Celebrate Recovery | Life Hurts, God Heals
I'll be facilitating a small group this year at my church -- Church of the Resurrection -- along side of some other great people. I'll be facilitating a group designed to help hurting students, students with addictions, students with a variety of issues, really.
I'm curious to know if any one of you are aware of some good content that might guide the volunteers and me to effectively lead this group. Any thoughts on this?
We've purchased the Life Hurts, God Heals from Simply Youth Ministry but after looking at it I have some questions that maybe some of you who have used the 8-step curriculum might help me with...
- Did you find the content relevant? Was it easy to contextualize to your group?
- What did you do with your group after the 8 steps and gradation was over? Did you add another small group for the students who had finished the 8 steps?
- What was your overall impression of the Life Hurts, God Heals curriculum?
- Did you welcome students into the group that may have missed the first couple weeks? If no, why not? If yes, how did this change the dynamics of the group?
- What would you say the curriculum lacked? What were the greatest aspects of the curriculum?
I'd appreciate any help you might be able to give me with this! Thanks.
Youth Ministry & The Task of Culture Shaping
I've found a new hobby. I have found absolute delight in digging up older books on youth ministry - books from the 70's and 80's. Much of what I find I purchase for a couple of bucks from some obscure website and they're usually shipped from places in the world I can only wish I might one day visit.
Most recently I came across a book by Stephen Jones called, Faith Shaping: Youth and the Experience of Faith (Judson Press, 1987). Some of you may remember it when it came out. Me? Nope. I was a freshman in high school at the time it was released.
Faith Shaping is full of little nuggets that are not only relevant for today but are required for people who work with today's youth. Probably the most helpful morsel of the book for me was chapter 9 on culture shaping. In this chapter, Jones reminds his readers "We will not do justice to adolescents unless we help them consider the shape of their emerging faith in relation to their culture." (P.89)
So, what exactly is the task of culture shaping? I mean, I have some ideas but I'd rather hear from those of you wrestling with similar observances and experiments. How can we move away from our tendencies to manufacture and manipulate? What are the essential aspects of culture shaping? Is it even possible to really allow students to shape their culture or do they need some kind of adult influence to assure that it gets done? Are we (or more specifically, am I) crazy to think that youth workers should rely more on students to shape the emerging culture and less on our own assumptions, preferences and opinions?
When I first began in youth ministry (almost 15 years ago) "peer-to-peer" ministry was the buzzword. The purpose of peer-to-peer ministry was to influence students in order that they might influence their friends. It wasn't an altogether inherently bad idea. After all, isn't this what Jesus did with his disciples? Didn't Jesus find influencers and allow them to do the influencing? Actually, no, this isn't what Jesus did. Jesus called mere fisherman, ordinary people to follow him. He was present with them incarnating himself for the mission of God. Yes, certainly to influence others but not solely limited to influence. Jesus called his disciples to shape the culture and move it toward becoming a Kingdom culture.
Most often youth workers who talked about and built "peer to peer" ministry models functioned with the idea that to influence students meant we had to create consumers who bought what we were selling and who conformed to the culture that we created. The mistake in this concept wasn't the motive to influence or even the call to conform to a culture (that was often mere words and abstractions). The biggest mistake was seeing students as the tool or the agenda and not seeing them as "persons-in-culture" (P.90) who were "not only recipients of culture but also shapers of it." We trusted students enough to bring their friends to our Friday night outreach events but we didn't (generally speaking, of course) trust them enough to allow them to shape the culture through their communal and personal faith -- a faith that "offers the criteria against which to evaluate one's participation in culture and the courage, when necessary, to be countercultural." (P. 90) We called students to live counter culturally, but we didn't trust the students we were supposedly influencing to really shape the culture so we tended to manufacture and manipulate.
I don't really hear the phrase "peer to peer" much anymore. I don't think it is because we've stopped doing youth ministry in that fashion. Nor do I think it is because we've stumbled upon another, better model either. Honestly, I think for many it was one of those things that either "sounded cool at the time" or just never really "worked" so we've abandoned the language. Most youth ministries still operate under the mindset that if I can just influence the right student(s) I can use them to share the message of Jesus with their friends. This doesn't shape the culture it simply and most often temporarily keeps a few of our students interested and engaged.
