The Journey to Becoming More in Youth Ministry

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

Comments (2) | Trackbacks (0) | Permalink

Context and Youth Ministry

Barefoot Training - Friday, February 11, 2011

A phrase that gets repeated throughout the Barefoot Training manuals is, “The story of God as the context…” We explain that the story of God is the context for our participation in God’s mission, theology, calling, and identity. What we don’t make explicit in the training is the definition of context in relation to youth ministry.

Context has two primary definitions. First, it is the components of a discourse that surround a word or passage and can throw light on its meaning (Merriam-Webster). We typically encounter this definition when we are preparing to teach on the Scriptures. We study the parable of the prodigal son in the context of the entire chapter in which it appears; in the context of the entire gospel of Luke; and the context of the entire Bible in order to understand its meaning. Context also means the interrelated conditions in which something exists or occurs (Merriam-Webster). We practice this definition when we try to understand the circumstances surrounding a teenager jumping out of a tree and breaking an arm.

The second definition is what we refer to when we talk about youth ministry. We are attempting to tell a true story that will embrace the interrelated conditions in which youth ministry exists. The circumstances—or setting—of contemporary youth ministry could be narrated in many ways. We could talk about all the social circumstances leading up to the emergence of contemporary youth ministry. Or we could describe the psychological circumstances that necessitate contemporary youth ministry. But these stories would be incomplete and would ignore some of the interrelated conditions in which youth ministry exists.

Our conviction is that youth ministry—as an activity of the church—is best understood in the context of God’s story. The story of God embraces all of life (social, psychological, historical, cultural, etc.), starting before creation and projected out in hope to the new creation. We also believe that the story of God gives meaning and direction for youth ministry. In God’s story, we find the reason for caring for youth, performing and proclaiming the good news of Jesus, playing games together, crying together, calling youth to serve others in Jesus’ name, etc. Outside of the story of God, these activities lose their context and meaning.

Next week we will dig into the relationship between story and people. For now, I wonder how you describe the circumstances for youth ministry?

By Paul Sheneman

Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) | Permalink

Death to Art

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

Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) | Permalink

Essential Traits of Transformational Youth Ministry 13

Barefoot Training - Thursday, January 13, 2011

This is the final post in the Essential Traits of Transformational Youth Ministry series. It is fitting to end the series with Jesus since he is the champion and perfecter of our transformation.

Jesus is Lord

At the heart of transformational youth ministry is the desire to faithfully practice the way of Jesus. In other words, the confession Jesus is Lord has implications on the way of life for communities of young people.

Service - Diakonia
First, faithful practice of the way of Jesus implies that youth ministry leads communities of young people into living out lives of service. These lives of service are revealed to be incarnational, which means they meet people where they are. Service in the way of Jesus will always point people toward God and God’s kingdom. Finally, Jesus’ life of service calls us to serve those who are our enemies.

Worship - Liturgia
Second, to confess Jesus as Lord implies that communities of youth will worship God. Worship in the way of Jesus flows in and through all the activities of life. Thus, young people will be guided into offering all their actions, thoughts, and emotions to God for his glory.

Fellowship - Koinonia
Fellowship in the way of Jesus is more than pizza, dodge ball, and swimming. It is a full commitment to being open and vulnerable to others for the sake of loving God and others, like Jesus. Youth ministries stereotypically practice camaraderie well. Our commitment as youth workers must be to continue to journey toward fellowship in the way of Jesus.

Teaching - Didache
Teaching in Jesus’ life flowed from a commitment to Scripture, community, and the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Jesus was committed to teaching about God’s participation, revealed both within the writings of Israel and in the contemporary life of the Jewish people. Finally, there was an authority in his teaching that was unlike the other teachers of his day. The church has known this same authority when it has accepted the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Proclamation - Kerygma
Finally, youth ministry in the way of Jesus will proclaim the gospel of God in Jesus. Jesus proclaimed the kingdom of God being present in his life and actions. We are to continue that proclamation to a world that yearns for the peace and healing of God’s kingdom. Our communities of young people need to be able to articulate the message clearly.

