The Youthfront Book Shorts have been released by Barefoot Publications. I served as Editor for this series. The title I'm featuring today is The Art of Unknowing by Maureen "Moe" Lunn.
Moe had been involved in our ministry for a couple of years as a college student when she became a seeking doubter. As a result of her pursuit of truth accompanied by endless questions, Moe and I became good friends. I loved her honesty and openness to new ideas. I remember telling Moe that if you aren’t willing to change, then you love yourself more than you love the truth.
In The Art of Unknowing, Moe shares her journey through being involved in youth ministry to becoming a youth worker. Her journey took her from certainty about everything to embracing the art of not knowing. Moe’s story will be helpful to many young people who are currently in the same place Moe found herself as an older teenager. Moe’s story is also valuable for youth workers who have youth like her in their youth ministries.
Moe describes how important it was for her to be okay with saying, “I don’t know.” Her descriptions of the environment that kept her connected to faith and Christian community are important issues for youth workers to contemplate. There are so many young people like Moe in our churches. The question we must ask ourselves is, Are our churches safe and generous places for young people to ask hard questions, be honest about doubts, and find faithful spiritual guides who will journey with them toward sustainable and life-giving Christian formation?
Moe’ s story will be helpful to many young people who are currently in the same place she found herself in as an older teenager. Moe’ s story is also valuable for youth workers who have youth like her in their youth ministries.
*The cool thing about this book short series is the fact that they are downloadable and can be reproduced by youth workers to engage in conversation with their volunteer staff for the purpose of training and shaping the ethos of the youth ministry of a church.
The Immerse Journal served as one of the sponsors for The Extended Adolescent Symposium on Monday following the National Youth Workers Convention in Atlanta. This event was hosted by the Youth Cartel (Mark Oestreicher and Adam McLane) and was moderated by Dr. Kara Powell. The two presenters were Dr. Jeffrey Arnett and Dr. Robert Epstein.
Dr. Jeffrey Jensen Arnett received his Ph.D. from the University of Virginia, and did three years of postdoctoral work at the University of Chicago. From 1992-1998 he was Associate Professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies at the University of Missouri. He has been a Visiting Scholar at Stanford University and the University of Maryland.
Dr. Arnett's primary scholarly interest is in "emerging adulthood," the age period from the late teens to the mid-twenties (mainly ages 18-25). For over a decade he has conducted research on emerging adults concerning a wide variety of topics, involving several different ethnic groups in the United States. He also studied emerging adults in Denmark as a Fulbright Scholar in 2005.
Dr. Robert Epsteinis an author, editor, and longtime psychology researcher and professor—a distinguished scientist who is passionate about educating the public about advances in mental health and the behavioral sciences. The former editor-in-chief of Psychology Today, Dr. Epstein is currently a contributing editor for Scientific American Mind and an occasional lecturer at the Rady School of Management at the University of California San Diego. He is also the founder and Director Emeritus of the Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies in Massachusetts.
Through 2003, he served as University Research Professor at the California School of Professional Psychology at Alliant International University. He received his Ph.D. in psychology in 1981 from Harvard University.
Dr. Epstein's positions is that categorizing 18 to 25to? year-olds as "emerging adults" is a socially constructed western concept that serves as a self-fulfilling expectation not to grow up and embrace adult competancies.
While both of these scholars argue passionately for their positions, I found much that I agreed with from both of them and much that I disagreed with. Overall, this was a great learning event. Concerning the practical theological application of the content discussed, I found myself resonnating more with Dr. Epstein (although I found Dr. Arnett to be more winsome and likeable, Dr. Epstein has an aura of arrogance that was off-putting).
The biggest take away for me was affirmation (from Dr. Epstein's position) that our (Youthfront's/Immerse) posture toward treating young people as emergingly capable adults is essential in youth ministry and the Christian formation of young people. We have heard this affirmed over and over again by young people who discover are exposed to a generous and hospitable Christian learning environment that allows them to dream and connect their story to God's mission and are encouraged to unleash their imagination to discover their vocation.