The trend we commonly understand as 'youth leaving the church' isn't primarily about the churches tendency toward abandonment, a rise in the influence of media or the Internet or the inability to reach a post-literate generation through traditional methods. Rather, it is primarily an issue of doubt and distrust.
We (youth workers) have not believed in and trusted the Holy Spirit's ministry and movements enough among youth to allow youth to be the shapers of their culture. Instead, we've tried to shape the culture ourselves. This tragic mistake has led several decades of youth toward finding ways outside of the church to practice their faith and shape their culture. This is why students are graduating and not coming back. (Note: I just read the galley copy of Andy Root's upcoming book called, Unfiltered Relationships. Look for this book from YS/Zondervan this fall. Andy covers the topics above -- especially that of "influencing students" -- in great detail.)
Youth Ministry and Narrative Intelligence
The more I thought about the conversations surrounding last weeks post on re-thinking mission in youth ministry, the more I thought about the need for youth workers to also be re-thinking the idea of narrative in youth ministry.
I am hearing a wonderful amount of chatter around 'story' and the art of storytelling in youth ministry. What I am thinking more about these days, however, isn't our ability to craft good stories and tell them well. What I have been absorbed by lately is what is commonly referred to by some as narrative intelligence, which is the ability and capacity to think in story.
Thinking in story is critical for a meaningful connection between a person's story, the story of a particular community and God's story. So the question lingering in my mind and heart is, how do we help our students raise their narrative intelligence? In other words, how do we help the students in our faith communities engage more deeply in the enduring, unfolding narrative of God?
Tantamount to the mission of God we thought about last week is the narrative of God for it is out of God's narrative that mission is first and most deeply understood and acted out. It is out of mission that we might interact with our worlds -- not just with logic, reason and information but also with meaning. The ability to think in story furnishes our students' lives with the ability to generate context and meaning from the stories of Scripture, their experience, reason, culture, etc. How do we help our students generate context and meaning from the mission of God to help them live more closely aligned to the intended ways of God?
Last week when I mentioned that youth ministry might be "on hold" what I was referring to was that our commitment to think theologically, organize philosophically and act practically about mission was in need of renovation. The more I think about it, the only way we can truly renovate our commitment to being missional in and to our communities is to go back to the source, God's narrative, to find our purpose for youth ministry. That purpose (derived from our mission which is derived from God's narrative) of youth ministry is to participate in God's restoration of the world toward its intended wholeness.
Youth ministry has to get unstuck and work its way toward extending the missio Dei through a creed of: evangelism (where the message of the mission is proclaimed and performed),
contextualization (where the message of the mission is made more accessible culturally sensitive) liberation (where the message of the mission sets students free from the hesitations and hindrances that keep them from their belief in a loving God) and impartation (where the message of the mission is about the converting of culture from hearers of the story to storytellers).
Ultimately, this helps students think in story, raising their narrative intelligence.
I'm certain that youth ministry (through mission yielded people like you and me and a globe full of others) can make its way toward a place as described above, but how? In what ways might we more deeply commit to a narrative-missional approach to youth ministry? What is it going to take to realize this commitment? What is keeping youth ministry from this commitment? Why is it so much easier to be committed to attractional, social or externally focused approaches?
I'd love to know what you think.
Chasing Francis by Ian Cron
Around the office at Youthfront there are a few legendary stories of people who have either been on staff or have merely stopped in a time or two over the years for a meeting or an inspirational talk or to partner in an event, say a prayer, etc.
I think most of the stories I hear about from days of old, obviously long before I joined the staff, are more myth than legend. Probably not unlike most organizations who typically remember the past as more profound than it may have actually been.
One person in particular, Ian Cron is one of those stories. There is no doubt in my mind, he's a legend for sure. I heard stories about Ian since the day I arrived. Often in a conversation Ian's name will come up and someone will undoubtedly refer to his participation in one of our weekend retreats we hold at our South Camp called, Altar. Apparently Ian just ripped it up one day speaking about divergent paths of leadership, creativity and holiness. I was not there but that is what I have repeatedly heard.
For months I have wanted to read Ian's book called, Chasing Francis: A Pilgrims Tale. I finally stole one from my co-worker Dustin's bookshelf. It is a fiction book about a pastor (named Chase Falston) who is 'struggling' with his faith and his role as pastor in his church. One day, after speaking with a mother who had just lost her daughter, this pastor gets real with his congregation and is ultimately asked to take a mandatory leave of absence. The rest of the book is about Chase Falston on a pilgrimage of "chasing Francis of Assisi" to regain his faith.
