Youth Ministry and Me

Saw this video of a new Regina Spektor song, Laughing with over on Josh Harris' blog. It's an interesting song with interesting words. If you can't understand the lyrics from listening to the song, they are on Josh's blog.

My brother posts an open letter here to the media on an issue that has bugged me about the Australian Press (is it more universal??) calling any controversy, the 'x-gate' affair.

Perhaps this lack of creativity and understanding by all Australian media should be labeled the 'media-gate' affair?

Click here to read an article I wrote for Willow Creek Australia's WILLOW magazine.

All of us have heroes, people we want to grow up and be like (or if we've already grown up, just become more like). Some of them are people we know, friends, family members, pastors, school teachers; Others are people we admire from afar, 'famous' people, authors, pastors of big churches, sports people, actors, Michael Jackson. Another fact of life is that some people will want to become like us! That little 13 year old boy who you always say hello to at church might want to become just like you, you might become one of his heroes.

It is quite possible that there are youth in my ministry who want to become like me, a humbling thought, but also a pretty darn scary one! Is this a good or a bad thing? Should I be honoured or troubled by this? After all, I want my youth to become more like Jesus not more like Chris Bowditch.

John Piper recently blogged about this in a blog post titled, Hero Worship and Holy Emulation. Piper is a man who many many people look up to. So it's a good idea to seek his wisdom on the matter. He distinguishes between these two types of admiration:

Hero worship means admiring someone for unholy reasons and seeing all he does as admirable (whether it’s sin or not). Holy emulation, on the other hand, sees evidences of God’s grace, and admires them for Christ’s sake, and wants to learn from them and grow in them.

So for Piper Holy Emulation is ok. And I think he makes his case well from the Scriptures he quotes.

This is a good check-up if you are guilty of hero worshipping some of those superstar pastors in the USA and thinking they can do no wrong. Of course, for those pastors we don't know, hero worship becomes easy. You don't know them that well, so you're less aware of their faults which means your more susceptible to hero worshipping them. I think the same can be true for younger Christians. It's very easy for them to think their Youth Pastor or Senior Pastor is pretty much flawless.

So I think it's important that we model a healthy Christian life that is moving towards becoming more like Christ. If that's how I'm living my life, then it is ok for youth to want to emulate that. As long as they are always been pointed to Jesus through my life and as long as they know that being like me is not the goal, their goal is to be like Jesus.

I also think it's important to realise that it's heart and attitude that they should be emulating, not personality and style. I think hero worship says, I want to preach like John Piper because lots of people like him, where as holy emulation says, I want to grow in my love of God and be really passionate about it and tell as many people as I can about it, like John Piper is. Likewise for my youth, I want them to want to have a heart for their lost friends like I do, to be committed to serving their church, and to be aware of their sinfulness and constantly repenting and asking God to refine them to be more like Jesus, like I do. I need to work on those qualities every day so that my youth who emulate me, have a good model to follow when it comes to being like Jesus.

I don't think I'm prepared yet to say to my Youth Ministry, guys 'be like me because I'm like Jesus' like Paul does in 1 Cor 11:1, but that's my goal, and it should be your goal too!

This isn't from John Piper, but it was a pretty interesting quote (from JD Greear on Revitalizing Church)

I would not suggest, generally speaking, trying to revitalize when you don't see signs of God working in ways that are independent and larger than you. Yes, there are exceptions, but this is a case where I think Henry Blackaby (Experiencing God) got it right years ago. Discover where God is working, and go join him in it. Pray with Moses, Jonathan, or any number of the Bible heroes, "God, I won't go up, unless you go with me."

If you don't sense him moving in that congregation, go plant. Find a fertile field and invest your life there. You've only got one life, and there are billions of lost people. In my opinion, you should not waste your life banging your head against the wall, trying to lead people who don't really want to be led, unless God tells you in clear terms that is what he wants from you.

Is he right? Or does God call some people to bang their heads against brick walls? I'm sure they guy who worked at this church before Greear felt like he was banging his head against a wall. But if he hadn't, then Greear couldn't have come in and been used so powerfully by God.

A two part series over on the Resurgence blog on what is meant by 'calling'. Let's start with some quotes:

...we have so many people sitting around waiting on a warm, fuzzy, and goose-bump-inducing vision from God before they embark on some ministry. Maybe we've invented the whole language of calling to mask the fact that most Christians don't want to live missionally.

So let me say it plainly: I don't think you need to be "called" to go overseas, any more than I think you need to be "called" to live missionally wherever you are. As a disciple, you must ask, "How can my talents best be used in God's worldwide mission?" If the answer is that you can be part of an overseas community-building, Jesus-preaching project, don't wait for a special calling. Pack your bags.

