Chris Folmsbee: If I were to do it again

Chris Folmsbee has an interesting post which I reproduce below.

If this were to be written from a lead pastor's point of view, it wouldn't surprise me to see a great deal of overlap. Thanks to Brad Boydston and Scot McKnight for alerting me to this post.

Friday May 29, 2009

If I Were To Do It Again

I was a youth pastor for 13 years. Today, I am active in youth ministry as a volunteer at The Church of the Resurrection near my home in Kansas City but most of my contribution to youth ministry these days is through training, writing, speaking and consulting.

Recently, I was sharing some thoughts regarding the future of youth ministry with a group of local lead and executive pastors. I was asked, "If you were to go back and do youth ministry again, as you once did, how would what you know now change how you would lead a youth ministry?" I had a few items off the top of my head (some are listed below) but I pointed them all to this post for a more robust list of things I might do differently. So, if I were to go back and lead a youth ministry again I would...

You fill in this sentence ... and let's see if we can help youth pastors... what have you learned?

• Act theologically before methodologically
• Be more of a spiritual director than a program director
• Hire a parent to be a part of our youth staff
• Spend more time investing in interns/co-pastors
• Experiment with more learner-centered education models
• Ask less of my volunteers and yet equip them more
• Communicate change to the church leaders, staff and parents more
• Create more opportunities for students to "learn up" instead of me "teaching down"
• Celebrate the successes in the lives of students with greater regularity and intensity
• Worry less about the retreat themes and spend more time with the students on the retreats.
• Take students on way more spiritual retreats
• Work hard to be more collaborative with the youth workers in my city
• Take more time off to be with my wife and kids
• Be more intentional with a confirmation process
• Find time to laugh and play more
• Be more grace-filled with students who were goofing off and causing trouble
• Try to learn more from the staff instead of thinking I have all the answers
• Take the criticism of others more seriously and less defensively
• Meet with my spiritual director more often
• Take personal retreats more often
• Be way more missional and a lot less attractional in my approach or model
• Try and get more pulpit time to advocate for the students in the church and community
• Pray more and develop a team of people to pray with
• Provide inspiring training for the parent of the students
• Call the students to greater levels of holiness
• Spend a lot more time creating opportunities for students to practice justice
• Allow the more artistic students opportunities to express themselves and their love for God.
• Teach much more conversationally
• Try to enter into the joy, pain, loss, doubt, hurt, etc. of the students and their families

If I spend some more time thinking I am sure I could come up with a list of a whole lot more things I would do differently. If you are a youth pastor/worker, what are some things you have learned to do differently from when you began until now? If you are a former youth pastor/worker, what are some things that you would do differently?

Good news for Susan!

Susan has been accepted into Massey College at the University of Toronto! We are so pleased for her. It's the nearest thing she can get to reduplicating her Best Semester experience at Oxford... ; )

Massey College is an academic home for 60 of the University of Toronto's graduate and professional students, called Resident Junior Fellows, and another 60 to 70 non-resident Junior Fellows. Resident junior fellows can live in college for up to three years, and then become non-resident junior fellows for a further two years. In addition, the College hosts visiting academics, generally on sabbatical leave, who are called Senior Residents...

The college also strives to preserve an Oxbridge-type atmosphere by mandating the wearing of gowns at dinner, and incorporating regular High Tables — complete with after-dinner snuff — into its schedule; and balances this with very active outreach programs. The mandated goal of the college is to demonstrate through its corporate life the interconnectness between all learning. The College has been referred to as the All Souls of Canada. (Wikipedia)



We are concerned, however, about the snuff, and hope that Susan will be able to adjust to the orange floors and blankets.

Lane County Unemployment: 13.6%

According to the Eugene Register Guard,

May 27--Lane County's jobs picture remained bleak in April.
The county's unemployment rate rose to 13.6 percent, up from 12.9 percent in March, and more than double the 5.3 percent rate of April 2008, according to figures released Tuesday by the state Employment Department.
The county's April rate topped the statewide rate of 12 percent and the national rate of 8.9 percent

Grateful...

