The Weakness of God

When I was younger I used to sing “My God is so big so strong and so mighty there’s nothing my God cannot do.” Now I’m older I’m not so sure. This is a post that I have been mulling over for a while and have finally decided to buckle down and write, short as it is. Recently I was reflecting on my life as a Father and how my view of the concept of “Father” has changed. I grew up with an image of God as Father. When I was young, God as father meant a God who was powerful, in control and can do anything. Now that I am a father I don’t feel like I am powerful or control. It is almost impossible to convince my children (all under four) that I am the boss and in control. I can’t make my daughter her eat all her dinner, I can’t make my son fall asleep on time. I can sit her at the table or keep him in his room at bed time but that’s not the same thing.

I am now thinking that God has created a world were his influence and power are quite limited, like me as a father. When God intervenes it is often subtle, God is not in the storm but that still small voice. The big intervention that Xns celebrate is when God came to the world as an obscure Jewish man with no great political power. A man who we would describe as servant rather than ruler.

If we are to believe that “My God is so big so strong and so mighty there’s nothing my God cannot do.” It means that every time some kind of evil happens that God (who can do anything) is just sitting passively by letting it all happen. This just does not concur with my understanding of what God is like. In the story of Noah when evil things are happening God doesn’t tweak things at the edges to make things a little better instead God anguishes over having created humans, something where he is can’t just do anything to change the situation. He finally resorts to flooding the world – itself something so horrific he chooses never to do again. I think an explanation of why God doesn’t just come in and do something dramatic.

I believe that God still intervenes in the world but that intervention tends to be through people, God changing and empowering people to do great things. I can get my daughter to bed by giving her a horsey ride, fairly little effort on her behalf but she has to want to get on that horse.

Prayer Breakfast

I recently attended the Governor's Prayer Breakfast. It probably didn’t help that at the time I was reading “The Family’ by Jeff Sharlet. It’s a book that looks at somewhat secret fundamentalist Xn organisation who, behind the scenes, seek to influence people of in positions of power. There only public activity is to organise America’s National Prayer Breakfast gathering.

Any way trying to put that out of my mind I sat at my table surrounded by a thousand other guests all dressed in suits ties. I'm kind of used to singing being something that you no longer do in church but rather something where you get to quietly mumble along while the professionals do it loudly and slickly for us, I'm not sure I'm ready for prayer to go the same way. But, there was more to my discomfort that just this. Exactly what I just couldn't put my finger on. I felt like I was observing another religious tradition rather than my own, for some reason so much of it felt foreign to me, whilst being vaguely familiar. Exactly what this was I still cannot pin point it'll have to remain just a vibe. I've waited a couple of weeks hoping this vibe would become more concrete but it hasn't . If any one has any ideas please let me know your thoughts.

Traditional Service Vs Contemporary Service

I was listening to the Wired Jesus podcast recently and hearing Tom reflect over the battle that often emerges in churches between doing the Sunday service in a traditional way or a contemporary way. A battle that for most mainline denominations always falls in the traditional way camp, with the occasional groovy service pitched so perfectly in the middle that both traditionalists and contemporaries walk away feeling like the service just wasn’t for them. As someone who has worked for a mainline church, attends a mainline church and has a lot of respect for the traditions of church I was thinking if I had a group of over 50’s wanting to do church one way and group of under 20’s wanting to do it another way which would I choose?

I’d choose the under 20’s way, which will most likely be nothing like either the over 50’s ideal or even my own mid 30s ideal. Why? Well it’s simple if I had two groups of people one who was very mature and strong in their faith and one who was younger and more fragile in their faith I would choose a service that would best minister to those who were younger and more fragile – which would almost always be the under 20 crowd. Those who were over 50 I would encourage to live a more churchless faith. To look back on the life’s well of resources and draw on that, this maybe just by them selves but more likely it would be joining together to help each other. The Sunday morning service would then become a time of mission where they would immerse themselves in a new culture and serve those in need there. There will be those who say that “this is not the way we do things in this denomination”. I’m not sure how I would maturely respond to that the temptation would be to get on my high horse and say that church has to connect with those on the fringes. Before anyone says so I should say that yes I do realise that church is more than the Sunday service, but the reailty is that for some in the church and most out of the church this is the flagship event of the church that says to others “this is what we are about”.