I know I am late to the party on this one (published in 2006), but if you haven't read Chasing Francis, you might need to put it near the top of your stack. It is a masterful work that takes actual events of Francis' life, real places and a unbelievable compelling story that is weaved together to move your soul, at lease mine. Here are a few of the nuggets that have really helped me deeply reflect.
"...a pilgrimage is a way of praying with your feet. You go on a pilgrimage because there's something missing inside your soul, and the only way you can find it is to go to sacred places, places where God makes himself known to others. In sacred places, something gets done that you've been unable to do for yourself." (page 42)
"Sarcasm is confusing to the pure of heart." (page 63)
"Francis had no new theory to offer, but an old practice -- the practice of Jesus Christ." (page 47)
I strongly encourage you to find a copy of Chasing Francis: A Pilgrims Tale and take it in. Perhaps you'll find yourself somewhere in the story as I have done at several different points. Perhaps you'll find freedom, as I have found. You might even find that this book is more for you than "your friend who needs some encouragement these days."
“Church Tries A New Model”
This is an interesting article (see below) from The Galveston County Daily News. I know nothing about the church -- other than what their website and the article below portray.
I am familiar with the "cell church" and know quite a few people of faith who share the cell church philosophy.
An all volunteer staff? Shared sanctuary space -- with two other "unrelated" congregations? Going to get the homeless instead of expecting them to come to you? I like it... I am sure this church isn't the only one doing such things -- but I would think that churches like Galveston Community Church are still far and few between.
Here is the link: http://news.galvestondailynews.com/story.lasso?ewcd=82158d1fb9468639
Thoughts?
Headed home from the NYWC
I made my way through the smoky air this morning from the hotel to the airport. It isn't the kind of smoke that you can't breathe in and see through (yet) where the NYWC is taking place. However, the smell of fires and the thought of the tens of thousands of people who have already been evacuated from their homes and the thought that many more may still be directed to leave all that they have and probably much of what they know, leaves my heart very heavy this morning.
I met some youth workers at the convention whose church (Mailbu Pres) burned down yesterday morning...
I am eager to see my wife and kids later today and mixed into my heart are two very different feelings. There is the joyful thought of the reunion I plan to have with my family when I land in Chicago and the anguishing thought that there are families and communities all over Southern California that are being dispersed not united.
You can pray for the families and communities more intelligibly by learning more about the fires HERE.
The Next Hire…
I had a conference call this morning with the senior leadership team and youth pastor (not on the senior lead. team) of a new but rapidly growing church here in the greater Chicago area. Very nice people. Great hearts and an obvious passion to see people live, love and lead in the way of Jesus.
I was first introduced to this church when they attended our Enroute Learning Experience over a year ago. I have had the privilege of sharing in their journey from a distance as they update my with emails and phone calls. I would name the church (because I think it is such a cool place!) but the senior leader asked me not too, which is also very cool...
The church is only a couple years old but has grown from 50 people to about 350 people in less than two years. They are not trying to build a huge church and they do not see numbers as important -- other than the fact that they need to move forward with expanding their staff in order to best serve the people. So, numbers are important to them but only in the context of being sure they are laying the foundation and basis for a staff community that can truly serve people. I get a very cool vibe from these folks...
It is an innovative church really seeking to discover ways to (these are my words to follow) help people belong to a community, recognize and experience God in the journey of life and join the others in the community as they seek to join God in his mission to restore the world.
The main issue they wanted me to help them think through was specifically related to their growing youth ministry. Here is the question they asked, "What do you think about us hiring a mature adult, maybe a man or women in their late 40's to early 50's, who has raised teens to come along side our youth pastor for mentoring? This person would give the bulk of their time to investing into the parents of the children and teens in our church, helping them to realize the importance of their active role in their kids' formation. What do you think about that?"
Wow! What a great question! I was speechless -- truly a momentary loss of words. I was totally expecting the normal next hire staff positions to be thrown out. You know, the worship person, the outreach person, the programming person, the creative arts person, the administrative person, etc. But no! One of only a few times in my consulting experience this church came to me with the very idea I was going recommend to them. Very fun. Once I shook out the absence of words in my head, I said, "Great idea! Let me know if you need help finding this person." And then we talked more about what this person would do, the advantages to the position and the disadvantages, etc...