I am

• grateful for the sucessful VCC youth garage sale a week ago yesterday, which net us over $2500. This will help the CHIC budget


• grateful for the Alaska Christian College team that was with us this weekend, and the work that God is doing through ACC in their lives


• grateful for another good Worship in the Park and Potluck


• grateful for Joanna's good SAT results


• grateful for her induction into Honor Society last Thursday.


• grateful for the chance to teach the online Inter Disciplinary Studies class, "Ideas matter: Engaging World Thought and Culture"


• grateful to be able to partner with a woman seeking faith in Christ, as we cleaned the church together Friday


• grateful to be hosting the VCC reading group this Friday night, for "The Great Gatsby"


• grateful for the incredible cool weather and bright sunshine

But I am also exhausted. So much still to do...blogging is going to have to take a back burner for a while.

Prayer for EBC Honors Chapel, May 20, 2009

Father,

You sent your Son Jesus, your Living Word
To bring us forgiveness and truth,
And He gave us His Spirit to make us holy.
Through them we come to know and love You,
And enter into Your life together.

Help us to worship You,
One God in three Persons,
Not only by declaring

but by living out our faith in You.

We thank you for this college,
and all here who serve you,
who have been Christ to us,

who have equipped us,
and have directed us toward your Kingdom.

Now we pray that you might complete
The good work which you have begun in us
By giving us
Diligence to seek you,
Patience to wait for you,
Hearts to meditate on you,
Wisdom to perceive you
Eyes to behold you,
Intelligence to understand you
And lives to proclaim you.

Bless those who come in
And bless those who go out,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

By Him, with Him, in Him, in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
May all glory be yours, Almighty Father, now and forever.

Amen

What if we are like Cathedrals?

There's a wonderful series entitled "The Theology and Metaphysics of the Gothic Cathedral" over at the New Liturgical Movements blog.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

Br Lawrence Lew, O.P. writes:

"....This is to say that the symbol – and in this case we mean the Gothic cathedral – is not just an earthly reminder or signpost of heavenly realities, but rather it is the ‘en-fleshing’ in worldly matter of heavenly realities. As in the Incarnation the eternal Word communicated with humankind in the flesh, so God continues to communicate his truth to us through material signs and visible means. For, Von Simson argues, the medievals understood that “the physical world as we understand it has no reality except as a symbol… symbol is the only objectively valid definition of reality”. This metaphysical sensitivity characterizes the medieval artistic vision, so that the Gothic cathedral is not to be primarily understood in functional or socio-economic or aesthetic terms, but in metaphysical and theological terms, and one has to ask what truth the cathedral symbolizes; how does God communicate with us in its beauty and form? Hence, Von Simson says, “the medieval artist was committed to a truth that transcended human existence. Those who looked at his work judged it as an image of that truth”.

This strong symbolic sense, which is redolent of a Catholic understanding of sacramentals, the theology of the Incarnation, and the philosophical idea of participation, is central to any grasp of the Gothic cathedral and its architecture. I would argue that this was largely lost after the Reformation, and it needs to be re-discovered. For a church is not built just as a theatre for the sacred drama of Liturgy, nor merely as a badge of our cultural identity, nor even as a didactic 'worship space', but it is, as the medievals saw it, a transformation of space and matter so that the church building makes visible and truly communicated in its very physical form the metaphysical reality of redeemed Creation, which is sacramentally made visible in God's holy Church.

What if our lives are like cathedrals?

1 Cor. 6:12- 20

"I have the right to do anything," you say—but not everything is beneficial. "I have the right to do anything"—but I will not be mastered by anything. You say, "Food for the stomach and the stomach for food, and God will destroy them both." The body, however, is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, "The two will become one flesh." But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit. Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins people commit are outside their bodies, but those who sin sexually sin against their own bodies. Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.

Of Chicken Kiev and a Greek Tango

Another hour and Mother's Day 2009 will be history. I have been blessed for the past 22 years to have been among the ranks of mothers being honored on this day.

