Challenges are par for the course in a diverse church, figuring out how to form community and follow Jesus together. But mostly, I have found, there is a deep and rich joy that comes from unity in diversity. These challenges are worth it.
It’s August, it’s strategy time. It’s that time of year when we look forward, plan curriculum, events, and trips. What if we took the time to evaluate our why and adjust accordingly before we start ministry this year?
We need to ask ourselves, “What is of critical importance that I should teach these precious youth in the few years I have with them?” There are many possible answers to this question.
Have you ever taken extended time to just “be” with God? What if you did?
I think that we all get to the point every now and then where we wonder what we are doing and if we are cut out for this big job God has called us to. How we respond in those moments is so important.
I recently read an essay from a United Methodist Bishop in which he used an African proverb involving elephants to speak deep truth into a difficult situation. It began an expedition to explore some more of these proverbs and how much wisdom they provided for youth ministry in the 21st century.
Carrying around a heavy heart is exhausting. Have you been there? Have you noticed that when we’re tired we make not-so-great decisions? We are more critical, and we can begin to blame others for what is really our own stuff? It isn’t moral failure or failing ministry; it’s exhaustion.
We are your people and you will always be one of us. When you rejoice, we will rejoice. When you grieve, we will grieve with you
When you are weary and burdened, we will listen and encourage.
Joining the team, stepping into the batter’s box and scooting closer to the plate is what God calls us into every day. The world tells us to not to like the game, those around us tell us to just sit in the dugout, and sometimes every instinct tells us to bail out of the box when the pitches are aimed at us.
Do you have peeps? No, not the candy, although slightly stale yellow peeps are pretty amazing, but friends. Not friends under 18, not the intern, not assistants, not your spouse (although I would hope you are friends with your spouse) but I’m talking about real, honest, “not in your ministry” friends that do life with you.
Communion is a powerful reminder of God’s unconditional love for us and his call to repent and believe the good news of Jesus Christ. Every time I serve communion I am reminded of our frailty and our desperate need for God’s grace.
The famous painting Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte by French Impressionist Georges Seurat is a powerful illustration of the church as God’s work and the role of youth ministry within the masterpiece that is the local church.
