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 - Thursday, March 24, 2011
What
is theology? I can see the blank stares of teenagers in my mind as I
ask that question. The ones I’ve asked typically don’t understand the
question, and few have heard the word theology prior to it. But for me—and I hope for them one day—I understand that theology is remembering and telling meaningful stories.
I
was taught that the nature of religion was humanity’s search for God. I
was also taught that God is the matter of ultimate concern. (Gotta love
Paul Tillich!) And theology is our sorting through the gods in order to find a true God. But how do we sort through the gods? We sort through them in our storied reflection on our experience of those gods.
Take
Vinnie—name slightly changed to slightly protect his identity—as an
example of a teenager telling a meaningful story. He retold several
accounts of his lucrative lawn-mowing business. He proudly pulled his
wad of cash from his pocket and smiled as peers gawked at the spoils of
his toil. He talked about working hard in order to get what you want. He
identified himself as a shrewd business person. The money he earned
provided him praise from others, attention from peers, and the power to
buy.
To
Vinnie, making money through manual labor was meaningful. His stories
revealed that it was a matter of ultimate concern for him. He told his
stories with an absence of the God revealed in Scripture, expressing his
belief of God to be just a god.
His identity flowed from what he created by the work of his hand, so he
believed humans to be autonomous individuals who create their own
fortunes or demises. He believed those who worked hard were blessed and
those who didn’t were cursed.
Vinnie
experienced the god of working for money. That god made sense to him
and quickly became his God. So he talked about his God in meaningful
ways.
Theology
is remembering and telling meaningful stories. Sometimes teens share
stories of their experiences of the God and Father of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Sometimes teens share stories of their experiences of the gods
of fame, money, sexuality, pragmatism, etc. The key for youth workers is
to listen and shepherd teens through their meaningful stories in order
to point out the God who is.
By Paul Sheneman
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Barefoot Training - Thursday, March 03, 2011
My friend Jason and I did a workshop on A World Unbroken a couple of weeks ago. He shared the following poem:
Then he asked everyone to answer a simple question. “What story comes to mind when you hear this poem?”
One
youth pastor shared a story of a teenage boy who was living a life that
was like a crumpled-up something but had great potential, like a
blossoming dream. So the youth pastor put him in his pocket by sharing
his life with the boy and now holds on to the hope that God will
transform him. In this brief exercise, the youth pastor revealed to
everyone three simple truths about people and stories.
First,
when we share a story, it reveals something about ourselves. For the
youth pastor, it was his passion to see God work in the lives of youth.
It also revealed the youth pastor’s enduring hope in a loving and
powerful God.
Second,
the exercise revealed that people communicate meaning through stories.
The youth pastor shared a story with several facts. Those facts would
have no significance to anyone else if he were to list them off in
bullet-point fashion. Instead, by telling a story that incorporated
those facts, the youth pastor created meaning. He even inspired others
to hope in the God who causes our dreams to bloom.
Finally,
a story can connect us, both to God and others. The youth pastor
connected to the rest of the people in the room who were youth workers,
parents, or teenagers because of his story. The words he used to
describe the teenage boy and his hopes for him resonated with everyone’s
passions and desires for youth.
To
share God’s story and our stories together opens teens up to meaningfully connecting
with God and others. And those connections can inspire youth to be transformed into Christ followers.
Questions to Consider:
How do you incorporate sharing stories into youth ministry?
What are some other truths about the relationship between people and stories?
By Paul Sheneman
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Barefoot Training - Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Patience and Forgiveness
These
might be essential traits for transformational youth ministry but my
immediate reply is that no one knows Ted (the name of the student has
been changed so that I can keep my job). Ted was this crazy kid in my
youth group. He loved fun to the point of breaking stuff like lamps,
doors, down spouts, and his own bones.
Don’t
get me wrong. I liked Ted and wanted him around but
patience...forgiveness. Those are just suggestions when it comes to
Ted. Right?
If
you have been in youth ministry for a year and you don’t know this type
of teen then drop to your knees and praise God right now! I'm not kidding. Do it. Right now! Take a pic and tweet it to @BFMinistries
Just joking! Don’t really do that. Or do it and see what happens...
Now
in all seriousness, Ted and youth like him, are a gift to every youth
worker. These are the ones that push us to our relational limits and
take us to a place of either giving up for good or giving up to God.
This is were patience and forgiveness come in.
Teens
are made in the image of God. So they are loved by God just as they
are. They are also cracked, broken, and flawed just like us. The
regular practice of patience, or long suffering if you want to get all
KJV up in this piece, and forgiveness are God’s means of grace to stay
in healthy relationships where sin is a reality.
You
also need to have patience and forgiveness for yourself. You are going
to mess up and fall flat on your face some times. And when you do
fall, just remember to fall before the cross of Christ. It is there
that we hear the call of Jesus to Peter all over again -- “Do you love
me? Feed my sheep.” These words create dependence on and hope in God.
Remember them.
All
this flows into a simple prayer that Jesus keeps teaching us. “Give us
today our daily bread. Forgive us our sin as we forgive those who sin
against us.” When we live into this prayer transformation into the
image of God can happen both for you and teens.
By Paul Sheneman
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Barefoot Training - Wednesday, October 06, 2010
The Barefoot Ministries team was out at NYWC in San Diego this last weekend. It was a busy and high energy time for all.
We were all over the place from meetings to workshops and bookstores to hangout times. The one thing that stuck with me through the whole weekend was a series of interviews that we did. Kara Powell, Brad Griffin, Eric Iverson, Marko, and Andy Root were gracious enough to sit down with us and chat about youth ministry.
One interesting question that all of them answered was, "What is one of the greatest encouragements that you see in youth ministry?" I won't bore you with my thoughts on their comments because we will have some great videos that will be posted on the Barefoot Ministries site in the coming weeks. However, I want to share this strand that moves through all of their answers...youth.
Youth encourage youth workers in ministry. Youth workers from professional to volunteer are being formed with a hope in the ones they serve. This is nothing short then the work of God. Youth workers are taking on the perspective of Christ, who saw fit to hope that God could use a group of Jesus people to change the world. Youth workers reflect Christ when they hope that God will do the same with young people who live in Christ.
By Paul Sheneman
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Comments
down the road to discover the futility of such attempt (not to mention the futility of emotionalism and radicalism) You are on a good track my friend. May we value, respect, appreciate, and learn from our past but also discern today's teens and where the Spirit
of God is moving in student ministry. keep up the great work
a half ago in my first role as youth pastor and it was so very easy and tempting to drop the bombs that would evoke that emotional response. I've found that the marathon is a much better guide in discipleship. I've been learning to assess my students growth
more by the questions they ask than the emotions they portray. Thanks for this thoughtful piece. -Sam PS: I went through the same process with ATF. Thanks for making your thoughts known.