Models of Student Ministry.

I continue to read the book, "Starting Right. Thinking Theologically about Youth Ministry." and it continues to challenge me again and again. I am excited to implement some of the philosophy that has been challenging me. Today, I read a section about models of student ministry. Chap Clark writes that the first “model” of ministry that should be taken into consideration is the mission driven model. Basically, whatever your mission statement is should be the lens that everything else is seen through. I tend to agree with this model of ministry.

Our mission statement is “developing fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ.” And if one of our programs doesn’t do this, let’s cut it. If a program that we are not doing does this in amazing ways, let’s try it! We see all programs through the lens of the mission statement that God has given us as a church. While I agree with the model, the nuances that this should be the only part to the model of ministry are inept to handle the comprehensive model of student ministry today. This is why I will point out the other two models of student ministry that I think we must give validation too the other two models and even recognize that parts of our student ministry are driven by these models.

The “Family based youth ministry” model is not a new concept. Mark Devries has written extensively on this subject and has been very vocal in advocating for the family to really be the “programmers” within student ministry. At the very core of his argument, I tend to agree with him. He begins by pointing out that parents are the primary influencers of their students (whether good or bad) and I believe that to the core. But at the same time, I think there is a danger in swinging completely to this model of ministry because I fear that the local church will become somewhat obsolete. Paul says “do not forsake the assembling of ourselves together.” And Paul wasn’t talking just family units. He was talking the larger body of Christ. He was talking the global and local church. While I believe that parents are the primary spiritual influencers of their kids, I don’t think that scrapping student ministry programming provided by the church is the way to go. I’m not sure that this is effective in developing fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ. I am wholeheartedly supporting the argument that parents must be the influencers, just not the argument that student ministry is SOLELY family based. It is SOLELY family based if we think about family in terms of the family unit AND the family of God.

The “Student leadership” model is troubling to me. This model basically says that student leaders are the drivers within student ministry. If they are allowed to lead, they will own programs and they will get other students to own programs and they will be effective in peer to peer leadership. While I think that all of that is very true, I tend to think that modeling an entire ministry on this concept would leave our students wildly short with no adult leadership and with no adult involvement. If this were to be the “model” that a student ministry would follow, it would have to be in complete partnership with adult leaders that were investing their lives in students. I believe we must develop student leaders because they are the leaders of today and tomorrow, but at the same time, we must be about the business of developing fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ. From the research I have done, the more adult influencers that are in the students’ life, the greater chance of discipleship there is to take place. On the other hand, peer to peer influence appears to be present but at lesser levels except when there is a negative influence. For some reason, positive influence doesn’t have the high octane influence that negative influence has. Interesting. Peer to peer influence may be overrated in this “student leadership” model. I love what we do at West E. Free with Servant team, but I would never want to make the servant team be the driver of all student ministry that happens. They are certainly a tremendous part of what goes on and they are in partnership with the adult leadership teams, but they cannot be “THE MODEL” of ministry that happens.

As I thought about these models and read through them, I realized that all of them have positive parts to them and parts that I use. There is really NO wholesale model that a ministry can grab. Models must be developed within the contexts that a student ministry person finds themselves in. If they wholesale a model of ministry, there are significant negative consequences that will occur. Contexts are completely different and call for very different responses. What works one place won’t work another place, but that doesn’t mean that it is any less effective in developing fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ.

God, teach me what it means to follow you wholeheartedly in ministry and life. Amen.

If you have any questions, comments, or remarks you can smoke signal me or you can just write them in the comments section. I’ll try to respond (to the comments section, not the smoke signal thing… J )

Generational Conversations about Adolescence.

The reason that I do what I do is not to move students from adolescents to adulthood but to develop fully devoted followers of Christ. But there is an element of moving students from adolescents to adulthood that I certainly want to have a hand in. The problematic part of the last statement is that adolescents don’t want to be adults. You might ask, “Why not?” Let me explain.

I want to take us back just a little bit in time. Years ago, adolescents were adolescents for about 4 years. From the time they were 13 until the time they were 17. The end of adolescents came when they had a job and were functioning as adults in the society that they lived in. In a society where the elite went to college and the regular student would work, adolescence ended much earlier. As the years have gone by (from the 1950’s until now) the age of adolescence has expanded. Now, there is a pre adolescence that we are discussing and a post adolescence instead of just adolescence. As we examine students today, we see that they really aren’t “allowed” to become adults (making decisions, having responsibility in the money world, marriage, etc) until they are 25-27. After they have gone through college, which our culture basically mandates each student go to, they begin their final trek towards adulthood. But why don’t they want to be in this adulthood stage? Our culture has indicated that adulthood is all about trying to be an adolescent again. Our popular culture has told it’s viewers that the ultimate goal of the older adult is to be younger again. Adolescents look at this “stage” of life and say, “I’m already in adolescence…I could just as well stay right here in this stage.”