Primarily they are talking about overseas mission in this article, but the vibe of the article I think in some ways reflects how I understand my calling to ministry. My talents, gifts and abilities are best used in worldwide mission by being involved in paid local church ministry, and due to a lack of practitioners, it's strategic value, and the circumstances I have found myself in over the last 4 or 5 years, I have had my focus on Youth Ministry. This may change, but for now, this is where I'm at. I think of my call more like obedience to God and my gifts than as a response to God whispering in my ear. I actually think that this attitude helps me through the tough times somehow...

Saw this post on Australian Pastors blog. Got me thinking about how easy it is to get our priorities wrong!

Isn’t it strange how a 20 dollar bill seems like such a large amount when you donate it to church, but such a small amount when you go shopping? click here for the rest...

Click here to see a rather funny witty, deconstruction of our national anthem, Advance Australia Fair, by an old FOCUS (now known as UFC) mate Jonathan.

Apparently, Australia's very own "Dr Death" as he is sometimes called, Nitschke (a Euthanasia advocate) has said that voluntary euthanasia should be used, or considered, for 'the troubled teen'. That is, why not allow the teen who thinks life sucks to do something about it!!?

Such a law would sure bring a whole new dimension to pastoral care in Youth Ministry!

See a link to the article here

HT to Bishop John

In September, Ellisa (my fiancee) and I will be joining 7 other people from our church and going on a mission trip to Port Hedland (North West Australia). We would love for you to join with us and support us in this.


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Port Hedland is a mining town. Iron Ore is shipped from the nearby BHP mines and lots of people move there with a view to working there for a short amount of time to pay off some debts or earn enough to buy a house for example. They do this because you earn big salaries, so you can do the same job in Port Hedland and get something like 3 or 4 times the cash. In this context there are a couple of great Pastors at the Anglican Church (I've met one of them). They do it tough, but it is a great ministry. To give you just one idea of the uniqueness of what ministry is like in this town, people who have been at this church for 3 years are considered long serving veterans! Their service fluctuates in numbers and sometimes they don't have the right people for a band. The minister might not even know this until it's service time.

This town also has a large divide between those who have lots and those who have nothing, especially when considering the local Aboriginal population, where there are many problems, such as drunkenness and other addiction. Port Hedland is ripe for the harvest.

The team will be doing a number of things. One of the major things we will be doing are performances and Gospel presentations in the primary schools. Ellisa and I have been tasked to see that these are well written and well performed. We will also be involved in a quiz night that will help the community and church grow more connections (if you run a quiz night in Port Hedland lots of people will go because there is nothing better to do!)

How can you support us?
We need two kinds of support; Prayer and Financial. If you would like to do either then please head on over to my Port Hedland Mission Blog for more information on how you can do one or both of these. I'd also love to know who is praying for us, so please let me know if you plan to do this.

Many thanks to all of you

God bless

Chris

So you're thinking WHAT? How can you claim the first and do the second. Well apparently it can be done.

I went home for lunch a couple of days ago. I turned the TV on and watched 5 mins of a show called "The View".

One of the women on this show says:

I read a quote that said your goal is to be a true disciple of Jesus (the aforementioned Lord) and also of Mother Teressa helping the poor and hungry. I also heard you're posing for playboy, do you think Mother Teressa would have done that?

Heidi Montag replies by basically admitting she's done it and it will be tasteful and that's ok for a 'modern' version of Mother Teressa... I hope her Pastor saw this and lovingly corrects her.

It's about 2:25 mins in on this video.

Few things make me laugh out loud. This video did. He starts by asking them to take their shoes of like Moses did so nothing is separating them from the Holy Place of God (I thought Jesus did that?) and then South Park style replaces the word 'baby' for 'Jesus' in a medley of secular songs. A must watch!!

Great video (fictional) really showing up some of our perceptions about what it takes to be a Youth Pastor/Minister and what really is at the core of who we are and what we do. (I love the Louie Gigglio rip off talk!)




H/T to Wayne who put me onto this through Twitter!

I'll start this post by saying this, I don't think being overweight or unfit is a sin. In don't recall Paul (the Apostle) listing being a fatty as equaling disqualification from the Kingdom of God. However, I think for me it's a matter of procrastination and laziness that causing me to be unfit and eat badly rather than busyness! The unfitter and fatter I get the more I feel like I'm doing the wrong thing!

So I'm going to try and be a healthy Youth Minister. I'm going to try and cut down on eating crap and driving everywhere and try walking often and maybe even running and riding occasionally. You can track my exercise progress here (I'm using a program on my Nokia E71 phone to track and record my exercise!)