It’s Been A While

It’s been a while since I have done any serious blogging. Life has just got busy and when the choice is play with the kids, spend time with the wife or Blog, blogging will loose every time. As well as all the regular life stuff I've been doing the Uniting Church's Period Of Discernment program. A time to work out where God is calling me. It has been a great process and I have been blessed with a great mentor who has really been flexible in pitching the process at where I am at so to speak. I haven't blogged my way through the process as I felt like I hasn't generated much of any interest for any one but me. None the less I'll be posting some more soon. I hope.

Critical Child Rearing Mistake No. 12 - Dancing

Both my beautiful children love music. The other day I caught my son inside rocking out to Rage Against The Machine (unfortunately it took me a while to get the camera out and I only got the tail end of his dancing). But I loved it so much I had to post it.

While this was going on my daughter was outside with the chickens listening to the music on the outside speakers. You have no idea how difficult it is to discipline your daughter saying "No dancing with the chickens!" without smiling. So later that day before bed time we all got together for a dance inside without the chickens. Me on guitar, Scarlett on lead dancing and vocals and Elijah on bemusement.

Valley Songs: Troublesome Waters - Johnny Cash

This is not a particularly well known Johnny Cash song, in fact I believe it was written by his mother in law. I am yet to try this in a congregational setting but I suspect it would work, it's singable and the lyrics are great. We don't have enough songs about the toughness of life and this one does it really well.

Troublesome waters

(C)Troublesome waters much (F/C)blacker than (C)night
Are hiding from (Am)view of the harbor's bright lights
Tossed in the (C)turmoil of (F/C)life's stormy (C)sea
I cry to my (Am)Saviour have (G)mercy on (C)me
Then (F)gently I'm feeling the touch of his (C)hands
guiding my (Am)boat in (G)safely to (C)land
(C)Leading the way to (F/C)heaven's bright (C)shore
Troublesome (Am)waters I'm (G)fearing no (C)more

Troublesome waters around me do roll
they're rocking my boat and racking my soul
Loved ones are drifting and living in sin
the treacherous whirlpools are pulling them in
Then gently I'm feeling the touch of his hands
guiding my boat in safely to land
Leading the way to heaven's bright shore
Troublesome waters I'm fearing no more

When troublesome waters are rolling so high
I'll lift up my voice and to heaven I'll cry
My Lord I am trusting give guidance to me
and steady my boat on life's troubled sea
Then gently I'm feeling the touch of his hands
guiding my boat in safely to land
Leading the way to heaven's bright shore
Troublesome waters I'm fearing no more (x2)

© Carter Family – Johnny Cash arrangement

I'm Over Facebook

Every time I log on to Facebook my page is flooded by people who take all kinds of ridiculous quizzes. Things like “Which Harry Potter Character are you?”. Because I’m not glued to it 24 7 I probably miss the more important updates from people. I couldn’t work out why would anyone spend the time to do these quizzes so I thought I'd create my own dumb quiz. “which random household object are you” and people did it, about a thousand so far. The Answers are random and completely unrelated to the questions (see below) any way I'm back to my trusty RSS blog feeds and dabbling with quiz free Twitter.

Which Random Household Object are You Questions

1. Which Musical Artist Do You like the best?

• New Kids on the Block
• Vanilla Ice
• Kikki Dee
• Yanni
• Backstreet Boys
• Michael Bolton
• Céline Dion
• David Hasselhoff

2. My Favourite Swearword begins with...

• A
• B
• C
• D
• F
• R
• S

3. You have a recurring nightmare about...

• Chickens
• Zombies
• Losing your clothes
• Driving with no brakes
• Failing exams
• Your Ex
• Flying
• Facebook Quizzes

4. Facebook is...

• Wasting my life away
• A way to keep in touch with friends I can't stand to see in person
• A place to put that glamour photo I spent so much money on
• Wasting everybody else's life a way
• The only way my friends talk to me any more
• A great way of distributing all my personal details to potential identity thieves
• A Social networking Site
• Just Like Twitter only with more Features

5. The Household object I most identify with is…

• Hair Brush
• Cup
• Tea Towel
• Door Handle
• Light Bulb
• Spoon
• Pencil
• Rubbish Bin

The Beginning of another Alternative to Penal Substitution

I sometimes wonder if the only reason that Xns have successfully been able to tell their non Xn friends about penal substitution is because when they say “let me tell you about penal substitution” they’re expecting to hear a story about two lesbians and a sex toy.

