Great article (Bonhoeffer’s Discipleship by Jon Wassonin 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.
Jay well said. Since you and I grew up in the same youth group, I understand and appreciate your honest reflections and feedback. Its funny but when I first arrived on the scene in NY I tried to model my youth group around the one we grew up in, only years
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
How tempting it is to evoke emotion. How guilty I've been of attempting to do so. In a world of measuring by the numbers, how many people cried the last youth group is a tempting, but cheap way to measure the value of a youth ministry. I began a year and
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.
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.
Question to the youth group: We learned about the Exodus a couple of months ago. Who led the people out of Egypt?
Youth Group Reply: Silence. Blank stares.
The youth workers worse fear. We think that we have taught and we find out no one learned. We assumed they were getting it and we find that they were being polite as they quietly nodded during those months of lessons.
The need for evaluation in youth ministry is known by most youth workers. Some stumble into the need through experience and others are taught to evaluate lessons, activities, and events from the beginning. Either way evaluation is important.
The Pew Institute has recently evaluated the U.S. on Religious Knowledge. Most of the headlines report that Atheists know more about religion than religious people. The reports state Christians, Protestant and Catholic, are some of the least knowledgeable.
Whether you think that the 32 question survey is incomplete like Rick Meigs or you see some of the results as shocking like Chris at Gospel.com, you have to admit that the evaluation is necessary. Therefore, I think that the Pew Research Center's survey on U.S. Religious Knowledge affords youth workers a unique opportunity to evaluate teens basic religious knowledge online. Pew has placed a 15 question quiz here. The 15 questions are similar to the 32 questions presented in the survey.
I suggest that youth workers could use this online quiz as a discussion starter and an evaluation. The discussion might lead to some unexpected holy conversations. The evaluation aspect might lead to a great set of lessons on world religions which lead your students to live faithful lives in their pluralistic society.
A few years ago I wrote an article for one of the youth ministry journals challenging leaders to give a test to their students to see what they actually learned. You can't believe the negative response I got from people who told me I was expecting too much.
Great article! Keep it up!
Glen
john dettoni commented on 24-Nov-2010 01:02 PM
ah, yes: evaluation. In my now no longer available textbook on Youth Ministry is a whole chapter on evaluation. Sadly, the book is a textbook, something that most youth workers avoid in their attemtp to keep the circus of attracting youth until the kids leave for college and then often leave their "faith." All because seldom is any reasonable evaluation even attempted. Just keep the numbers up and the kids happy --until they happily depart.
I was going to write a blog article on how alarming this information was too but after really digging into the data I found that most of the headlines in the secular press was completely misleading.
While they seemed to be stating that Christians today a dummies about their religion the data actually show that Christians don't have much knowledge of other world religions. In any case it has been my assertion for a long time that our teens (tomorrows church) does need a better historical education about their faith. The good part about the study showed that Christians today are very spiritual. We've been concentrating on the relationship with Jesus/God not necessarily the knowledge of God.
Evaluation is essential to strike a balance and build the Spiritual Armor we all need.
Barefoot Training is designed to inspire, challenge, and equip you to guide your students into Christian
formation for the mission of God. Each training experience offers an interactive environment where you are
able to design, create, and nurture a biblically based, Christ-centered youth ministry in your church and
community.
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.