Category Archives: Religion

Who, Me? Part 2

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So I had this problem:  How do I minister to youth when I really don’t like “youth ministry”?

The ministry opportunity I talked about in my last post (the one I feel very un-qualified for) happens to be ministering to youth at my church.  If you asked me a year ago if I would want to be a youth director I would have said “no”.  Well, I would have laughed at you first, but then I would have said “no”.  Why?  If I can be honest with you (and it’s my blog, so I can be), I can’t stand most youth ministry programs.  If I can be ridiculously honest with you (again, I can), I think most of them are bloated with meaningless programs and anemic when it comes to teaching, training and equipping youth to be ready to be a Christian in a very non-Christian world.

I’ve struggled over the past few weeks to look for either a model for ministry or for resources to use as curriculum if (it isn’t official yet) I were to be a part of starting a youth ministry at my church.  At this point I’m seriously asking God “WHY ME!?” because I am NOT a youth director.  I know of a lot of guys who do youth ministry and I don’t fit in — I cannot imagine myself at a youth worker’s convention…

But then God (three of my favorite words) rescued me from my despair.  He reminded me of the one moment in my life when I had a favorable view of youth ministry.  For about a year of my life, I wanted nothing more than to be a part of the high school youth group.

I’m an Army brat and spent 5th grade through 8th grade in Frankfurt and Mannheim, Germany.  In the 8th grade I was moderately involved in a middle school youth group run by Malachi Youth Ministries, which is the youth division of Cadence International.  My brother was actively involved in the high school youth group and I could not wait to be a part of it the following year.  Maybe it was because they went to Ibiza, Spain for a Europe-wide youth conference.  Looking back, the deeper reason was I wanted to be treated like they were treated — like a young adult.  Of course, we would move back to Texas before I had this opportunity, and I have yet to see a youth program run the same way since.

Thanks to a few conversations with my brother and the power of the Internet I finally feel like I can do this.  I can see that it’s just ministry.  It’s ministering to youth, and I can do that.  It doesn’t have to look like everybody else’s youth program — and it probably won’t.

On the other hand, I could be COMPLETELY wrong about all of this and crash and burn in my attempt at leading youth into a deeper relationship with Christ… Life is more exciting when failure highly likely!

Here’s a video from Malachi Youth Ministries that gives a little insight into their ministry.  Enjoy.


Malachi Military Youth Ministries has a heart for military students! from Cadence International on Vimeo.

I can’t read…

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This happens to me every time I read practical books (my favorite kind);  I get a few paragraphs or pages into a chapter and I have to put the book down to ponder a nugget of knowledge on a grander scale.  This just happened to me again with Adler’s “How to Read a Book”.

“If the author uses a word in one meaning, and the reader reads it in another, words have passed between them, but they have not come to terms.  Where there is unresolved ambiguity in communication, there is no communication, or at best communication must be incomplete.  Just look at the word “communication” for a moment.  Its root is related to the word “common.”  We speak of a community as a group of people who have something in common.”

After I read that, I immediately began to consider it in context of the Church.  The Church is a community of people who have one thing in common;  faith in Jesus Christ.  We come from every age, race, ethnicity, and socio-economic background, yet we (the Church) all have the same thing in common.  If we look at local churches as being a part of the greater Church, then they all should be equal.  If the local body professes faith in Christ and evidence of this faith is present (the fruits of the Spirit), then the Baptist church next to the Pentecostal church next to the Bible church are all equal.  So, then how do I choose a church to be a part of?

I’ve wrestled with this for the better part of this year.  Could I be so arrogant to think that I will choose the “best” local church?  Is there even such a thing?  If they are a part of the Church, as I am, does anything else matter when it comes to deciding on a church?  What if I could look past all of the differences and see the one true commonality — I think it could make all the difference.

I’ve been considering proximity as my main factor, which should be interesting.  The four churches within a mile of my apartment (why so many??) are, in order of proximity: First United Pentecostal Church, Vineyard Christian Fellowship, Glennwood Church of Christ and Rice Road Church of Christ.  Definitely out of my comfort zone.

One day, we’ll all focus on being the Church instead of going to church.

Bigger is Better?

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Recently the University of North Texas has seen a steady increase in the number of students enrolled, which now approaches 35,000.  With some classes filled to capacity at 500 students, the University has decided to take an interesting approach to resolve space issues.  This fall the University began construction of a new auditorium style classroom which will hold nearly 2,000 students.  The plan will be to consolidate multiple sections of courses, like freshman English, into fewer, larger sections.  “Students want to be in larger classes with their peers because it creates a sense of community” said one University official.  “It only makes sense; it’s hard to feel like your taking the same class when you’re not there at the same time and place.”  The University is already making plans to create even larger lecture halls in the coming years to accommodate future growth.

In addition to the added sense of community, students have noted that larger classes make it easier to learn.  “I’m not worried about getting called on in class or being required to participate — it’s not really my learning style.  I feel I learn more when I can just listen to the lecture and take notes”, said one student.  “Sometimes I don’t even have to go to class because I can get the lectures online now.  This is a real plus for me with my busy schedule.”

The new classroom will cost approximately $10 million dollars to complete and will include a number of amenities to aid in learning such as plasma screen T.V.’s and stadium style seating.  The University hopes to secure the needed funds by asking each student to commit to donating an undetermined amount of money each month for several years.  “We don’t want to say how much it will cost each student because each student is different and we hope they will seriously consider how much they will be able to contribute over the next 3-5 years.”

Sounds absurd?

If “bigger is better” doesn’t work in the classroom, why do we think it works for the Church?

Local?

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I had a great conversation with Adam the other day about Church and it either confirmed that I’m NOT crazy OR that we are BOTH equally crazy.  I’m hoping for the former.  I’d love to  hear your opinions on the matter as well.

Really, my thoughts can be summed up into church size.  I have seen no spiritual advantages of a congregation of 5,000 people vs a congregation of 100.  Oh, I have seen some of the amazing things a large congregation can do because of their resources — but what positive affect does a larger congregation have on an individual’s spiritual growth?  I can’t think of any.

If you didn’t already know, I’m a member of the Village Church (which technically makes me Baptist despite my Wesleyan and Methodist roots) which is a multi-site, multiple thousand member church with an average weekly attendance of around 5,000 people across 9 different services in 2 locations.  The church’s small group model is that of “we are a church of small groups” — meaning the idea is to have everyone apart of a smaller group, which is where community is suppose to happen.  Home group leaders rely on home group coaches (each coach responsible for 3-5 leaders) and those coaches rely on area pastors for support.  Membership at the Village requires being in a home group.  In theory, every member would then be a part of a small group and a that group a part of a number of groups creating mini churches which breaks the 2000+ membership into much more manageable and practical numbers.

I’ve seen the flow chart, and I think it’s a great idea — but I haven’t seen a working example.  I’ve been to the home group leader retreat and listened to the new plan to make all of our ministries fit into our group model but I don’t really see how they intend to make this all work.  I don’t understand why we don’t plant more churches… or… equip and train people to go and serve in congregations where we already live.

My local church is anything BUT local for most of us who attend — why is that?  How much more effective would the local church be if it were local?  What do you think?  How far do you go to “go to church”?