But there are some problems. I unaviodably eat a lot of pizza (youth group and church activities) and spend time in Maccas if I need to meet with some students after school or during the holidays. So, I'm not aiming for a complete ban on all unhealthy food. Rather, my aim is to make sure I do a minimum of 30mins physical activity a day, with at least 2 days of intense (i.e run or bike ride) activity on top of that. And that when I'm not at a youth group or church related event, I eat healthy at home.

I'm hoping to lose about 10kg to weigh in at 85 before I get married on January 30th.

As a related aside, hopefully soon I'll be able to announce that Jono and I are going to be entering some kind of fun run/ride type event in the near future to also focus our fitness attention.

In the world of Youth Ministry blogging over the last few months there has been some discussion over whether youth ministry is manipulative, whether it is child abuse? I want to put a case forward to say it is not manipulative, nor is it child abuse to be involved in sharing the Good News of Jesus with young people. Contrary to what some might argue, I believe that the abuse, the neglect, the manipulation, is to say nothing and watch our youth continue to live in unrepentant rebellion against their maker.

Let me change tack for a moment and comment on a secular view on this issue. Catherine Deveny said in an article in The Age (15/4/09) recently that:

Indoctrination of children into religion is child abuse. Children should have the right to be raised free from their parents' superstitions, prejudice and mumbo jumbo. Let them make up their own mind when they're adults. Instead, let us use our powers for good and brainwash our children with tolerance, acceptance, rational thought and unconditional love.

My problem here is that this is clearly subjective. Her argument? That it is child abuse to 'brainwash' your kids to have views or values different from her own. It is not child abuse to 'brainwash' your kids to believe in those things she clearly values, the values of tolerance, acceptance, rational thought and unconditional love (as a further aside what the hell is unconditional love anyway? Is it love that doesn't judge anyone for anything? Oh except for child abusers or people with a different view of religion to me, looks like they breach the conditions of unconditional love!) If you reverse this logic, and make Chris Bowditch the objective standard of what constitutes child abuse you could say, if Deveny had children and bought them up to believe the Gospel was false she would be a child abuser because her views are different from mine. I don't think this is true at all, but the logic seems to follow from her argument.

Back to the Youth Ministry world. My problem is this. It seems like some Christians are approaching this issue with the mindset a bit similar to Deveny, that secular godless society is a-moral, that it is neutral, that it isn't inherently sinful and in a state of rebellion against it's maker and that it hasn't removed God from His role as King and placed man in God's place! That is FALSE! Secularism is not value neutral, and it does not reflect the truth of the Gospel, that Jesus Christ lived as the God-Man on earth 2000 years ago and died and rose again so all of humanity could be redeemed and bought into right relationship with our maker!

Advocates of the Youth Ministry manipulation seem to have a problem with telling someone the truth. They have a problem that the Gospel might make you or a young person uncomfortable, scared, intrigued, whatever. Sure there are better and worse ways of doing things, and the hyped youth rally might end up with a bunch of fake conversions, but at the end of the day God is the one who judges the heart not us. The youth I work with are capable of weighing what I say or other youth leaders say and taking or leaving it. In fact I'm interested in teaching them to think theologically and critically about how to understand the Bible and what it means to love and follow Jesus. If I didn't do this, if I stayed silent, then that would be an abuse of my God given responsibility to pastor and care for the youth in my area.

I also do not agree that emotion should be taken out of the equation. If realising what God has done for you through the work of Jesus on the cross doesn't make you tear up occasionally, or feel immense gratitude, or alternatively make you hate Christians for thinking you aren't a good person who doesn't need anyones help to get God's approval, there is something wrong. God made us with our emotions and the Gospel will engage them. I see no problem with us engaging with them, as long as we are being faithful to the scriptures.

Finally, I reckon God is sovereign and in control of this world. He gives those He has chosen grace to see the truth of the Gospel. You can't really manipulate someone if at the end of the day their decision to follow or not follow Jesus is up to God.

So that's what I reckon! Your thoughts?

I read this poem about Youth Ministry today over on the PDYM blog and it resonated with something I am slowly realising. The middle of the poem said this:

This is what struck me, the longer you do youth ministry the more you realise that it's not about activity but about loving and living for Jesus, and about sharing your faith and how that impacts your life with the young people you minister to. It's not about kids, but it's about helping them to grow into Godly men and women.

Funny how a poem can put into words just how you are feeling. The more I've plugged away at just simply getting things done, the more dissatisfied I feel, the more I feel like quitting. But if my perspective is about sharing my life and faith with others, and mentoring and discipling youth into Godly adults, then that's a whole different story. Programs are my tool for that, not my master.

I think churches in general need to be less program focussed and more people focussed. Not sure what that means for us here, but I think I need to realse myself from my office and get out and meet with people in their context more. Simple, but hard. Obvious, but it's taken me 2 years to figure it out!