March 2019 – Youth Work Hacks

Do we over-normalise our faith?

March 25, 2019/0 Comments/in culture, lifestyle, youth work /by admin

At the end of 2016, Youth For Christ released a piece of research called ‘Gen Z: Rethinking Culture’. One of the stand out quotes from that immense work was an answer to the question, “What is your experience of Christians”. It went like this:

“They are normal like everyone else. Their faith doesn’t change them.”

Boom! This should strike hard and resonate deep. This answer – which recurred in various forms throughout the research – says that those young people who knew Christians did not see anything distinctively Christian about them. No light, no fire, no new heart, no challenge to injustice, nothing to display the radical Jesus to a desperate and needy world. The word was ‘normal.’ Ouch.

The battle for normalisation

Over the last three decades, we’ve made normalisation the battle cry of youth mission in the Church. We’ve said that Christians are coming across too weird, and too removed from the world, and the Ned Flanders stereotype needed to undergo some dramatic surgery.

There was certainly a lot of truth in this – after all, if Jesus doesn’t work in real life for real people, then He’s just not real. Dressing up our faith in legalism or overt, unnecessary quirkiness has never been helpful. A level of normalisation has been needed. However, have we gone too far?

Youth mission resources have put an inordinate amount of energy into encouraging us to show just how normal we are to young people. How we dress, what boxsets we devour, and which words we absorb into our natural vocab. We’ve moved away from questions like ‘what does Jesus expect from your life?’ to ‘is it ok for a Christian to have tattoos?’

Now were two or three generations down the line, and our church-raised teenagers are living the Christian life that we’ve recalibrated into normality for them, I wonder if we’ve gone too far. Now their mates don’t see the radical. The normalisation process looks like it may have been too successful.

Sometimes a little weird goes a long way

We know the dangers of watering down the gospel, but the normalisation of the Gospel-carriers can be just as insidious.

Don’t get me wrong. There is certainly an level of normalisation that we’ve needed to acquire. We are people of grace, not works, and Jesus came into the world to save the world, not create a weird bubble of odd, judgemental people. And for the record… I have a beard, a tattoo, and a red flannel shirt!

However, sometimes a little weird goes a very long way. As Christians there is something inherently different and radical about us – and that is supposed to show in way that can’t be normalised without being diluted.

Jesus said in this world you will have trouble (Jn. 16:33), He tells us to let our light shine high on a stand for the world to see (Mt. 5:14-16), We are in the world, but not of it (Jn. 15:19; 17:14-16). We are citizens of heaven; travellers, and just passing through this world (Eph. 2:19; Phil. 3:20). Citizens should look like where they come from right?

We should bear the traits of our citizenship

My wife is American, living in the UK. She has recently applied for naturalised British citizenship (so please pray for her!). She will be part of the UK; able to move freely, work, vote, and be afforded the rights of all British Citizens. However, she is also naturally American. That is where she is from, what she is of. She will be in Britain, but that doesn’t mean she will suddenly loose her accent or forget the words to her National Anthem. Her character and formation are still very much the Californian girl I married. I want her to live with me in the UK, but I don’t want to ‘normalise’ the American out of her.

We are in the world but not of it. We’re not from the world – we’re not products of the world – we’re of Jesus. He gave us second birth. We are born again in Him. This makes us citizens of His Kingdom. Let’s try and look a like it.

We are a little weird…

Some of the things my American wife does (like leaving the teabag in the cup) look weird in the UK. She sounds different and dresses different. She still lives here respectfully, loves people, makes friends, works, pays tax, but that doesn’t make her less who she is. We too are called to live the traits that Jesus called us to – to look like Him and bear the image of His kingdom.

We’re not meant to look like legalistic, judgemental, controversy junkies – but we are called to be a shining like in a grumpy dark place. That will be a little weird.

We’re not meant to be socks-n-sandals, bowl-cut, technophobes – but we are called to carry the name of Jesus like food to a hungry world. That will be a little weird.

We’re not meant to see the world as enemies and heathen – but we are called to love, serve, grow, proclaim, and point to Jesus. That will be a little weird.

We really need to stop telling our kids that following Jesus isn’t weird, and that it doesn’t mean a change in their lifestyle or choices. Following Jesus is a radical thing – and that will be a little weird.

The best kind of weird!

Photo by Artem Bali on Unsplash

27 habits to beat burnout

March 12, 2019/0 Comments/in strategy, youth work /by admin

There are plenty of reasons that youth workers burn out, and more than a few horror stories. However, the best work a youth worker can do is long term youth work. So stick to it! In the meantime, here’s 27 habits to get into to help you avoid the burnout trap!