Then when we start telling the story about the Nazi prison camp (a story used in Alpha courses) the one where a prisoner is about to be shot by the prison warden for some very minor offence. When an innocent fellow prisoner steps in and says shoot me instead, which the prison warden does. It’s a horrible shocking story. As shocking as anything Hollywood could come up with. Then as we say “Jesus is just like the innocent guy who dies”. I wonder is the quiet respectful response that we think people are giving is actually shock and astonishment as they process that we have just told a story about our loving God who is best represented by a cruel Nazi guard who is happy to kill an innocent man for a petty offence.

So how can we describe of the atonement

In my head at the moment I’ve got this image of Jesus, in his death, diving through the walls of reality as we know it and then coming back resurrected. This means that if we follow Jesus we will not die it means that God is bigger than what we see. The problem with being Christ like, being reconciled to God is that it seems to be all in vain but in Christ’s death and resurrection we are invited to take up our cross and follow him and be part of a new Kingdom that cannot be stopped even by death.

How I’ll flesh this out into a fuller atonement theory I’m not yet sure. It’s just a start. And I’m sure just like the penal substitution theory it will not completely explain all of the atonement, hopefully it might be just another face on the diamond that is all atonement narratives and that helps us to fully understand the atonement.

Dividing and Outscourcing the Kingdom of God

I think this will be my final reflection on the holes in the social services sector for a while. I recently met someone who went to a Christian social service agency looking for help. As I heard his painful story of being knocked back by several agencies because he did not quite fit their categories for help and the quite severe situation he now found himself in I couldn't help but think that although now his problems were big enough that he could access help he needed some help at least two years ago. But, there isn’t a free service for people who are "worried about what might likely happen in the future". I find this so frustrating the system is really irritating me and unfortunately I am not one of the movers and shakers who can influence any change either.

By dividing the Kingdom of God into churches for the soul and professional government funded agencies for physical, mental and emotional help we have done damage. I am all too aware of some churches that have inappropriately tried to care for people with various problems that needed professional help. I am not suggesting that we replace mental health professionals with a couple of nice Xn people praying for someone, not at all. Their must be a third way where the people can become integrated into a community whilst getting professional care.

Valley Songs: Oh Mary Don't You Weep

This song I first heard on the Tokens Radio Show. You can buy just one of their shows from Noisetrade. Why they haven't been selling Mp3s from the show was completely beyond me and got me writing and requesting just that. I'm told that very soon they'll be selling MP3s from their website. This is a song I've done a number of times in a church setting and it's great fun. Their are many variations on the lyrics, I tend to stick with just the story of Moses. Enjoy...

Mary*, don't you weep

(Em)If I could I (B)surely would
Stand on the rock where (Em)Moses stood.
(Am)Pharoah's army got (Em)drownded
(B)Oh Mary don't you (Em)weep.

CHORUS

(Em)Oh Mary, don't you (B)weep, no more
Oh Mary, don't you (Em)weep, no more
(Am)Pharoah's army got (Em)drownded
Oh Mary (B)don't you (Em)weep.

Moses stood on the red sea shore
Smotin' the water with a two by four.
Pharoah's army got drownded, Oh Mary don't you weep.

God told Moses what to do
To lead the Hebrew children through.
Pharoah's army got drownded, Oh Mary don't you weep.

One of these nights about 12 o' clock
This old worlds going to reel and rock.
Pharoah's army got drownded, Oh Mary don't you weep.

--- Other Lyrics ---

Mary wore three links of chain
On every link was Jesus' name.
Pharoah's army got drownded, Oh Mary don't you weep.

Brothers and Sisters don't you cry
There'll be good times by and by
Pharoah's army got drownded, Oh Mary don't you weep.

Well God gave Noah the rainbow sign
Said no more water, but fire next time.
Pharoah's army got drownded, Oh Mary don't you weep.

The very moment I thought I was lost
The dungeon shook and the chains fell off.
Pharoah's army got drownded, Oh Mary don't you weep.

