Field Notes

GROUNDED IN SCRIPTURE

If a student ministry that honors and glorifies Jesus is to be built upon a solid foundation, than the deepest level of that foundation must be the enduring word of God. “All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.”[1] From this verse in the second letter of the apostle Paul to Timothy,[2] two important things can be understood: one, that the entirety of scripture (for this purpose as defined by the protestant Bible) is the very word of God, and two, that it has both positive and negative uses in ministry. Positive in this sense means creating and forming something whereas negative means holding back or pushing against something. These are two very important sides to student ministry, though one is often more popular than the other. Teaching students the Bible and training students to live Godly lives in the world are cornerstones of historic youth ministry and for good reason. However, the negative side of the uses of scripture is neglected more often than not. The word of God is also useful for reproof and correction. Therefore, any general application of scripture in ministry will, at some level, necessitate pushing against sin in the lives of students and their families.

Sometimes it is helpful to imagine a scenario in which a foundational aspect of student ministry is missing in order to reveal its importance. In that light, imagine a student ministry that does not find its anchor in scripture. A myriad of potential problems immediately emerge! On what grounds can a youth pastor defend himself when a student or parent criticizes his or her teaching? When faced with a complicated family crisis, where can a volunteer find direction to know what to do, or even for what to hope? On an even simpler level, what should the students learn in the ministry? How can a leader decide what is important and what is not? Clearly a student ministry must find its anchor somewhere, and if it seeks to honor God, then the first place to look would be His word.

MULTI-GENERATIONAL IN NATURE

Once it is established that scripture will form the deepest foundation of the theology of student ministry, the next question is “how ought scripture to be applied in the lives of teenagers?” There are many different important and valid answers to this question, but one of them is unmistakable – that the scriptural teaching, training, reproofing, and correcting is to take place in the community of God’s people, and today God’s people is a very multi-generational community. This multi-generational community is called, in the Apostle Paul’s first letter to Timothy, to act as if blood-family relations exist between all members. “Do not rebuke an older man but encourage him as you would a father. Treat young men like brothers, older women like mothers, young women like sisters, in all purity.”[3] There are many implications of this familial connection between generations in the church. One is that, within a family, no matter what kind of family, everyone has a role to play. This means that, when it comes to raising the next generation, no member of the community gets to “opt out” and claim that student ministry is someone else’s job. Big or small, everyone has a role to play. Another implication is the cohesiveness implied by calling the Christian community to function as a family. When the younger generations treat the older generations like parents and treat each other as siblings, there emerges a sense of existing as one, unified group instead of separate factions. These two implications push strongly against the tendency in most churches to delegate the discipleship of teenagers to a small group of staff and volunteers and to segregate this ministry from the rest of the church. Perhaps this is an example of scripture being useful for reproofing and correcting the norms that have developed in many Christian communities?

Imagine, for a moment, the kind of acceptance that a teenager might find in a community of adults that embrace him or her as one of their own. Imagine a teenage girl walking through the doors of a church building and, instead of shuffling down to the basement for youth group, is greeted by an elderly man who smiles and asks her how her math test went last week, a single woman in her thirties who gives her a hug and asks if she can sit next to her during the service, and a newly-wed couple that wave to her and say that they had so much fun going to her field hockey game on Friday night. Of course this image is very idealistic, but it is not completely unreasonable. It certainly is not nearly as dramatic and flashy as the latest and greatest technologically-integrated “youth worship experience,” but it does have a richness and warmth that is often lacking even in the most “cutting-edge” student ministries.

On the other hand, imagine a student ministry that does not have this multi-generational aspect as a theological foundation. Students are either mentored or discipled by no one, or by slightly older students, or by young volunteers and church staff. If the entire adult congregation does not collectively take responsibility for knowing, understanding, loving, and raising the younger generations as they would in their very own family, then the task will necessarily fall to someone else. This has the effect of taking a very large burden, meant to be distributed amongst many shoulders, and placing it upon just a few shoulders. Therefore, no matter how talented the staff, no matter how committed the volunteers, no matter how well funded the ministry; it will ultimately fail to accomplish the vision of the multi-generational community described in 1 Timothy 5:1-2.

EQUIPS & TRAINS FOR THE FUTURE

Children are taught to read in the early years of elementary school, not only because reading will be beneficial and enjoyable for them in their youth, but because it is a necessary skill that will enable them to navigate life as they grow into adults. In the same way, the knowledge, wisdom, skills, disciplines, and methods that are given to teenagers by churches are not only to benefit those students in their middle school and high school careers, but to equip them to navigate life as they mature into adulthood. “Train up a child in the way he should go; and even when he is old he will not depart from it.”[4] In light of this, it might be said that the goal of a Biblically grounded student ministry is not mature, Godly teenagers, but mature, Godly adults. Therefore, a foundational theology of student ministry must include a distinct emphasis on equipping and training for the future.

