New Middle School Lesson Review Site for Easter Series

This is our new site for our Easter series. This website is part of a process of us going digital - taking our weekly lessons and making them available to parents and students online. It's more interactive than an email or letter, and also more accessible. Our thoughts are that if we continue to see that people are going to the site, then we will take it to the next level. Check it our and make suggestions or comments.

Continuing the Multiracial coversation...

There is not a biblical mandate explicitly stated in scripture, but certainly implicitly. I would relate it to the teaching about the Trinity. The whole of the New Testament is filled with people interacting together of way different ethnic and racial backgrounds. Jesus and the woman at the well, Phillip and the Eunuch, Peter and Cornelius, just to name a few of the more popular stories.

The problem is that we only get to read the words and not see them. I know this is weird, but what if we could visually see those previously mentioned stories. That would change a lot of what we think and perceive. Most of what we read gets sent through the little goggles in our brains. So, my Caucasian lenses tend to color those stories and make them not nearly as revolutionary as they really were. Plus, since we in America relate racial issues to primarily black/white, we miss what Jesus and the other writers were trying to say. For example, Jesus and the Samaritan Woman does not come across as utterly and completely revolutionary until you read into the context - something I will not explain here. Just as revolutionary is Peter going to Cornelius' house. A Jew and a Roman soldier. But the point is that time and time again stories and events from the New Testament are told in the context of great racial tension and hatred. Just because it does not say somewhere that every church should be as racially diverse as it's immediate surrounding community, does not mean that it is not at least implied that it should be. That's enough for now... any thoughts folks?

Is there a Biblical Mandate for Multi-Racial Youth Ministry

I say yes!!! One of the biggest influences in my christian life over the last few years has been the introduction of the idea of a multi-racial church. My question though, is there a Biblical mandate clearly stated in scripture that encourages local churches to be multi-ethnic, multi-economic, and multi-racial. I think there is. But I want to know what you think.

Right now, especially if you are in urban or suburban ministry, your students are growing up in a much more diverse community than we have ever imagined. They walk through the doors of their schools and learn in the context of great cultural and racial diversity. Then, they walk through the doors of our churches and they are ushered straight back to the 60's. Yeah, you're right, it's not that bad. But I guarantee that there is much, much less diversity in your church than there is in the community where your church is located.

Do this if you have some free time and about $80. Find out the exact government stats for the 1 mile and 5 mile radius of your church. Being a local church, isn't it at least reasonable to think that your church demographic should be at least similar to the surrounding area? Is it? Not mine, not most of yours. Of course, this isn't true of every church in America... there's always the exception. But, it is by far the majority.

In conclusion to today's rant... The church should be setting the tone of the racial issues in America, not fueling them. Wake up folks, we have a black President. Like him or not, this man clearly defines multi-culturalism. The world is changing and becoming more and more diverse and I'm afraid we in the church will do what comes naturally to us... dig our feet in the sand and worry about it in twenty years or so. Yeah, that's been working out great for us so far! Oh and by the way, Christian music isn't cool anymore either.

Honestly, Where have all the students gone?

What is it about youth ministers that cause them to be so concerned about the size of their groups? How's your group doing with numbers - is it in a season of growth? Or, is it going through a transitional season? Youth Ministry is no different than "Big Church". Youth groups go through regular periods of decline and growth.

Here are some important questions:

Why do you want a big youth group?

Why do you prefer a small youth group?

Have you ever felt jealousy towards another youth group or youth pastor? Why do you care?

If you have a ton of students, are you really discipling all of them?

If you have a small group, do you blame it on church budget, size, culture, etc?

I have some answers and thoughts, but I thought it would be cool to throw this out there and see if there is a response first.

Web based curriculum

Well, our Jr High online lesson review website has been up and running for about 5 weeks now and the experiment seems to be working. I've just put in a counter and I've had about 30 hits in the last few days. I know this is nothing radically new, but it is our first attempt to take our teaching to another venue to help kids and parents engage in what we're learning. Would love for you to visit and give advice/suggestions. Thanks so much!

The Missional Youth Ministry

Friend of Missional is a website that is very informative about the missional church discussion. I'm one who is very interested in the direction of this discussion and its impact on the American church in particular. Since youth ministry is my context, I'm interested in learning more about what "missional" would look like in youth ministry. I've taken this quote from the Friend of Missional site. Maybe it, and many of the other informative pieces available on the site, will help us make the transition from a predominantly attractional youth ministry model to a externally focused, missional ministry.

JR Woodward at Dream Awakener has a perspective on success that really helps my understanding of missional. His post A Working Definition of Success provides a working definition of what missional might look like. Here it is:

• Not simply how many people come to our church services, but how many people our church serves.
• Not simply how many people attend our ministry, but how many people have we equipped for ministry.
• Not simply how many people minister inside the church, but how many minister outside the church.
• Not simply helping people become more whole themselves, but helping people bring more wholeness to their world. (i.e. justice, healing, relief)
• Not simply how many ministries we start, but how many ministries we help.
• Not simply how many unbelievers we bring into the community of faith, but how many ‘believers' we help experience healthy community.
• Not simply working through our past hurts, but working alongside the Spirit toward wholeness.
• Not simply counting the resources that God gives us to steward, but counting how many good stewards are we developing for the sake of the world.
• Not simply how we are connecting with our culture but how we are engaging our culture.
• Not simply how much peace we bring to individuals, but how much peace we bring to our world.
• Not simply how effective we are with our mission, but how faithful we are to our God.
• Not simply how unified our local church is, but how unified is "the church" in our neighborhood, city and world?
• Not simply how much we immerse ourselves in the text, but how faithfully we live in the story of God.
• Not simply being concerned about how our country is doing, but being concern for the welfare of other countries.
• Not simply how many people we bring into the kingdom, but how much of the kingdom we bring to the earth.

Any thoughts?

The Death of Attractional Youth Ministry

I'm literally praying for the day when Youth Ministry as we know it today will end. I know, you're probably saying that this is all I talk about. You're right. It's in my heart and soul. I know not every youth ministry in the world has to go down this journey. But I do believe that a few well respected ministries should serve as a model for the rest and start to tear down the walls of attractional youth ministry.

We all do it! We all like the pats and cheers of pulling off an event where large numbers of kids show up. It certainly gives the perception that the ministry is doing the "right" things. Can we be effective at both nurturing the souls of our students and pulling off big time, attractional ministry gatherings? What are we accomplishing by piling in students by the drove? I'm not going down that road anymore.

So come with me down a different road. If you're doing things differently, and I mean really differently, then please respond. Let's get a dialogue going about what youth ministry can look like outside of cool lights, videos, and crazy relay games. If you're having great success with an attractional youth ministry, than bless you. I want to know what truly missional youth ministry looks like.