*Mary of Bethany John 11:32-33
© Traditional – Siani Mountain Boys arrangement

Jo Cocker Made Me Cry

I'm not sure how I came across this but it made me laugh so hard my wife thought I was crying.

Social Services – Picking Low Hanging Fruit

I blogged before wondering if we had sold compassion to bureaucracy. One of the things that happens in social services is that governments put out tenders for grants. Agencies compete for these grants aiming to give as much bang for the buck as possible. The best way to do this of course is often to help the person who is easiest to help. This means it is not in the agencies interest to help difficult people or people who fall outside of their target group, let alone help someone who’s problems do not coincide with the core function of the organisation. So a homeless, unemployed, drug using person would need to be seeing about a dozen or so different agencies. I know this is what happens because one of the the things people our agency meet need help with is trying to make sense of all of those agencies. If you have ever been to Centrelink for anything you’ll know how difficult that is, so this person it becomes ten times more difficult. With each service only wanting to or able to deal with a discrete part of the person’s whole problem the whole person is often ignored.

I'm not sure why I'm feeling so disenchanted with the whole social services sector at the moment. There are so many people in it with great hearts doing great stuff. I just feel like they are being ham strung and I'm kind of over that.

Valley Songs: It's Alright Now - Arizona Dranes

After discovering Sister Rostta Tharpe I did some hunting for Arizona Dranes (one of her influences) and found this gem. The original song is in the Key of A and I've transposed it down to E becasue not everyone can sing like Arizona and I made up my own verse lyrics becasue I couldn't work out hers. I've sung this song a number of times with a congregation and it's great to sing. Oh and for those of you in Australia the song was recorded before 1958 so it's copyright free.

It's All right Now

For (E)many years I wandered, through (A)out this rugged (E)land
I’ve (B)had my share of heart ache, that few could understand
But I (E)know someone who's been there, it (A)eases me (E)how
For (B)he's my loving saviour, it's all right (E)now

CHORUS
It's (E)all right now, It's (A)all right (A)now
For (B)Jesus is my saviour, It's all right now
It's (E)all right now, It's (A)all right (E)now
For (B)Jesus is my saviour, It's (E)all right now

Now trouble still surrounds me, but I do not feel lost
I know Jesus has been there, when he died upon the cross
He shares in my suffering, his spirit helps me out
Yes he's my loving saviour, it's all right now

CHORUS

So if you are in suffering, I will be there for you
From morning until evening, Whatever I can do
To love as Jesus loved me, This is my solemn vow
For he's my loving saviour, it's all right now

CHORUS

© Arizona Dranes Music and Lyrics for the Chorus
© Chris Summerfield Verse Lyrics

We Gotta Get Out Of This Place: A Theology Of Spirituals

I remember a friend of mine playing “Do Lord” at a churchy conference and apologising for the incorrect theology in the song. Like many old spirituals it looks forward to being whisked away. Tom Wright devotees will say that the song should be about resurrection and “Kingdom on earth as it is in heavan” minded people will argue that we need to start bringing the Kingdom of God to earth now. This particular had mostly people who would agree with both these tings, me included. I still sing these spirituals and in fact more so as my personal thrology has moved away from a “let’s all get a ticket to heaven” orientation. Not only because they are great tunes but because I appreciate the theology.

It’s easy to talk to a middle class western person, like me, about resurrection and re-creation. I can look around at my beautiful (slightly flawed) surroundings and imagine how this could be made perfect. For the poor of the spirituals living in terrible conditions this is much harder. Given the conditions they were in a recreated earth would be so different from what they knew that they might as well call it heaven.

Similarly, the thing that stops me being a part of some kind of kingdom of God change in the world is most usually my own apathy. For the poor of the spirituals they were powerless, the best they could hope for is that one day God would step in rescue them and take them to a better place. Which I might say is a recreated earth but I’m sure they would stand aghast at call heaven.

So I will continue to enjoy singing my “theologically incorrect” spirituals because I want to remember not only the tunes of these people but the conditions that they lived through that produced this wonderful music. For me it is a way for a brief musical moment of joining in solidarity with the poor.