For many, it is a day of mixed emotions, or worse. For them, I pray God's comfort and peace. I am not without some lingering pains: my Grandma Pete died on a Mother's Day over two decades ago, and there were half a dozen Mother's Days where my own mother didn't know my name, thanks to Alzheimer's Disease.

But today, I awoke to a vase of coral and ivory roses on the kitchen table, plus a big pot of spanish lavendar and another of bog rosemary--gifts from my husband, Steve, and daughter, Joanna. After church they made me dinner, and what a dinner! Chicken Kiev, asparagas and rice pilaf. This was no frozen meal: Steve and Joanna made it from scratch, with lots of butter and garlic and parsley. But the most important ingredient was love.

My friend J. is newly divorced. She went to a concert last night and heard a song, "Greek Tango" sung by Constantinos Yiannoudes. It is a very sad song, wondering what happened to the love two people once shared. Here are the words:

Truly it is terrible. I have to admit
Your old love for me does not concern you anymore.

You hastily give me a typical "good evening."

You do not even give me your small beautiful hand.

As if it wasn't true

As if your tears never flowed for me.

As if it wasn't true

In those past years, when you lived for me

and I lived for you.

Each one hates the other.

And you have forgotten

all those sweet kisses you gave me.

And all our love is buried

in a drawer with yellowed letters.

As if it wasn't true,

as if your tears never flowed for me.

As if it wasn't true

In those past years, when you lived for me

and I lived for you.

Today J. taught Ephesians 4:30-32 to the high school group. It took great strength. The kids sat rapt, knowing that she spoke from her own experience. She compared a mother's love to Lord's. He is the source of all love, trust and intimacy. "Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption," Human love may fail. Even a mother's love will someday come to an end, but God's love is constant and true.

This could have been one of those painful holidays. Though J. will never again celebrate her wedding anniversary, God is good: her son presented her with a vase of flowers early this morning, sat beside her in worship, and thanked God for her during the open prayer time. Like all wise and good children, he knew that the most important ingredient is love.

Matthew 18:3-5

And he said: "Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes a humble place—becoming like this child—is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.

HUMOR: BCC Announcement set to Anglican Chant

An oldie but goodie: two great institutions-- the BBC and the Anglican church--united for this public service announcement from 1978.

"This week, reader Anne Kroehle sends me a link to another interesting text set to Anglican chant: The King's Singers presenting frequency changes for BBC radio in November 1978. "

from http://www.batesline.com/archives/2004/10/more-anglican-c.html

Islamic Apologetics: "The Truth About Jesus"

Abdur-Raheem Green, an apologist for Islam, is an entertaining, engaging speaker who deserves our attention. We should listen to him carefully and be prepared to give a reason for the hope that is within us.



From YouTube:

Born in Dar-es-salaam in Tanzania to British parents, Abdur-Raheem Green's father (born in England), Gavin Green, was a colonial administrator in the then extant British Empire. At an early age he moved back to the UK with his parents. His mother is of original Polish origin.

At the age of 10 he attended a Roman Catholic Monastic boarding school at Gilling Castle and then went onto Ampleforth College and went on to study history in the London University. However, he left his education unfinished in an effort to devote himself to Islamic works.

He became dissatisfied with Christianity at the age of 8, with it not making sense to him.

Green researched and practiced many religions, including Buddhism (for 3 years) before embracing Islam.

Whilst in Britain his father got a job in 1976 working for Barclays Bank International and was subsequently sent to Cairo, Egypt, to set up a branch of the Bank there.

His study of the Noble Qur'an immediately attracted him to Islam and he embraced Islam in 1988. He has been a Daw'ah practitioner in Britain since then.

Green now works in the London Central Mosque and Islamic Cultural Centre as the Visits and English Dawa Co-ordinator.

Green is seen akin to lecturers such as Dr. Zakir Naik, Dr. Bilal Philips, Khalid Yasin and Yvonne Ridley, doing many lectures on Islam worldwide and also in London's famous Hyde Park, Speakers Corner.

