Three Thoughts about Retreats from a Rookie Youth Pastor

Two weeks ago, I was given the opportunity to speak at a friend’s youth group retreat. It was an exciting and challenging experience. It was of particular interest to see how kids can be different in different contexts (my friend is a youth pastor for a Korean PCA church) and how kids can be pretty much the same. It appears that somehow I can make most teens laugh, though I’m not sure if it’s usually for the reasons I intend.

I think there is a lot I could say, but for the sake of the title, I’ll limit my thoughts to three.

  1. As a speaker, it’s important that I be myself. I don’t mean “be yourself” like hug yourself and find your inner-child weirdness. I was just given the excellent advice that even though I might be tempted to try to wow or impress or try something new, be myself. Don’t try to emulate that famous multi-campus church leader or that generation-changing author. It’s really good advice, because (1) I think I was tempted to try to impress and (2) pride comes before the fall. I think it’s probably intentional that Paul calls us “jars of clay” and not “goblets of bling.”
  2. Kids are different. Kids are the same. Most of the teens were first generation US citizens with parents who had moved from Korea- a significant contextual difference from most of the kids in our youth ministry. But it was amazing to see how similar they were in how they responded to the messages. And I know that at a deep level, the need is the same- the need to believe the Gospel and appropriate its benefits in our lives.
  3. I love people who love the Gospel. I had some really great conversations with my friend, Sam. We come from slightly different worlds contextually and theologically. And yet, there’s a lot we agree on, things like the good news about Jesus Christ’s life, death, and resurrection and the hope for those who believe, these things make our friendship very encouraging. I’m thankful to have brothers in other churches who love God and love His people and are willing to befriend me.

It was a great time and I’m so thankful to my friend Sam.

Three Thoughts from a Rookie Youth Pastor

Here’s another installment of triplet of cogitations that have been steeping in the area between my ears.

  1. Youth ministry is like learning to juggle knives while running. Ok, perhaps it’s not that severe. But it really is a process of learning while you execute. I’d love to be able to put everything on a pause as I create structures, cast visions, add teams, etc. But in truth, we are up and running, and I have to learn to juggle as I go. And hopefully not get stabbed.
  2. It’s so easy to forget to pray. Amidst all the email-checking, teen-mingling, sermon-writing, Bible-studying, facebook-posting, and noun-verbing, it just is easy to let prayer get wedged out of the picture. It’s interesting thought that Jesus had sense enough to peel away from the group to spend time in prayer. And the apostles dedicated themselves to the ministry of prayer and the word- in that order. Two strong hints that perhaps I should make sure that I pursue God before trying to accomplish His mission.
  3. You gotta give ’em what they want. When it comes to adult leaders, one of the most exciting things I’ve been witness to is seeing an adult volunteer get passionate about a particular part of our ministry. It is rewarding to me to see when someone who is gifted and passionate about ministry doing ministry. The body of Christ really is amazing.

Three Thoughts from a Rookie Youth Pastor

First off, for the one of you that read my notes from the conference, I’ve got more that I’ll post this week. It takes longer than I thought to 1) read my own handwriting and 2) translate my notes into something somewhat understandable.

In the meantime here are three more thoughts from a rookie youth pastor.

  1. Criticism is a crazy thing. Criticism is that gift you’re always willing to give, but would rather not receive. “Can I regift this?” But what’s even more challenging about it is that criticism (both positive & negative) tends to be one of the key way God sanctifies. We even mentioned in small groups this past Sunday that God opposes the proud but gives grace to the one who is humble enough to take criticism (I think that’s out of the Message). This is one truth that I can articulate, but I’m not sure how good I am at living it. How about you?
  2. Being a good Christian is more important than being a good minister. It is so easy to get this backwards. Everything in me wants to define my life by how much I know or how well I can teach or how well I can relate to a teen. My tendency is to measure how much I deserve God’s goodness, in this case, through how well (or poorly) I serve. But the good news is that I will never deserve it, regardless of how I excel, and yet God loves me still.
  3. My wife is great. She’s better than me in Scrabble, Monopoly, and life (not the game, the existential reality). But she’s still nice to me.