I was deeply encouraged by this phone call. (I know my friend, Mark Riddle would be too. Mark, I wish you would have been on the line with me!) What a great move -- hiring a person who has raised teens to mentor the youth pastor and invest their time primarily in inspiring and equipping parents in order to see themselves as (and be effective at being) the critical piece to helping their own children grow spiritually.
So, this made me curious. Are any of you thinking along these lines? Would this be your next hire? Has it already been your "next" strategic hire?
Stealing or Revealing the Identity of Jesus?
I am up late these nights. Mostly flipping through the channels as I am to worn out to think straight enough to write well or read well, but not worn out enough to have my mind become inactive enough to fall asleep. I know, this is something that doctor's can fix. I am on it, believe me...
Last night (actually early this morning) I happened to see a commercial putting forth identity theft prevention techhiques around 1:30am. This commercial brought me back to a not so fond memory of when my wife and I had our identity taken. We spent months, almost an entire year, working with the banks and creditors to fix the problem. I can't remember all of what the lady who borrowed our identity spent our money on but it was random things like, Dell computers (which brought unspeakable disgust since I have only owned Apple computers for some time now), a TV, some groceries, Aerosmith concert tickets, etc. I confess it feels funny when someone robs your identity and then uses your life to amplify or elevate their life.
I think there are times when we do this to Jesus. I think we may be guilty every now and then (or perhaps even more often than that) of using Jesus to amplify our life. We have behaved or currently behave fraudulently and we misappropriate Jesus in order to create a phony persona that we stand behind in order to be right, relevant, etc. There might be good reason for us to be classified as identity takers.
I realize that the teachings, miracles, deeds, etc, of Jesus that we have recorded for us in the Gospels were illustrations for us to replicate and imitate -- to make our own or to live out ... so that we might reveal to all of humanity that God is working to restore the world back to its original intent and condition. However, this is not be done fraudulently or even in order to amplify our own personal life. This imitation of Jesus is not to allow us to live a better life, to make us feel good about ourselves, to help us rest in what is right and true in a world that is wrong and false, etc. To the contrary, to illustrate Jesus is to bring amplification to who he is, not who we think we are or even what we think others should be.
We steal the Identity of Jesus when...
- We use His teaching and claims where we see fit and where it helps us not necessarily where he intended them to be used therefore making them out of context.
- We make theological assertions of what we know in order to hide behind what we don't know.
- We put Him in our pocket and "bring him along for the ride" instead of surrendering and disciplining ourselves to be led by him.
- We tag Him as our friend and forget or intentionally ignore that he is our King. So we end up doing life with him instead of to honor him.
- We become so familiar with who he is "after all these years of study" that we spend more time telling people who the "real" Jesus is instead of seeking to become like the real Jesus.
- We put our phony persona forward as opposed to our real self and consequently can never really be who we are or who He wants us to become.
- We state that working for him is our undeniable calling when really it might be just an undeniable convenience.
- We seek to build into His Kingdom our own pet preferences and opinions rather than seeking to reveal or expose it for what it is fully capable of being about on its own.
- We read His red letters like it is some kind of collection of self-help slogans instead of fundamental precepts fit to come only from a King.
- We play “the Jesus card” on someone to excuse our bad behavior or real but impure motives.
In what other areas of life might we be convicted of stealing the identity of Jesus?
I think it is of utmost importance that as we shepherd our students and leaders amidst the daily priorities of our individual youth ministry's that we work hard to help people understand that stealing the identity of Jesus is a dereliction of our role as agents of God's restoration and love. We don't shepherd well when the people around us find it appropriate to misuse and abuse Jesus for the sake of amplifying or enhancing their own lives -- regardless of how tempting it may be to make Jesus fit or work for the times.
To that end, we ought to seek to find ways to more effectively help our students die to self by taking up their cross and subsequently living out the identity (characteristics, virtues, etc.) of Jesus instead of stealing it. The goal of this Christian life isn’t to enhance our own lives but to join in the activity of God by revealing who Jesus is through our life in order that others might recognize who we belong to and who we are loved by.
Are we inspiring, challenging and equipping a generation of students to steal the identity of Jesus or reveal the identity of Jesus?