“Be content with such things as you have for he has said he will never leave nor forsake you.” Hebrews 13:5. As a “post adolescent” that is quickly moving into adulthood, I must embrace adulthood. It’s not a bad thing. In fact, it’s a great time in life to make transitions into the next stage of life. We often celebrate younger kids that are 12 moving on into their teen years, but we forget to celebrate and be excited about the jump from adolescence to adulthood. In various cultures, there is a celebration that occurs that lets the adolescent know that they have officially crossed over into adulthood. I wonder what would happen if we do this? Would our adolescents struggle with identity as much as they do? Would we have as many 25, 26, 27 year olds trying to figure out this thing called adulthood? Or would adolescence understand the end of adolescence completely and be ready to embrace the next stage of life? I believe so. If you are a parent of an adolescent, how will you begin to transition them into the level of adulthood that we desire them to be in our culture?

I wanted to mention briefly that I believe in this generation of adolescence. Maybe it’s because I am an optimist. Maybe it’s because I am part of the generation and want it to be good, I don’t know…But here are some thoughts that I have been wrestling with when it comes to this generation. Generation Y is an incredibly passionate generation. But they are not just passionate. They desire to be passionate with a foundation. If they don’t have a basis of passion, they will retreat from the passion that they feel. They want to be grounded in what they are passionate about. They really are reeling from the lack of absolute truth that they find around them .When there is no absolute truth, all of a sudden they don’t know what to be passionate about. They don’t know what to believe in and that is a scary place for anyone to believe in. One of the scariest marks of this generation I the compartmentalization of everything. Everything is really in a different sector and is thought about as such. When a student thinks about school, they think about being one certain way. When they think about church, they might think about being another way. This is not a problem for the student to wrap their heads around. For those that are observing, it is a problem. Other generations fail to understand why adolescents are “different” in every venue that they become a part of. What is observed seems schizophrenic. And the reality is, it is. And I think that it is time to embrace the schizophrenia and time to begin kids help transition from that. Students are simply attempting to figure out who they really are and how they really should behave. How can we help to coach this instead of simply stepping back and criticizing it?

I believe in the generation that I work with. I believe that they are ready to take the world that they live in. They are a compassionate generation. They are a generation that wants to believe in something. They are a passionate generation. And if the body of Christ is truly doing it’s job, the next generation, generation Y will truly come to grips with what it means to be a fully devoted follower of Jesus Christ.

God, let me be a fully devoted follower of you in everything that I do!

By the way, if you are reading this...I would appreciate any questions, comments or snide remarks. :)

Very Interesting.

Recently, I have been studying Generational distinctives and have found incredibly interesting results.

I am excited to learn more about the culture that I get to speak to week in and week out. They are an enlightening generation, although there are some dark horses in the mix as well.

I'll talk more later about this. :)

Vacation is wonderful.

Today, we got back from our vacation. We went to the exotic Hutchinson, KS, where we stayed at a hotel with a waterpark. It was a great time with my family. Vacation is a great thing especially for me and my family. :)

God, thank you for our vacation and a time of connection.

Last Day.

I am sitting at GotCoffee, a local coffee shop with internet and contemplating on this summer that is drawing to a close today. Interns show up here in an hour for their last meeting together. they will be discussing some of their philosophy that they have learned this summer regarding student ministry. They will be sharing prayer requests and going over the scripture that they memorized together. I'm excited to see them for the last time. But there is a huge part of me that will be sad to see them go. When they came, they were individuals wanting to learn about ministry. As they leave, they are a team, a community, an organism that moves together. I have appreciated the willingness that they have had to connect deeply with each other. They are a group that has huge hearts for kids. They want to see kids grow in the faith that they say that they have. I have seen an intern team that has thought deeply about what it meant to minister to teenagers in a very relational way.

At the end of the summer, I always have feelings of nostalgia. I hate change and the end of the summer brings about change. We move towards fall programming which is different then summer programming. Don't get me wrong. I'm excited about the fall. I am more excited about this fall than I have been for any future time period for a long time, but there is something about summer ending and interns leaving that leaves me wanting more of summer.

I love the community that has begun to establish itself amongst students this summer. They are become a tight knit group that loves each other and loves others. I have no idea what this year brings spiritual growth wise, but I know that God will use these willing hearts and lives in very powerful ways for his glory!

Interns, as you go, serve. As you go, pray. As you go, love. You are an amazing group of individuals and you will each do incredible things as you go into this year. All of you are missionaries. All of you are lovers of people and God and those are really going to drive you this year. Thank you for the opportunity to serve with you. I appreciate each and every one of you!

Father, let the interns bring you GLORY and HONOR in EVERYTHING that they do. Let them bring your gospel, your humble gospel to the nations this next year. Give them a place to serve and continue to think deeply about serving you!

-Pastor Chris.