The following video is a TEDx teen talk by 18-year-old Natalie Warne. "Natalie was born in an underserved part of downtown Chicago, Natalie and her five siblings had to survive on her mother's humble teacher salary, moving from city to city to find work. No stranger to adversity, Natalie was determined to make something great out of her life.
At 17, Natalie saw the documentary Invisible Children: The Rough Cut, a film exposing Africa's longest running war. Compelled by this story, she applied to be a volunteer or "roadie" for Invisible Children, using her voice to help end this war.
She quickly stood out among the other interns, and was quickly given responsibility to help lead Invisible Children's largest project to date; an event in 100 cities worldwide called "The Rescue." Through her determination, tens of thousands of people came out to the event, sleeping in the streets for up to six days in order to raise the profile of this war.
Her efforts paid off when Oprah Winfrey invited Invisible Children, and Natalie, onto her show to add her voice to the numbers. The event was then highlighted on Larry King Live, CNN, and countless other news outlets. Natalie has natural charisma, astounding leadership qualities, and is now working in Los Angeles as a film editor, to continue to share stories of injustices."
If you are a youth worker - PLEASE WATCH THIS VIDEO. Below the video I added the twitter stream from the Symposium and a link to Gavin Richardson's notes from the day.
Press Release: Tim Keel, Mike King to teach Missional Leadership and Discipleship Spring 2012 at Nazarene Theological Seminary
Tim Keel, pastor of Jacobs Well Church and Mike King, President and CEO of YouthFront will teach CED 615 Missional Leadership and Discipleship Tuesdays 1:30-4:30 during the Spring Term. The two leaders in the Missional movement agreed to co-direct the course with Reverend Keel’s return to Kansas City. Reverend Mike King, an NTS graduate, has co-taught the class with Ron Benefiel and also with Dean Blevins in past sessions. Reverend Keel has co-taught coursework with Keith Schwanz. This will be the first time these two missional leaders will work together in an NTS class. For more information contact the Registrar or Dr. Dean Blevins - dgblevins@nts.edu.
The National Youth Workers Convention on the weekend before Thanksgiving is always something I really look forward to. It marks, for me, the finish line of a fall season of retreats, speaking, fund raising events, conferences, etc. and the beginning of the holiday season. For the last decade, we've had a rhythm that includes me setting up our Christmas Tree before the NYWC. While I'm gone Vicki transitions our home from fall decor to full on Christmas decorations. I am always giddy about getting home, enjoying Thanksgiving and counting down to the beginning of the Advent Season.
I have assumed an increasingly busy role at the NYWC and with Youth Specialties. In addition to representing Youthfront and the Immerse Journal, I oversee The Sanctuary and this year launched the Theology Track. Fortunately, I am accompanied by amazing friends, associates and soul sisters/brothers who help make all these things happen in order to serve youth workers. A big thanks to Micah Thomas and Lilly Lewin with The Sanctuary; to Erik Leafblad with the Theology Track, along with Bethany Stolle; to Archie Honrado with the Prayer Room; to Beth Slevcove with Soul Care, plus Jamie Roach, Mickey Cox and Maggie Robbins; and to Aaron Mitchum with Immerse.
We had strong participation of youth workers in the Sanctuary, full schedules for the Spiritual Directors and enthusiastic attendance and interest in the Theology Track. I don't think I can be more passionate about the importance of creating a place and space through the Sanctuary, Prayer Room and Soul Care for youth workers to breathe, worship, sit at the feet of Jesus, rest, reflect and be. I also cannot believe more strongly about the essential value of theological reflection in youth ministry. The Theology Track is both a response to and fuel for the theological turn in youth ministry. The energy for the Theological Forums and Cafe's was palpable and the interest of many to help make them better next year is overwhelming in a good way.
A real highlight of the time in Atlanta was a gathering of friends who stayed in Atlanta after the convention was over to honor Tic Long, who is leaving YS after three decades. This was such a beautiful time of remembering and story telling. I love Tic and I love being a part of the unfolding story of Youth Specialties. This video is a tribute to Tic.