To make the point even more clear, imagine a student ministry that only focuses on student’s spiritual growth in their current situation. Middle school students are not prepared to handle the challenges of high school. High school students are not prepared to deal with the temptations and freedom found on a college campus. Students are not taught or shown how to think about their future vocations or relationships or independence or finances. While a student participates in that ministry, he or she may appear to be thriving and the ministry may appear to be healthy. However, once the student graduates, the enormous gaps in their Christian upbringing will be revealed. Additionally, this ties in very nicely with the Biblically implied multi-generational aspect of the Christian community. If students are only ministered to by those who are also very young themselves, then how will they ever learn what they need to know to navigate the future?

ALL ENCOMPASSING IN SCOPE

Finally, a foundational theology of student ministry must see itself as flowing throughout every aspect of a student’s life, and not limit itself to ministry programs or events. “You shall love the Lord your God will all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.”[5] The lives of most teenagers are already compartmentalized into so many different non-relating areas that a well-integrated Christian life becomes very difficult. Academics are rarely integrated with athletics, which are rarely integrated with social relationships, which are rarely integrated with familial relationships, which are hardly ever integrated with a teenager’s personal spirituality. This passage from the Hebrew Torah paints a picture of parents integrating the teachings of the law into every aspect of everyday life so that their children will learn to do so as well. If (by virtue of hermeneutical and metaphorical extrapolation) it can be understood that the multi-generational body of Christ, which functions like a family, should do the same in the raising of young men and women, then this has massive implications for student ministry. In this paradigm, student ministry is no longer a structure of staff, programs, education, retreats, missions trips, etc. Rather it is a ministry that flows through every aspect of life. Scripture becomes integrated, not just in “youth group” settings, but in academics, in athletics, in social relationships, and in family relationships. Student ministry happens around the dinner table, in the classroom, on the field, in the car, on vacation, at work, at parties, and when the Christian community gathers for worship.

Again, this picture of student ministry that works its way into every nook and cranny of a teenager’s life is idealistic, but not entirely impossible if combined with the multi-generational dynamic of the church. The student ministry staff and volunteers cannot be everywhere at once. They can visit schools, watch plays, cheer at games, and invite students over for dinner, the paradigm of Deuteronomy 6:5-7 will never been attained without a constellation of adults around each teenager, present in all the different areas of their lives. This goes far beyond parental involvement. It is true that parents have a tremendously large role to play, but their role is not the only one. Nor is it sufficient to accomplish the Biblical vision for a well-integrated spiritual life.

CONCLUSION

These passages of scripture are not the only ones that can be used to form a proper theological grounding for student ministry. However, it has been shown that they each have important principles to contribute; and, when taken together, mesh to form a solid, Biblical foundation upon which can be built philosophies, goals, models, and methodologies.

This past year I realized that there was a major area of my life to which I had given essentially no deep thought or intentionality. I interact with this part of my life every day and scripture even uses this particular aspect of life as a metaphor for something necessary for spiritual growth. The area is that of food. Not how much or how little food to eat every day, but rather the most basic ways I think about food. Up until this past year, I categorized food by what I enjoyed and did not enjoy or by what was healthy or unhealthy. I ate the things I enjoyed along with a few things that were also healthy for my body. That was it.

There are number of factors playing into why I put so little thought into food, but the most important one is that I implicitly thought of food as primarily about me. Food is what I eat, what I enjoy, what I want. Now of course the organic, sustainable, local food movement has somewhat influenced me, but for the most part I trivialized the movement as a novelty that will soon pass and gave it no serious consideration. It was not until I visited with a family who lives and works on a farm that I began to question my innate assumptions about food. It was sitting around the dinner table with the whole family, listening to the Dad teach his little children about the importance of gratitude when eating the chicken, lettuce, peppers, squash, and sweet potatoes that they had harvested and cooked that very afternoon. It was not as if he gave a lengthy sermon; rather, as he talked, it became clear that his basic assumptions about the food on our plates was that it was a gift from God. Not an abstract, quickly muttered, “Thanks for the food, Amen.” But instead a gratitude that flowed from an understanding of how much work it took to produce each delicious item on the table.