Questions to Consider
What other implications does the confession Jesus is Lord have for youth ministry?
How do you incorporate the life of Jesus into the practices of youth ministry?

By Paul Sheneman

Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) | Permalink

The Challenge of the Missionary God for Youth Ministry

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

Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) | Permalink

Essential Traits of Transformational Youth Ministry 12

Barefoot Training - Thursday, January 06, 2011

Participation in God's Mission

God’s mission: A phrase that gets thrown around a lot in the contemporary church. It gets tagged to church campaigns for fundraisers. It gets slapped on promotional items for a missionary support service. It gets thrown out in conversations on evangelism, discipleship, worship, and social justice. God’s mission is identified with so many things that it seems meaningless to most youth workers. All of this begs the question, What is God’s mission?

Before we answer that question, let’s lay out what God’s mission is not.

God’s mission is not...
●     A missionary in a foreign country.
●     A Super Bowl party outreach event.
●     A small group ministry.
●     A homeless shelter.
●     Evangelism.
●     The Great Commission.

What is God’s Mission?
First, God’s mission begins with God. The Triune God was, is, and will be a sending God. The confession that the Father sent the Son and the Father and Son sent the Spirit is the confession that God is a sending God.

The church is reawakening to the realization that we serve a sending God. The church is learning that the missionary orientation of the church does not have its origin in the church (i.e., Great Commission). No, the church is a missionary church because it serves a missionary God who has commissioned the church to go.

Second, God’s mission is revealed to humanity in God’s participation in the world. The ultimate revelation of this participation is in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, God’s Messiah. God’s mission in Jesus to proclaim freedom to the prisoner, recovery of sight to the blind, to release the oppressed, and to preach good news to the poor reveals the way of God in the world. The ends that Jesus went to to accomplish the will of God reveal that the scope of God’s reconciling and redemptive work is to restore the world to its intended purpose or wholeness.

So What?
When we get to this point in our training, some people ask, “So what?” Well, the revelation and foundation of God’s story and our theological reflection implicate us in God’s mission. We are called to become participants in God’s mission through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, God’s Messiah. The implication is that we are identified as Christ followers, or Christians. The implication is also that the church is to be a missionary church. The youth are to be missionary youth. The youth ministry is to be focused on a missionary God.

Transformational youth ministry is oriented toward guiding youth into participation in God’s mission. That guiding could include practices like serving at a homeless shelter, evangelism, small group participation, or hosting a Super Bowl party for friends. As students practice these means of grace, they begin to lean into God’s mission and are transformed as they encounter the Triune God, who is working to restore the world to its intended wholeness.

By Paul Sheneman

Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) | Permalink

Essential Traits of Transformational Youth Ministry 10

Barefoot Training - Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Engaging the Whole Family 3: What is the Family?

The value of defining the family for our contemporary content is that it gives us orientation in our engagement. If we can’t name the thing that we encounter, how can we have a meaningful experience? We have a word for God that has some meaning, and that concept seems a lot more complex than family.

So tell me, what is the family? I want to know because, for the life of me, I can’t find one definition that does justice to the multiple realities of family that I experience. For example, I’ve seen heads of households be single, biological parents, biological grandparents with single parents, two biological parents, two legal parents with no biological relation, one legal parent with no biological relation, two legal parents who are also the biological uncle and aunt, and the list could go on. And then try to account for sibling relationships, and I almost want to give up on ever finding a definition.

But what if we moved away from a sociological or structural definition? What if we tried a theological definition?

Here is my stab at it:

Family – a supportive and formative group of people, connected through a common biological lineage or covenant, who are meant to learn and practice the worship of God through their relationships with God, each other, and the world.

Does that definition sound familiar? I hope so because the definition is derived from a definition of the church. And here is my bias in favor of this definition. I think the church is called to be the family of faith for the world.

