it here with permission from the author.
Most
nights, I sit in our hall bathroom and watch my 12-month-old son in the
bathtub. It’s by far his favorite time of day. Why? I don’t know, but I
have a theory. Bath time is a structured, free and shared environment
in which creativity is completely encouraged.
Structured
There
is a set place of activity—namely, inside the bathtub. Elliott (my son)
knows he is limited by the physical space of that porcelain rectangle.
There are a limited amount of toys (right now, it’s two plastic books, a
rubber duck and the shampoo bottle). There is also a limited amount of
time and physics (i.e., he can’t stay in there forever, and he can’t
breathe under water).
Free
Inside
the structure, Elliott is encouraged to go nuts. Sing, splash, explore
and examine; create narratives with his toys and his mysterious
baby-talk language; as well as anything else he can think of. The
combination of structure and freedom is inspiring. It leads to a greater
depth of enjoyment in his bath as well as toleration for the actual
washing that has to happen right at the end so as to justify the wet
floor.
Shared
Although
Elliott laughs and carries on by himself, our enjoyment is increased
because we are there together. When our eyes meet and we start laughing
over what he’s doing, we are both lifted by his creativity.
My
hope is that youth workers form creative spaces for youth. Not to make
all youth artists but that all youth might recognize that creativity,
whether it is in the discipline of visual art, music, science, math, or
literature, is a part of their identity as persons.
Questions to Consider:
How do you steward environments of creativity in youth ministry?
What are some of the challenges to creating those environments?
By Paul Sheneman
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Barefoot Training - Tuesday, January 11, 2011
“As
in all generations religious education takes place within the trends
and the vision of the times. Even when education or the church ignores
such trends, they have their effect, for such trends are woven into the
everyday customs and practices of all people in a myriad of ways.” -Donald E. Miller
Missional. Missionary God. Missional Church.
You
can say what you want about the importance or value of the missional
conversation in the last 20 years but one thing that you can’t ignore is
the formative effect the trend has had on the church. The books,
groups, trainings, conferences, courses, and media created
with the term “missional” is incredible. Therefore, instead of
ignoring the trend, youth workers will do well to engage the
conversation to see what worth it has for young people.
In the current issue of Immerse Journal, Alan Roxburgh has an article, Can the West Be Converted?,
which sets forth the core challenge of the missional conversation. He
writes, “The worst thing we can do to our youth is bore them with
questions of how to make the church work or which styles and types of
church are worth their attention…There is far, far more at stake than
these frivolous diversions.” Roxburgh claims that the challenge of the
missionary God is nothing less than the remaking of culture.
Read the article here.
Wow!
The remaking of culture is a huge challenge. It is a scary challenge.
To be quite honest I have my doubts and fears that it can be
accomplished. However, instead of ignoring this challenge, I think that
it is important that youth workers, myself included, engage this
challenge. Therefore, I created a discussion guide to go along with the
article with the hopes that it will foster local conversations.
Free Discussion Guide
I
created the guide to be used in youth ministry team meetings but I
think that it can be used with a network of youth leaders. If you don't have either one of those then consider me a part of your youth worker network and email or comment with your thoughts.
Peace be with you.
Resources to Go Deeper with the Article:
Missional Church
Celtic Christianity
Celtic Daily Prayer
A Walk Through the Bible - a narrative of the missionary God
By Paul Sheneman
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