Driving home that night with my wife, we talked about the subtle but powerful differences we saw in their meal. Each member of the family had invested themselves physically, relationally, emotionally, and even intellectually in working the land to produce food for themselves and for others. Such an investment inevitably brings with it a deep appreciation and therefore gratitude for such bounty. There was a richness that I now see is so often lacking in my food consumption.

Moving forward, my desire for this season of graduate school is to meditate deeper on the incredible gift of food in my refrigerator and on my plate. Perhaps prayers at mealtimes need to become longer as I take a few more moments to think of the miracle of food produced from the ground. Perhaps I could even thank God for food when I’m not even eating! Whatever the method, a more grateful heart is needed and I hope to grow in this way.

So I  was a bit snippy towards my wife this afternoon. (Snippy is the word we use when you’re not technically being mean but you sure aren’t being nice). And that bugged her and her being bugged in turn bugged me… so I decided to go for a bike ride to clear my head (and to give the poor girl a break from grumpy Dan. Tossed the bike on the back of the car, drove to a nearby canyon with a trail, unloaded, and started spinning my way between the steep cliffs rising up on either side. Wouldn’t you know it, 30 seconds into the ride, it starts raining, then it starts RAINING. Lighting crackles across the sky and thunder booms, echoing through the canyon. Turn back and admit defeat? Never! I keep peddling, confident that Colorado thunderstorms usually last all of 10 minutes and it’ll clear up in no time.

Fast forward half an hour, I’m soaked to the bone and still heading deeper into the backcountry. That’s when I start praying. Not because I’m scared/tired and need help, but because I know I’ve got some confessing to do. The great thing about mountain biking alone in a thunderstorm is that you can talk to God out loud and there’s no one around to give you funny looks. My prayer went something like this:

So I’m sorry for being so impatient with everybody today. I didn’t give Rachel (my wife) the benefit of the doubt with anything and instead of showing her grace and mercy all I gave her is impatience and frustration. God – my heart needs some work. I want to be most patient and most generous and most gracious and most merciful and most kind and most forgiving and most loving toward my family. But I’m just not strong enough to do it. Sometimes I want to and sometimes I don’t and without your Spirit I just cave to selfishness. Lord please forgive me and help me. 

It kinda went on and on for a while like that – but you get the idea. At the end of the prayer, I decided to turn around and head home – partially to symbolize my repentance and desire to head in a new direction  (and partially because it was getting late and time to go home). That’s when an interesting thing happened. Up until that point I had been tired, cold, frustrated, and peddling pretty slowly. Once I turned around (and headed into the wind), I found I wasn’t as tired as I thought I was. I started moving along at a pretty good clip and as anyone knows who has ridden a bike in the rain, the mud started flying up off the tires all over me! I didn’t care. I peddled faster. Now I was flying through the canyon, mud spraying up all over the place, wind blowing it back on me, rain still coming down hard… it was GREAT! I felt totally energized and alive. I was right with God, I was heading home to my family, and life was good.

There are tons of metaphors for the Christian life that I’m pulling out of my experience this afternoon, but the biggest one is this: Walking (or in this case, riding) in the right direction with God will usually involve heading into the wind, experiencing some bad weather, and will leave you covered in dirt. However, with His Spirit, you have energy and strength beyond your normal self. More than that, you have JOY – and that can make what would have been a long, exhausting journey actually fun and leave you wanting to do it again.

So the past two weeks have been hard, but not for the reason you might think. Sure – driving across the country was tiring, unloading all of our stuff from the truck was exhausting, unpacking it all took a long time, and there’s still a good bit to do. Moving across the country is tough, but that’s not why the past couple weeks have been difficult for me. The truth is that having so time off between my last day of work and the first day of class has been pretty challenging. Going to work can be satisfying and rewarding. Vacationing can be relaxing and rejuvenating. This is neither.

Instead I find myself puttering around our new house, hanging pictures, fixing small problems, changing diapers, pureeing baby food, and trying to figure out which side of the room the dresser should go. In a word, everyday life around our house is pretty mundane. The temptation in the midst of all this is to believe that life is on hold or that this is an off-season between the things that really matter. I’m not sure our Lord sees it that way. I have yet to stumble across a passage of scripture that talks about how God values our accomplishments and our  degrees but not the ordering and running of our households. In fact, I am relearning a verse that my parents read to me when I was a little kid to encourage me to do my best in school. Colossians 3:23-24 says “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men,  knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.” It must be true that “whatever” includes not only leading student ministries and studying for graduate degrees, but also playing with my daughter on the floor and putting a fresh coat of paint on a piece of furniture.