The Youthfront Book Shorts have been released by Barefoot Publications. I served as Editor for this series. The title I'm featuring today is Missions as Pilgrimage by Kurt Rietema.
*The cool thing about this book short series is the fact that they are downloadable and can be reproduced by youth workers to engage in conversation with their volunteer staff for the purpose of training and shaping the ethos of the youth ministry of a church.
Kurt is a Christian thinker extraordinaire and a true author. A writer takes ideas and expresses them in articles, books, blogs, etc. An author is someone who originates ideas and concepts.
In Missions as Pilgrimage, Kurt helps us reorient the current thinking about short-term missions into something more biblical, sustainable, and transforma- tional. Kurt puts his heart and soul into all he does. His honesty reveals that he is not standing back, trying to enlighten all those who don’t get it. Kurt genuinely wrestles with what it means to be Christian in the deepest way, what it means to love God and truly love others. Rarely can I escape reading something Kurt has written without feeling genuinely convicted for the indifference that insidiously hides deep in my heart.
Missions as Pilgrimage challenges us to consider how we shape our young people in Christian formation through disorientation, spiritual practices, justice, and pilgrimage. Kurt helps us reshape our narratives to become enmeshed with God’s overarching narrative. I’ve seen the results of Kurt Rietema’s ministry. Kurt subverts the many narratives of the North American church that prevent our lives and the young people we minister to from being shaped in the cruciform life of Jesus Christ. Read this at the potential peril of your safe and comfortable life.
In David Kinnaman's new book You Lost Me: Why Young Christians are Leaving the Church...and Rethinking Faith, he describes categories of young adults who have moved away from church involvement. Prodigals are those who have or are attempting to totally check out of a faith life that they had once embraced. Nomads are those who are wandering and have significantly reduced their involvement and connection with the church. Exiles are those young adults who haven't necessarily pitched their faith but are disillusioned with the churches inability to really matter in the world in which they live. The way their parents lived out a faith life is not working for Exiles.
In a current article on the Barna web site, Kinnaman examines Five Myths about Young Adult Church Dropouts.
Myth 1: Most people lose their faith when they leave high school.
Myth 2: Dropping out of church is just a natural part of young adults' maturation.
Myth 3: College experiences are the key factor that cause people to drop out.
Myth 4: This generation of young Christians is increasingly "biblically illiterate."
Myth 5: Young people will come back to church like they always do.
Youth Workers AND all who love the church, work in the church and are committed to follow the scriptural mandate to pass on the Christian faith to the next generation must be engaged in the issues Kinnaman addressess.
After reading Benson's review, it seems that D. G. Hart is trying to challenge Evangelicalism to regain a biblical mooring uncoupled from an incompatible nationalism. I think that this issue is profoundly important. I long for a robust Christianity in North America not rooted in either liberal or conservative ideologies and not beholden to either Democratic or Republican political agendas. Maybe this book will move forward a conversation and consideration of what it means to live faithfully for God through Jesus Christ in the midst of the culture in which we find ourselves.
Here is an exerpt of Benson's review in Books and Culture;
"From Billy Graham to Sarah Palin belongs in conversation with To Change the World, the game-changer from sociologist James Davison Hunter. Both authors acknowledge the challenge of difference (or pluralism). They discredit evangelical schemes to redeem the culture as a "late-modern form of Constantinianism" (Hunter) and closely akin to "the Enlightenment project of social transformation" (Hart). They sharply criticize "what would Jesus do?" politics. And they strenuously exhort the church to decouple the public from the political, thereby restoring the importance of vocation. American Christians, they aver, are like the Israelite exiles in Babylon. Our call is not to turn Babylon into another Jerusalem but to seek its welfare through love and service, following the social—not political—power of Jesus. To Hunter's paradigm of "faithful presence"—enacting the shalom of God where we are situated—Hart adds traditional conservatism, which "seeks to preserve what is good in existing social arrangements because of an assumption that order is better than chaos, that change invariably produces instability, and that programs of perfection have been some of the most destructive in human history."
