My posts have been pretty serious as of late. So I thought that I would share with the world my love for the Pacific Northwest. I’m not promoting any particular insurance it’s just they have done such a great job pointing out the true quirky qualities of the NW.
This really happens around here! Most people don’t honk!
“Ministry is a marathon, not a sprint.”
I’m not sure who it was that coined that statement but I hear it a lot. For the most part, I hear this in regards to “burn-out”. Which is, unfortunately, to common in youth ministry circles.
I have personally never run a marathon, I actually hate running so I don’t think I will ever be in one. However, I use to swim long distance in high school, and the commonality between marathons and distance swimming is endurance. The hardship with endurance is that it is never about “taking it easy”. If you are taking it easy, than your are not in a marathon, it’s proabably a walk-a-thon. Distance racing requires a skill called pacing, if a competitor simply sprints, he will burn out and drop out, but if they know how to pace they will be able to endure for the entire race. However, no matter how well you pace, at some point you will “hit a wall”. Physically speaking lactic acid builds in your mussels causing them to become weak, this is where most people are willing to quit, but hitting the wall can be a good thing. If you are able to move past that pain threshold, there comes a point when the competition becomes much easier to endure.
In many ways I think ministers mistake “hitting the wall” for “burn-out”. They sometimes feel the same, discouragement, doubt, fatigue, these are all signs of both and they certainly make you want to quit. However, burn out and hitting the wall end up in very different results. I don’t think I need to explain burn-out, there are plenty of books and seminars out there that do much better than I on the subject. But I do think it’s important to ask ourselves whether we are truly burnt out or have we just hit the wall, and need to push through to the finish.
Here are a few points on pacing in ministry:
- Set yourself up with good boundaries, and reasonable goals.
- Find good accountability (coach) to tell you when to back off and when to “get going”.
- Refresh yourself often with good fellowship and time in the word. DONT FORGET TO REST!
- Remember where you have been, and dream about what is ahead.
Check it out HERE
Josh Griffin is the Senior High Youth Pastor at Saddleback
I read this article from the New York Times the other day. The title “The Right Way to Pray” caught my eye.
Teaching students how to pray can sometimes be a frustrating endeavor.
Why?
Perhaps it has to do with our methodology.
In the NYT article the author mentions going to a church, dedicated to prayer, where a seminary professor took students on a regular basis to study prayer. The professor was quoted saying, “…people just assume they know how to pray. But that’s not true. Prayer is a lot more than reciting words, it requires mastering both theory and technique.”
Theory and Technique?
That is really interesting, consider the ACTS model, which I was taught as a student.
A- adoration
C- confession
T- thanksgiving
S- supplication
My question is: Why?
Why are we teaching our students, teens or seminary, that prayer is about theory and technique?
Honestly I think we confuse our students even more when we are filling them with theories and techniques.
Jesus never taught his disciples the ACTS model. He seemed to be more concerned that his disciples prayed in secret, sought forgiveness in honesty, and pray that God’s kingdom would look the same here on earth as it looks in Heaven.
As youth workers, perhaps it is more important for us to teach our students that prayer is something we need to practice, not with methods but with honesty and consistency.
Oh, and whatever you do, don’t forget to fold your hands and close your eyes…
Found this fantastically hilarious video circling around the blogosphere, I had to share it!
I got my start in youth ministry leading worship for youth group. Over the years I’ve found that teenagers seem to struggle with not only singing, but the various postures of worship as well.
What are some ways you help your students develop in areas of worship?
HT: Thank you fairwood church for enlightening us!
Back in June the staff at Youth Dynamics were up at our retreat center for an all staff retreat. Our org. president, Mark Moder, shared a few thoughts on setting boundaries. This is a post from Raising Ebenezer past, but I think these are worth re-posting.
- Choose people over tasks.
- Stay within your circle of influence.
- Always answer the phone when it’s your family.
- Take a sabbath rest.
- Ask people you respect to invest in your life.
- Choose hobbies that are results driven.
- Be intentional about your relationships.
- Don’t take yourself to seriously.
Since this blog is about youth ministry… mostly, I thought I would share some thoughts I have regarding this issue of compassion and youth ministry.
1) We need to realize that our students are more compassionate than most adults think. Teens are often thought of as selfish and individualistic, however I have seen teens be more compassionate toward others than most adults. If we see our students act compassionately towards another student we need to encourage them in it.
2) We need to create avenues for our students to respond in compassionate ways. It may start with feeding homeless people, but I don’t think we should get stuck simply performing a service project once a month and expect our students to learn how to care for others. Loving our neighbor is an everyday thing. I think we could be more creative and nurturing in this area.
3) Compassion must ultimately come from the heart. We can encourage students to go on missions trips and service projects, and we can talk all we want about compassion from the scriptures. But we must understand that compassion comes from a heart that hurts for brokenness. This only happens when we allow the Holy Spirit to chisel away our stoney heart. Creating avenues to let this happen is important. Debriefing times are good ways for allowing the Holy Spirit to move.
Any other thoughts?
I read this article in the local newspaper the other day. There is an organization that is setting up a week of compassion inspired by the Dali Lama’s visit to Seattle last year.The week is filled with seminars and activities to raise awareness for acts of compassion.
I have mixed emotions about this. Part of me is excited about the fact that someone is putting this on. With a desire to be more compassionate toward our neighbors, and knowing that being a Christian I am inclined to respond positively and support this.
However part of me is sad that no local churches are hosting or even in the forefront putting something like this on. It’s hard for me to hear that another faith like Buddhism is claiming to have a monopoly on something like compassion; one of God’s attributes and something I believe Christians are called to be at all times. Not to say other faiths cannot have compassion or be compassionate. It hurts me to know that while Buddhists are known for their piety and compassion. Christians here in America are known best for war mongering, gay hatred, and religious right-wing fundamentalism.
I think there is something wrong here.
Not to say that christians are not being compassionate, I just question what exactly we should be known for. If Jesus calls us to be salt and light, so that people may “see our good works, and glorify our Father in heaven”. It looks to me we are doing a, less than stellar, job at this if other faiths are taking the reigns for things we should be known for.
I could be over reacting here, but this seems to be playing on my heart more and more these days. I guess it’s just sad when these things are happening, but not in the name of Jesus.
“Jesus Loves Westboro Baptist Church!”
Here is an honest confession. Why is it so hard to love the religious people, the crooks and cheaters, the gluttons and scoundrels? I am pressed by this question when I stumbled upon Craig Gross and Jason Harpers new book “Jesus Loves You -This I know”. I know that God’s heart breaks for all people, he desires all people to be saved. It’s easy for me to love the people who think like me, and those who I know are broken and destitute. But I have such a hard time with those who hate, those who cheat others, and rob people of life, or true salvation. The problem with my thinking is that Jesus loves everyone, and he calls me to do the same. This means EVERYONE! I think sometimes I can use Jesus’ love as an excuse that if he loves you than I don’t have too. Ouch! The problem is that my love and compassion for people is directly linked to Jesus. If I am not loving those around me than how are they going to know that Jesus loves them? I desperately want to love people, like Jesus loves people. How could something so simple be so hard?
Just something to chew on, what are your thoughts?
Here is a video circling the ministry blogosphere. This guy James Choung developed a way of sharing the missional story of God’s love for us. Here is the two part video. I’d like to know what you all think.
Part 1
Part 2
jonasknudsen