Valley Songs: Let Justice Roll - Dave Andrews

I stole the term "Valley Songs" straight from Dave Andrews so I though it would only be polite to post one of his great songs that I have in my Valley Song list. He's got a whole bunch of songs at his site but this is probably my favourite of his. Apologies for the spacing on my chord chart below blogger keeps changing my multiple spacing to single spacing and I can't work out how to change that, so you'll have to listen to the song to get the timing or download the sheet music from Dave's Site.

The MP3 from Dave's Site

Sheet Music from Dave's site.

Let Justice Roll (Micah 5.24)

VERSE 1
G Em
We’ve silenced our prophets,
C D
We’ve shot down our dreamers,
G Em C D
Our lifeblood is money, we’re exploiting the poor.
G C G C
Oh, the people of the West just love to invest
Em Am D7
In the system that keeps the poor world poor.

VERSE 2
G Em C D
We have no compassion; our lifestyle is evil;
G Em C D
Higher living standard - the God we adore.
G C G C
Oh, the people of the West just love to invest
Em Am D7
In the system that keeps the poor world poor.

CHORUS
G C G
Let justice roll on like a river
D C G D
Truth like an never failing ever flowing stream,
G C G
Then tears of rage will turn to laughter
D C G
And people become what they should be.

VERSE 3
We ignore the ways of justice
Though we talk a lot about it;
We victimise the stranger seeking refuge in our land.
Oh, the people of the West just love to invest
In the system that keeps the poor world poor.

VERSE 4
Greed is our mother, silence is our father,
Our epitaph is written in frustrated tears of rage.
Oh, the people of the West just love to invest
In the system that keeps the poor world poor.

CHORUS

© Garth Hewitt. (Adapted by Dave Andrews)

Have we sold compassion to the bureaucrats in return for putting our badge on it?

Last month I had to talk to a volunteer in my organistaion who had given a homeless girl shelter for the night and explain to her that she was not allowed to do this under the organisation’s policy. It’s been bugging me for weeks. Basically the volunteer acted like a Good Samaritan by taking in someone in a very desperate situation with no one else left to turn to. As well as being homeless, she had been assaulted along with, like so many people we see, a myriad of other problems. The volunteer looked after the girl as responsibly as possible, given that it might be a risky situation (just like the original Good Samaritan story). I so feel like a member of the religious establishment telling her off for not doing things the “orthodox way” which would have meant merely giving the girl a number to call in the morning and saying best of luck fending for yourself tonight. Certainly if I was in the volunteer’s situation and followed the official guidelines I would be finding it hard to live with myself right now.

This has got me thinking about the way that the church has developed social agencies which are then funded mostly by government bodies who then put restrictions, like the above, on agency activities. The church feels good because we feel like we are reaching out to people via these agencies. The government feels good because social services are being provided. The only people who don’t feel good are those who are actually in need. Having known someone who has died on the streets of Perth I know that it could have been quite possible that the girl in need could have died or even killed themselves if our volunteer had not stepped in.

I think we have sold compassion to the bureaucrats. As Xns we need to get our hands dirty, we need to take risks caring for people who could rob us hurt us. Of course we need to take as many precautions as possible, but if we wish to leave compassion to risk averse bureaucrats then we have to be honest and say we wish to erase the Good Samaritan parable from the Bible.

Valley Songs: 40 - U2

For the last couple of years I've been collecting what I call Valley Songs (a phrase I stole from Dave Andrews). A few times I've posted a list of the songs but the list keeps growing and expanding so I've now put the list in the side bar of this blog (right near the bottom) Over the next year or so I'll post the music (clip or link) and words (plus chords to traditional songs) to all these songs. Today I'll start at the top of the list with U2's 40.

I'm not one of those Christians who believe that Bono is the second coming of Christ with just dark sunglasses. None the less U2 are a great band and there is no reason* why this song in particular, a version of Psalm 40, shouldn't be sung in church.

40 - U2 from the album War (inspired by Psalm 40)

I waited patiently for the Lord
He inclined and heard my cry
He brought me up out of the pit
Out of the miry clay

I will sing, sing a new song
I will sing, sing a new song

How long to sing this song
How long to sing this song
How long, how long, how long
How long to sing this song

He set my feet upon a rock
And made my footsteps firm
Many will see
Many will see and hear

I will sing, sing a new song
I will sing, sing a new song
I will sing, sing a new song
I will sing, sing a new song

How long to sing this song
How long to sing this song
How long, how long, how long
How long to sing this song

Bass: D# C# C C#
Chords: G#/D# C# G#/C C#

* Actually there is a reason - getting copyright for this song might prove very difficult. So if anyone has got approval from Universal Music to show the lyrics in church let me know.