So for the next few weeks I’ll be camping out in these few verses, trying to serve my King in the little things that no one else sees, and hopefully learning how live out a different aspect of the Christian life.

We made it!

After sending a trailer full of our stuff one way, driving our cars (and dog) another way, and flying the wife and daughter across the country  - we finally got the whole family and all our worldly possessions out West.

…We are definitely not in Kansas anymore.

And that’s a good thing because Kansas is the MOST BORING state in the Union (at least to drive across). To all you Virginians and especially you Charlottesvillians – we miss you. I think the missing began even before we moved, but now that we’re all settled into our new house, we realize how much we long for our family and friends. But in the midst of mourning leaving the East coast, we are getting excited about the new adventure set before us! The landscape here is beautiful, the weather is perfect, and there are endless fun things to do. Seminary classes don’t start for me until August 27th, so our little family has more than a month to find a church community, make new friends, and catch up on our rock climbing/kayaking/fly-fishing/hiking!

For those that are wondering where in Colorado we are living, we have moved into a nice little house in Roxborough Park which is located in Littleton, a Southwest suburb of Denver. From our back porch we can see the foothill of the Rocky Mountains as well as the Denver skyline – it’s a beautiful place! We are also within 5 minutes of four, count ‘em, FOUR incredible parks: Roxborough State Park, Chatfield State Park, Waterton Canyon, and the Audubon Society trails. So if anyone wants to come visit…  the guest room is open and we would love to have you!

If someone were to ask you about one of your best friends, would your answer change depending on who you were talking to? If you value the friendship, hopefully not. You would speak well of them and maybe even brag a little about them no matter who is asking. 

However, if there’s one thing that middle school taught us, it’s that friends are often betrayed for the sake of popularity. Unfortunately, as we adults experience, the pressure to fit in at the expense of loyalty never really goes away. The apostle Peter experienced such social pressure on the night of Jesus’ arrest (Matthew 26:69-75). When questioned about his association with Jesus, the man that he has already proclaimed to be the Christ, Peter completely caves and denies even knowing Jesus – the man with whom he has spent the past three years of his life! 

As we anticipate celebrating Good Friday and Resurrection Day, it might be helpful to think about the experience of Peter. Much like him, we are sometimes quick to announce the depth of our commitment to Jesus, saying things like, “Jesus is my Lord!” or “I want to follow Jesus with my life!” However, weeks, days, even hours later… we can totally cave to social pressure and, in our own way, pretend like we don’t even know Jesus. 

Two thoughts: one is bad news and one is good news.

1. Disowning Jesus is hurtful to him. God is not an unfeeling machine. He is a person with emotions and it is a BIG DEAL when we act like we don’t even know him.
2. Jesus loved Peter. After his resurrection, Jesus mercifully restores his relationship with Peter. The grace that Jesus extended to one of his best friends, is the same grace that he extends to us. Praise the Lord that even our most personal sins against God are forgiven!

Ever played the game “Would you rather?”

Here’s a good one, “Would you rather have your arm hair ripped out with duct tape, or have a potentially awkward conversation with a friend at school about Jesus?”

Unless you enjoy morbidly contemplating social suicide, you’d probably rather be labeled the “hairless wonder” than “pushy, judgmental, intolerant, narrow-minded, Jesus freak,” and you’re not alone in feeling this way. Evangelism is scary. We’re all terrified of seeing that look of disgust or worse, betrayal, in the face of a close friend when we bring Jesus into a conversation. We’re worried that it will mean the end of the relationship, the end of trust, the end of our reputation, THE END OF THE WORLD!

Two thoughts to share this afternoon:

1. Has this ever actually happened to any of you? I’m not talking about a time when you were a jerk to someone in the name of God and then they stopped liking you. I mean a time when you sincerely and lovingly shared a story with them about what Jesus has done in your life. Odds are, it didn’t trigger a series of events that eventually led to doomsday. Instead, I’m guessing it was far more intense and awkward for you than it was for them!
2. On the other hand, let’s assume for a moment, the absolute worst. Let’s assume that the second you say the word “Jesus” all kinds of terrible things are going to happen. Friends will flee from you, people will slander you on Facebook, and you will be shunned “Dwight Schrute style” for the rest of the semester. Even IF all this happened, it still is NOT a cause for fear. Our security, our personal identity, even our sense of belonging and safety is found in our relationship with Jesus. His words to us, from John 16:33 are “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

For most of us – there’s not a lot to fear, but even if there is – we will not give in to fear and insecurity because of what Christ has done for us. So put away the duct tape!