I also think the definition helps youth and family ministers imagine that the goal of families is to become “little churches,” in the words of Jonathan Edwards. And the concept of families becoming little churches corresponds to Diana Garland’s sociological research of more than 100 families. Her research revealed faith practices as an essential element of family life. As a complement to that research, Marjorie Thompson’s book argues that spiritual formation naturally happens in families in both positive and negative ways. Therefore, we can conclude that families are going to worship something. It is the role of the church to be the family of faith that invite them into the worship of God.

Questions to Consider:
What is your definition of family?
What do you think about the above definition of family?
What do we do with this definition of family?

By: Paul Sheneman

Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) | Permalink

Essential Traits of Transformational Youth Ministry 9

Barefoot Training - Monday, December 20, 2010

Engaging the Whole Family 2: Nuclear Family

Let’s get this bit o’ info out of the way. The nuclear family is depicted as two parents bonded together in a love-based marriage with biological children. The nuclear family is also referred to as the “domestic family.” Some even refer to the nuclear family as the “traditional family,” as though it has been the longest-enduring family structure in history. And some even hold up the nuclear family as the goal of Christian relationships.

However, the nuclear family is not the longest-enduring family structure, and it is most certainly not the family structure throughout biblical history. In fact, it has only been in the last 200 years that the “traditional” family has emerged. In regards to the love-based marriage, Stephanie Coontz writes, “It took more than 150 years to establish the love-based, male breadwinner marriage as the dominant model in North America and Western Europe. It took less than 25 years to dismantle it (247).”

What’s the point of all this talk about the nuclear family? The point is that it is not biblical to hold up the nuclear family as the goal of Christian relationships for youth and families. Diana Garland argues that nuclear family terms like parent, child, brother, and sister are used in Scripture but not to limit familial relations to the nuclear family. Instead, they are terms God’s people use to relate to others across social and cultural boundaries of family units. Naomi and Ruth are a great example of this use of the language. Jesus is another great example when he points to his family being a community of God’s people (Mark 3:33-35).

David Elkin’s work reveals that there has been a major shift in the structure of the family that corresponds to the shift from the modern period to the postmodern period. He suggests that the best way to describe the family unit in the postmodern context is “permeable.” This type of family structure is neither good nor bad—it is simply contextual.

Marjorie Thompson takes us one step further and suggests that we embrace all family structures in the life of the church. She argues that all families are called to learn the way of God from the church. She adds that it is the church’s responsibility to teach families how to practice the means of grace that are common to it (acceptance, encouragement, loving challenge, forgiveness, reconciliation, and hospitality) in Christian ways.

A transformational approach to youth ministry will engage all family structures as being a place where God can work and transform all members into Christ followers. In this approach we must not slip into the habit of offering one family structure as the biblical solution to family challenges.

By: Paul Sheneman

Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) | Permalink

Essential Traits of Transformational Youth Ministry 7

Barefoot Training - Friday, December 03, 2010

Engaging the Whole Biblical Narrative

Have you ever had a teen ask, “What’s the first part of the Bible about?”

It happened to me when I was teaching on Jesus’ parable of the kingdom. One of the teens had brought a friend. The friend had an inquisitive look on her face during most of the lesson. At the end she eagerly raised her hand. When she had every person’s attention, the friend enthusiastically waved the paperback Bible back and forth by the spine and asked, “Where is the story of Jesus? What part of this is about Jesus?”

An eager volunteer college student quickly chirped, “It’s all about Jesus.”

To which the friend replied with great disappointment in her voice, “So I have to read the whole thing to find out about Jesus.”

Another kindhearted volunteer replied, “Not at all. Here, just read this part.” And he proceeded to point out the gospel of John.

In amazement, she responded by holding the portion from Genesis to Luke in her hand and began waving it back and forth in the air and asked, “What’s this part about then?”