One Take Tuesdays - Amazing Grace

This is undoubtedly one of those songs that sounds way better in my head than it does once it's recorded. It's "Amazing Grace" sung to Led Zeppelin's "Babe I'm Gonna Leave you". I haven't posted for a few weeks and haven't really practised for that time either. None the less listening to this has certainly encouraged me to practice more.

Amazing Grace

The Wife's New Tattoo

Here's proof that my wife is way cooler than me.

Today she got a tattoo that, according to her, "Didn't even hurt!" (That's what two emergency Caesareans will do to your pain threshold)

It's Ancient Hebrew meaning to "cry out" typically against injustice. Eg: Numbers 20:16 "and when we cried to the Lord, he heard our voice, and sent an angel and brought us out of Egypt."

I always thought she was cooler than me and now she's got proof.

One Take Tuesday delay

Due to a beautiful daughter who felt like not going to sleep on time. One Take Tuesday has been delayed for another week.

7 Things for a Better Children and Youth Ministry - 7 - Preconception vs. Reflection

We all have preconceived ideas of what children and youth ministry should look like. For many people it’s lots and lots of nice kids having lots and lots of nice fun.

Really the make up of children and youth in our church should reflect the community around us. If we live in a community with a lot of retirees and say 10% of young people. For a parish of 80, 8 young people would be great, and half of that would be a great start.

If we live in a community with lots of rough kids, we will have lots of rough kids in a church group too.

So could you be involved in children’s or youth ministry?

I think you need 4 things.

Ask yourself could you...

• Be part of a group that has a 1:4 ratio Leaders to young people
• Commit to a relationship where you care for and listen too Young People
• Consider the children and youth program as a part of church
• Journey with young person as both of you develop your faith

Well that's it the 7 Things for a Better Children and Youth Ministry. I hope they've been somewhat useful if not a bit brief.

My Tradition: Evangelical Para-Church

When I hear people talking about their particular Xn tradition, whether that be sacramental, evangelical, Anglican or what ever, I start thinking what is my tradition? I certainly don't feel like I fit into any of the usual Xn traditions.

Well, I think my tradition might be Evangelical Para-Church.

I didn't grow up in a church going family, I took myself off to Sunday school and then off to youth group. My parents didn't want me going to church and getting to heavily involved in the whole thing so I’d meet up with my friends after church on a Sunday night. My "church calendar" was exactly the same as the school calendar. This is a pattern that continued when I left home, went to uni and got involved with a Xn group on campus. Church on Sunday was all but impossible with a very sparse public transport system. Christmas and Easter were not big events in fact they were holidays when the group didn't meet.

After moving to a new city I found it hard to find a church. I felt more comfortable in and easier to meet other Xns at para-church organisations, which is where I felt most of the mission of the church was being done anyway. The church I'm with now is as churchy as I have ever got and we only meet once a fortnight for big (more traditional) church, on the other fortnight we have a home group / church kind of thing.

Maybe this is why I don't feel like I fit with any of the traditional church traditions.

7 Things for a Better Children and Youth Ministry - 6 - Isolation vs. Incorporation

When its comes to children and youth a good question to ask is who are you doing this for? If you are doing it so YOU can have more young people in YOUR church, that is not a good motivation because you are doing for yourself. If you’re doing it because you have something to share with a young person or someway you wish to serve young people then you’re in with a chance.

It is important for us not to view children and youth as a separate thing to the rest of the church, a group that perhaps will eventually join real church on Sunday Morning.

When children go to Sunday school or a after school kids club group they are going to church. They are meeting with other Xns and growing in faith.

7 Things for a Better Children and Youth Ministry - 5 - Success vs. Faithfulness

There are many different ways which we gauge the success of any ministry. That might be numbers or how much fun people are having or it might be how many youth leaders come from the group or how many are acting on social justice or how many are reading Bible.

After three years Jesus certainly hadn’t achieved these things. The best hope was on Peter the only one who hadn’t run away scared when Jesus was arrested and he was denying that he even knew Jesus.