TOWARDS A RESPONSE TO GREEN:

1) Truth = "something we can reason and establish to be a fact;" which doesn't contradict itself. For Islam, THE word of God cannot have any contradictions. The Bible cannot be THE word of God, and an account inspired by God but written by men. "Truth is a matter of facts; faith may or may not lead you to the truth."

TOWARDS A RESPONSE 1:
Islam (as Green presents it) seems to take language to be univocal, not analogous. Why must this be the case? If language is analogous, there can be such things as paradoxes. Paradoxes are NOT contradictions. They are admissions that there are things which we do not (yet) understand, but which are not nonsense. In a zeal to give a transcendent God all glory, Islam actually vaults human reason above divine reason, by limiting truth exclusively to a quality of propositions, instead of understanding it as a quality of being. (For more about "the truth of all things," read sections 31-35 here, in "The Two Sides of the Coin that is Truth," a section in Josef Pieper: an Anthology.)

Facts are not separable from faith. See the work of Alvin Plantinga and others regarding Reformed Epistemology

2) God doesn't need a son. He doesn't need to kill any son to forgive us: the "atonement" would be the greatest of all crimes.

TOWARDS A REPONSE 2:
Read C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity and the pietists. God's killing his son would certainly would be a cosmic crime if eradicating of sin was simply a matter of avenging His wrath. But what if we need someone to be the perfect "link" between God and us, who willingly offered Himself as "bait" in order to trap Satan? There are many other theories of atonement besides the substitutionary model.

3) Protestants had a noble and correct aim: they were right to reject the paganism and corruption of Catholicism, and seek "the Jesus of History." They rejected the worship of the mythological- theological Jesus, Mary, saints, and sacraments, but they failed to be consistent and follow things to their logical end. The Jesus of history is different from the Jesus of theology. Christianity is a paganism, not a monotheistic religion.

TOWARDS A RESPONSE 3:
Read C. Stephen Evans, The Historical Christ and the Jesus of History .

Liberal Protestantism errs in separating Christ's divinity from his humanity because it holds the modernist skepticism about the supernatural. Liberal Protestantism takes the physical as its exclusive default (witness the historical-critical method and demythologizing.) Islam errs in separating Christ's divinity from his humanity because it takes the transcendent as its exclusive default, and understands God purely in terms of His will. volu. (Voluntarism is fundamentally non-physical.)

Both liberal protestants and Moslems are "either/or" people. Only Christians (Catholics, Orthodox, some Protestants) are able to be "both-and" people, and do justice to the complexity of what is real, and our God-given ability to know it.

4) It is a contradiction to believe that Jesus Christ is both God and man. (45:45) What defines a human being is different from what defines a God.

TOWARDS A RESPONSE 4:
Steve Evans does a thorough job of responding to the charge that the incarnation is logically impossible in chapter 6 of The Historical Christ and the Jesus of Faith, mentioned above.

See also Thomas V. Morris, The Logic of God Incarnate.

5) The canon grew up alongside the church. This does not establish truth.

TOWARDS A RESONSE 5:
Again, this assumes a very narrow definition of truth, one which gives primacy to ratio and not to intellectus. (Look here ) Furthermore, is this any more problematic than the situation Islam presents: in itself, the Koran may be true and inerrant, but how does a mere mortal sort out what is true? Do the Sunnis or Shi'as have the correct interpretation? Which clergyman is right? Bottom line: we can't avoid appeal to the Holy Spirit, whether it is in overseeing the establishment of the canon, or in assisting our understanding of that canon.

6) God cannot do anything. He can't do something stupid/contradictory. He can't make square circles, yet this is what Christians believe!

TOWARDS A RESPONSE 6:
Yes, there are some muddle headed Christians who do believe God can do contradictory things. But again, C. S. Lewis offers a clarity in The Problem of Pain: "Nonsense remains nonsense even when we talk it about God." (One of my most popular entries in this blog concerns this very issue. Read it here).