Together, faithful presence and traditional conservatism could rescue evangelicals from their addiction to changing the world—an addiction that ignores the Reformation doctrine of two kingdoms, as articulated by theologian David VanDrunen: "God rules the church (the spiritual kingdom) as redeemer in Jesus Christ and rules the state and all other social institutions (the civil kingdom) as creator and sustainer." In the former kingdom, God redeems a people for himself; in the latter, he preserves culture. Traditional conservatism is highly compatible with this doctrine because it chastens benevolent busybodies who try to immanetize the eschaton, as if sanctification rides on political engagement. A "painful transition" to classically conservative politics can happen, Hart says, if born-again Protestants reconsider the source of American greatness, which lies with its political order more than its religious identity, and reconsider the source of Christian greatness, which elevates the ministry of the church over swollen estimates of the family and state. With an Augustinian emphasis on the limits of politics, a Lutheran sensibility for the paradox of Christ and culture, and a Burkean wariness about revolutionary change, Hart's iconoclastic thesis arrives just in time as a presidential contest heats up, tempting many evangelicals with statist ambitions and utopian fantasies."
The following is the beginning of a Blog Post by Calvin Park, who is Director of Youth Ministries at Gaithersburg Presbyterian Church in Maryland.
Immerse Journal
If you are a youth worker and you don’t have a subscription to Immerse Journal, you need to get one as soon as possible. Immerse is a truly top notch periodical for youth ministry. It’s not even that expensive. Surviving on a youth pastors salary can be tough, I know. If you can’t afford their–extremely fair–rates, then see about having your church foot the bill for a subscription or two, and pass it around to all of your adult volunteers.
One of the things I appreciate most about Immerse is that it takes youth ministry seriously. It also takes theology seriously. I’m constantly encouraged and challenged as I read Immerse because the writers know that youth ministry is far from simple. I read a variety of youth ministry resources and sometimes I’m still amazed at the oversimplicity of those resources. At other times I’m frustrated by a same-old, same-old approach. That isn’t the case with Immerse. It consistently challenges me to think deeply about my ministry and my students.
My good friend, Tim Keel, who founded the extraordinary Jacob's Well Church, left with his family to New Zealand after more than a decade of serving as the Pastor. After a two year absence, the Keel family has returned (this was not a planned movement away and back) and Tim is serving as the Lead Communicator at Jacob's Well. The Immerse Journal this month features Tim's story and we also interviewed Tim released in multiple parts. This is Tim responding to a question I asked him about a Theology of Place, Stability and Pilgrimage. To download a free digital version of this edition of Immerse (a first time special offer) click here -> Download Immerse-Nov-Dec-2011
The first Youthfront Book Short has been released by Barefoot Publications. I served as Editor for this series. The cool thing about this book short series is the fact that they are downloadable and can be reproduced by youth workers to engage in conversation with their volunteer staff for the purpose of training and shaping the ethos of the youth ministry of a church. The first title released is Becoming an Environmentalist: The Art of Creating Formational Spaces and was written by Micah Thomas.
Micah Thomas is an amazing curator of environments that are fertile for Christian formation. The act of nurturing space and place is not a formula that can be easily duplicated but an art that relies on intuition and non-tangible dynamics. Micah is the Director of Youthfront South, which is a truly distinctive environment created for high school and college young people to engage in a unique pilgrimage experience. In fact, the environment of Youthfront South is, in most ways, counter-intuitive to the common Christian Camp experience.
Micah makes the case that anyone can become better at creating environments that enhance growth, awareness and life. Micah describes the difference between chronos and kairos concepts of time and why that is important in designing the places and ways we worship and learn. Nurturing place is essential in creating the generous space that opens opportunities for discovery, growth and learning. Curating great space is as much about what doesn’t fill the space as what does fill the space.
Micah challenges us to trust the Holy Spirit for transformation and not overstep our role in order to get forced “results.” In this book short you will find much wisdom and insight for becoming an Environmentalist who will create better more conducive space for Christian Formation. Order Here
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