Soulstice…
I had the chance to speak at SOULstice last night in Minneapolis. It was great fun. I spoke on the discipline of confession or telling God the truth. Scot McKnight in his book Jesus Creed provides some great insight into what confession means and looks like. I borrowed most of my thoughts for the night from the book...
If you do not already own a copy of the Jesus Creed get one and if nothing else (although I think you will find the whole book extremely helpful) share the section on becoming a truth-teller with your students. There is no doubt that you and they will benefit from Scot's thoughts on confession and the result of awakening forgiveness. McKnight also gives a great teaching outline from Luke 3 when John the Baptist is baptizing people in the Jordan...
Brian Mowrey (pictured below in the middle with the black guitar) shepherds the Soulstice community. Soulstice is a really diverse community of people both in race and age. Their vision is to experience the rhythm of change together. I love that vision...
Brian is a very gifted emerging leader with unbelievable talents and potential. I look forward to seeing how God continues to use Brian in the coming days. If you are ever in the Twin Cities on a Sunday evening or you live in the area currently and you are looking to experience worship with a God-loving, people-loving community then participate in the gathering of Soulstice.
What are we doing this for — really?
So I am on the phone with a friend and fellow youth worker yesterday that I haven't spoken to in nearly 3 years. It was really cool to catch up with him. At one point in our conversation I asked, "So what can you tell me about your student community”? He said, "Things are going great. I have been very successful here in my 8 years." I said, "Really? What do you mean?" He responded by saying, "Dozens of my former students are now serving in some kind of vocational ministry. A couple of them are youth pastors in New England, one is a missionary in Mexico City and three are serving as Christian school teachers, and so on and so on."
His comments took me by surprise. First, I thought that he was joking so I kind of joked back and when he said, "No really ... I am serious. This is one of the ways I measure my effectiveness.” I just about fell off my office chair… Second, I was surprised because I always remembered this person as one of the most humble men I know. I was shocked. I never heard him talk in terms of 'success'. Not that there is anything inherently wrong with idea of success but they way he was measuring it was alarming to me…
I let a few seconds of silence go by and distance us a bit and then said, "Dude. Do you really measure your success by how many of your students leave your ministry and go serve in vocational ministry." He said, "Absolutely. Don't you?" I said, "No. Not really." "So how do you measure success?” he asked. "Not sure, exactly.” I remarked. "I am not sure measuring success is for me to do..."
I told him that I would think about his question through the rest of the day and then post about it. I asked his permission to share our little interchange and he obviously was cool with it or I wouldn't be posting... :>
So, here is what I have come to decide my dear friend (and all of you who are now involved)...
First, what is success anyway? Where does that take and drive me? Where or what does the pursuit of success take me from? Is that what I (and you) are supposed to be enamored with? I don't mind thinking in terms of my commitment to God's calling on my life, my desire to honor God with my faithfulness, my passion expressed through my gifts, etc. and assessing who I am or who I am not and possibly should be or could be. But determining what I think is and what isn't success really isn't my role.
Second, since success isn't for me to determine then what is, right? Well, I think I need to assess who I am and who I am becoming. Hopefully I am (and evolving more deeply into being) an open, alert, honest, accessible, listening, caring, trusting, loving, God-dependent shepherd or guide that is concerned with helping students...
* on their way toward theosis
* realize that unique to how God has created them and called them, they are a significant part of his story and mission (no matter where they end up working)
* to critically think and journey their way to beliefs and convictions that ultimately determine their behaviors and practices that serve God in his passionate pursuit to restore people to himself and to each other
* to see that they are a part of God's story and mission but also a part of his people or community -- the church
* to realize that I am not concerned with them as a product coming out of my ministry but that I am concerned with their spiritual journey as a dynamic process for the rest of their life
So, my good friend, to answer your question I do not to measure success as it relates to how many of my students go into full-time ministry. I think that is a great calling – but it is not a better or worse thing so much as it is just how God chooses to place his servants. How will I know if I am doing a good job? I guess by assessing my faithfulness to what God has called me to do (the above). I think if I were to measure success as you do, I would become preoccupied with things like numbers, decisions, programming superiority, etc. How do I know? Because I would simply be returning to my old ways... Much love, brother.
For the rest of you out there... How do you feel about measuring/determining success? What do you use as a measuring device (or whatever)? I know that "bearing fruit" is important but evaluated by what? As always I invite you to comment or email me at chrisfol@mac.com.