Surround yourself with good people who love you and don’t report to you.
Make sure you are a worshipping part of the community – so take regular Sunday’s off from commitments.
Have a separate line-manager, pastor, and mentor.
Take your days off. Always. No exceptions.
Plan your holiday’s in advance.
Safeguard family times.
Talk to God regularly like He’s an old friend who desperately wants the best for you.
Have hobbies. Commit to them as a valuable part of your life, not simply extras ‘when there’s time for them’.
Give. Generously and a little bit ridiculously. Don’t wait to give.
Love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Commit to growing that above all else.
Grow in love for the Word – as a relationship with your dad in heaven, not as a ministry prep thing.
Married? Make intentional space for intimacy. Explore, make it fun!
Kids? Try and be more crazy than them when you play. Really *play* with them.
Dance when no ones around.
Plan prayer & reflection times into your diary. Don’t plan meetings over them. Write them into the calendar.
Commit to a couple of conferences and retreats each year. Make sure you take them as additions to holiday’s, not replacements.
Watch TV. Read books. Play games. Laugh lots.
Develop healthy sleep, eating, exercise, and hygiene patterns.
Don’s take yourself too seriously. Seriously.
Remember they’re God’s kids, and it’s His ministry… It’s not yours. God was in their life before you were, and will continue to be after they/you leave.
Also remember you’re not a surrogate parent.
Give yourself a pass when things sometimes suck.
Remember that you’re just one of God’s tools, not the best/only one. (Num. 22:21ff right?)
Have big healthy poos.
Finally remember that Jesus might return tomorrow.
Finally finally remember that you’ll be in heaven one day, and in a 1000 years, what seems monumental and stressful now, will pale in significance when you spend all your days in utter delight worshipping around the throne of Jesus.
Eat cake.

Photo by Jamie Street on Unsplash

Faith formation in a Post-Christendom context. Part Two: Some Ways Forward

March 8, 2019/0 Comments/in Uncategorized /by admin

This week, Jonny Price, Youth and Children’s Ministry Leader in York, returns to give us some insight faith formation with a post-Christendom culture. This is the second in a two part series, so check out part 1 here.

Recently I wrote about some assumptions that we make around faith formation. Here I want to explore some positive ways forward for us in a post-Christendom world, which may be able to help us inspire, encourage, and grow our young people in a life of faith.

1. Start with Jesus

Much of our evangelism starts with trying to convince people that God exists. What if, instead, we start with exploring who Jesus is, what He did, and then move onto what Jesus tells us about the God who sent Him?

Jesus is compelling, intriguing, and captivating. Trying to convince people of the existence of God can be dry, dull, and focuses too much on the intellect. Focusing on Jesus can capture people’s imagination and encourage them to wonder about the character of God. Once they start this wondering for themselves, we can help them on their journey, rather than convince them there is a journey to start with.

2. Recover the verb-ness of Faith

Last time I said that faith and belief had become about agreeing with an idea. That isn’t what we see when we look in Scripture and it shouldn’t be what we expect from our young people today.

Think about the amazing examples of faith we look to in the Bible; how Abraham left his land and followed God’s instructions (mostly), the way that Moses stood against the tyranny of Pharaoh and lead the people to freedom, the way Samuel challenged the people to turn their backs on evil and follow God, how Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah stood defiantly before different kings of Babylon. And that is just a few examples from the Old Testament! Think of all the other examples from the New Testament, the history of the church, and from recent history. What marks them all out is that their faith involved, led to, and inspired action.

3. Treat the Bible on its own terms

I recently had a church visit from some GCSE RE students. As part of looking around the church we got into a conversation around Levitical Law. The usual weird laws came up in conversation, but when we got onto talking about what the Law was actually for, they were surprised at how contemporary and relevant it sounded. At the heart of the Law is the idea that all humans are image bearers of God, and so are worthy to be treated with dignity, respect, and care.

By talking about the Bible on its own terms, we were able to move past the surface level conversation about how weird the laws were and started to move towards a more interesting and impactful conversation.

When we make excuses for what is in the Bible, we undermine our own faith. When we promote the Bible as simple, we cheat the young people we work with of an opportunity to engage deeply with it. When we treat it on its own terms, however, we can catch our young peoples’ imaginations and intellects, and then help them to engage with their faith in a holistic way. This will draw them in and help them to be agents in their own spiritual formation, rather than simply receivers of just our wisdom.

4. De-spiritualise spirituality

Think of how conversations around spirituality are framed. The spiritual is a realm that is parallel with ours; it is other, abstract. The result is that either the spiritual is pushed to the side and takes on less significance than what goes on in the ‘real’ world, or that the spiritual is emphasised as being behind all the problems in the world.

But if we remove this lens and try and replace it with a biblical view of the spiritual, then an important change happens: Things in the world take on a spiritual significance that calls us to action.

Let me give you an example:

Unethical supply chains exploit people. In a view of the world where the spiritual is abstract, this is sad but the result of the way the world is. However, in a view of the world where the spiritual is a real and a central part of life, these supply chains are evil. Anything that reduces people to be less than human is part of this evil, anything that exploits creation is part of this evil.

If we can help our young people to develop a view of the world in which the spiritual is neither Paranormal Activity-esque, nor is it a nice luxury for those who have time to contemplate, then their choices take on greater significance, and calling them to a life of faith has a real impact on the world around them.

Also, within this framework, you need never have a conversation about how Christianity is ‘boring’ ever again, because it is clear what impact it has on the world.

Conclusion

At the heart of each of these is the idea that living a life of faith is far more than waiting for God to call us to heaven. It is about living lives inspired by God’s perspective, working against evil and for good in a way that brings peace, joy, beauty, and goodness into the world.

If we can promote these ideas in our faith formation, then we will call our young people to a life of faith in which they are bringing goodness into the world through their actions and choices.