Three Thoughts from a Rookie Youth Pastor

In no particular order, here are three thoughts from a Rookie Youth Pastor.

  1. Our teens want to serve, but they don’t know how. I think of my temptations as a youth pastor has been to get frustrated with the lack of interest in our youth ministry from our students, thinking that there is no interest. What I’ve come to realize is that a lot of our teens do want to serve and exercise their gifts, but they need guidance or encouragement to do so. Really, the fault is mine for not being more proactive in organizing and training teens to serve- which leads me to my second thought that…
  2. Adult volunteers are the backbone of youth ministry. There’s a lot of stuff that I do on a weekly basis. But for all the “amazing” (note the deep tone of sarcasm) things I can do, I come up against my limitations more often than not. And for our teens to get connected relationally and to get discipled, it’s absolutely essential that there is a team of adults who are as committed to this next generation as me, who can talk to kids, mentor and train, and generally have an impact where I cannot.
  3. God must build it. I can create a team of adult leaders. I can share the Gospel. I can love on kids. But more than anything I am at the mercy of God who brings transformation through the power of the Holy Spirit working through His Gospel that magnifies His Son, Jesus Christ. May I work knowing the grave responsibility to labor for the sake of his Gospel and sleep knowing that God builds.

Notes from the Conference: Ed Stetzer at Dream 2011 (Tuesday)

On Tuesday, Ed Stetzer spoke to pastors and staff of churches in Every Nation. His message was entitled, Churches in North America: The Present, The Future, and Our Response. Below are my notes.

Some Opening Caveats

  • Don’t believe all the (negative) hype about the decline of Christianity in N.A.
    • Oftentimes these are hyperbolic statements intended to motivate toward a specific end.
    • People who point to problems with solutions to sell.
  • When people say “in the church…”
    • What church are we referring to (especially with regard to statistics)?
    • Are we referring to mainline denominations or evangelicalism?
    • How are we defining a “Christian?” Are we defining “Christian” as someone who adopts the moniker or someone who has been born-again, believes in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and attends a local church? Because how we define “Christian” changes the group of people we’re talking about.

In Our Evangelical Churches

  • Growing Methodological Diversity
    • Trends in opposing directions (e.g. house churches, mega-churches, emergent, neo-calvinist). Note that trends here don’t refer to what “everyone” is doing, but what a large group is doing.
    • Proliferation Networks – denominations, partnership networks (e.g. Every Nation, A29, Newfrontiers, etc.)
    • Churches looking more and more different.
  • Theological Dissatisfaction
    • Evangelical angst.
    • A growing desire to dig deeper into the gospel.
    • Same evangelical dissatisfaction was the root cause of the Emergent movement (desiring a more holistic gospel) as well as the New Calvinists (desiring a greater emphasis on the atonement).
  • A Need For More Robust Disciple-Making – Disciple-making that is not just out of a book.
  • More Discussion on Gender – An issue that should not be ignored or intentionally overlooked.
  • Effect of the Recession on the Church – the “de-clergification” of church. More laypeople doing the work of ministry. A good thing.

Issues from the Culture

  • Post-Seeker Culture
    • Most people who were going to be reached by the “seeker” movement have been.
    • Church is no longer the first place people go to regarding spiritual things.
    • We have confused invitationalism with evangelism
  • Spiritual but not Religious
    • There is a perception that spirituality is good while religion is bad.
    • The growing view is not atheism, but spirituality.
    • This is problematic because people view evangelicals as “religious.”
    • This is a good thing because people are open to “spiritual things.”
  • Growing Intolerance – Not to be confused with persecution, but still a growing mentality of “those Christians.”
  • Sexual Overload
    • We can no longer ignore the fact that people are being shaped by the pornification of the culture.
    • This is a place where the gospel can and must shine brightly to broken people.

Ed Stetzer is the President of Lifeway Research. You can read his blog at http://www.edstetzer.com/.