During our training, we find that youth workers agree with both of the volunteers’ perspectives. They eagerly agree that the whole Bible, Genesis to Revelation, is about Jesus. But if we push them to answer which parts of the Bible are essential, youth workers choose the gospels.

Transformational youth ministry poses another question that reveals the necessity of engaging the whole biblical narrative. The question is, “Why is Jesus so important?” This is not just an apologetic question but also a hermeneutics question. More to the point it, is what the friend in my youth ministry wanted to know. She recognized the great importance of Jesus in our lesson, and she was searching for a way to get an answer to, “Why Jesus?”

We must confess that neither the gospels nor the New Testament alone have a big enough answer. First, the New Testament authors are drawing from an inspired imagination of the Old Testament. So we can’t hope to begin to understand their messages without the rest of Scripture. Second, it is the dramatic story from creation to new creation that gives the ground-shaking, cosmic picture of God’s mission in Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. If we stick to just teaching the New Testament, then we will be giving teens a smaller answer to, “Why is Jesus so important?”

Youth workers have begun to recognize the necessity of engaging the whole narrative. Some of the practices emerging are following the lectionary, chronological Bible storytelling, teaching series on the meta-narrative of the Bible, and reading narrative Bibles as a youth group. All of these are hopeful signs that the whole narrative of the Bible is being valued in youth ministry.

Questions to Consider:
How do you incorporate the whole Bible into youth ministry?
What practices for engaging the whole narrative would you add to the list?

By: Paul Sheneman

Comments (1) | Trackbacks (0) | Permalink

Essential Traits of Transformational Youth Ministry 5

Barefoot Training - Monday, November 08, 2010

Chaotic and Messy

Change can be managed but transformation can only be embraced. Several youth workers opt for manageable change because the alternative is too unpredictable and messy. A recent story from my youth ministry will illustrate this point.
We have been managing a discipline challenge with new youth joining our community. The heart of the discipline issue is a lack of patience, forgiveness, and trust within the whole group, adults included. This all came to a head during some group activities.

We were playing a game that called for the group to form two teams. I explained the game and we started into it. Some people seemed confused about the rules and others began yelling at those who were confused. The yelling moved to one team taunting the other team. I was shocked at how behaviors degraded and a competitive environment was spawned.

I thought that I should take charge and manage the environment but I also sensed that maybe God had something in store for all of us in light of the current discipline challenge. So not only did I not step in to diffuse the situation but I amped up the competitive rhetoric.

As we transitioned into the next activity, the two teams where at each other’s throats. The whole thing could have spiraled out of control with a dehumanizing comment or physical confrontation but I sensed God had control of the situation. So we pressed ahead and all the ugliness of our groups lack of patience, forgiveness, and trust presented itself. We ended the activities with one team chanting their victories at the defeated team.

We then moved into a time of debriefing. Keeping the comments at the level of the whole team, we explored how the teams interacted and how teams worked together. The teens and adults were honest and open. They confessed their short comings and their disappointments. Then we explored how our actions were like or dislike the character of Jesus.

It clicked with all of them. The big issue that all of us are facing is how unlike Jesus we are with one another. All of a sudden the comments became much more humble and forgiving. Teens encouraged those they had just trash talked minutes ago. Adults asked for forgiveness and teens extended it to them. Patience was given by all as each person talked about their experience of the chaotic activities.

Could I have managed things better? Maybe, but I honestly believe that had I attempted to manage the situation in an authoritarian manner that our whole group would have missed out on a transformational moment. We would not have recognized that each of our actions contributes to the creation of a toxic environment.

Transformation comes through the chaotic and messy moments of life. It is wild and unmanageable. So when it comes we must simply embrace it and hope God will bring good out of it. If we choose to manage then we must settle for change.

By Paul Sheneman

Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) | Permalink

BareFoot

Barefoot Training Articles

The Journey to Becoming More in Youth Ministry

Comments

Post a Comment

Context and Youth Ministry

Comments

Post a Comment

Death to Art

Comments