God calls us not to be successful but to be faithful.

To be faithful in loving others as God has loved us and faithful in sharing with them the love that God has for them.
God calls us to be Faithful not successful.

For me the best measure of a Youth Group is to ask “are you sharing your life and the gospel with them?” (1 Thess 2:8) or to put it another way “are you loving them the way God has loved you and sharing God’s love for them?”

7 Things for a Better Children and Youth Ministry - 4 - Entertainment vs. Faith Development

Imagine your child goes off to Piano lessons he say he loves it. A year later you ask him to play something. He plays a really simple / bad rendition of “twinkle twinkle little star”, a rendition as if he had about 2 weeks worth of lessons not a years worth. You go along watch the kids lessons and discover that they spend the first 55 minutes playing games and the last 5 minutes playing piano. You confront the teacher, and she says “This is how we get the kids in! They wouldn’t come otherwise!”

What would you say?

This is often how we approach children and youth ministry. Entertainment usually has more of an instant appeal than faith development and we often get stuck with a trickle down idea. Where we get the kids in with entertainment and then sneak in a bit of the gospel.

What usually happens is young people interested in being serious leave, socially adept young people leave & hang out with their friends and find entertainment else where. If you're lucky, you’re left with socially inept young people coming just for games fun and food and that’s it.

As nice as it may seem to have 40 young people running around a church hall it will be far more fruitful in the long term to have a group of just four doing faith development.

The reality is Churches are not great entertainers nor should we try to be. Of course this doesn’t mean that it can’t be enjoyable just not entertaining for the sake of being entertaining.

You Tube Round Up

Here's a couple of amusing you tube videos I've come accross recently.

1.Jesus meets the Terminator: A nice reminder of the non-violent nature of Jesus

2. What if Starbucks marketd like a church: I'm not a fan of the idea of a church "marketing" itself, and the picture painted in clip is very much a caricature. None the less it's anice reminder of how horrfying it can be to consider walking through a church door.

7 Things for a Better Children and Youth Ministry - 3 - Program vs. Relationship

So if relationships are the key to ministry why would we even bother running a program. Why don’t we hang out with young people like we do all our other friends?

Well simply because that doesn’t happen naturally for most of us. The reason we have programs is so that we can have a place where we can develop relationships a place where we can share ourselves and the gospel with Young people.

It is important to remember that relationships change and grow as they develop therefore the programs we run will need to grow and change as well.

No matter how well a program has been running if the people that program was designed to serve now have different needs then that program will need to change.

it is really important never to run a program at the expense of relationships, no matter how great that program once was.

My New Messiah: Nadia Bolz-Weber

Well maybe not but if you're like me you're probably used to hearing the same voices talk about Xy and you probably think you've at least of heard of all the good Xn speakers and thinkers in the world. Most of them male and evangelical. So for me to stumble across the heavily tatooed, ex stand up comic, Lutheran Minister Nadia Bolz-Weber, care of the Praxis Podcast, was a revelation. She is both insightful and freakin' funny. The audio at Salvation on the Small Screen? Reading by author Nadia Bolz-Weber is a great introduction to her.

She blogs at Sarcastic Lutheran and is the minister at the House For All church where you can go to a Bring Your Own Brain Bible study.

I love the third line on the poster.

7 Things for a Better Children and Youth Ministry - 2 - Age vs. Relationship

It is no secret that in typical mainline church there is a large percentage of people over 50 and a very small percentage of those between 20 and 30.

It is true that people in the 20-30 age group can make great children and youth leaders, they might even have an inkling about the clothes and music young people listen too.

Although we might think the 20-30s are cool and in touch with young people ask any 22 year old children and youth leader and they will wish that they had the wisdom and maturity of someone over 50.

In my experience once you’re more than 5 years older than a young person it is impossible to convince them that you’re cool in any way what so ever. And, even if they do think you are cool there is no way they are going to say Chris is cool Chris goes to church therefore church is cool.

Ministry happens through relationship. The best children and youth leaders are without exception those who have a genuine interest in and care for those whom they are ministering to.

I once ran a youth group that had a small handful of leaders it included Joan who was a very daggy 50 something who was always intently interested in what the kids were doing and how they were going and, Alesha a girl who was in her late teens and so cool that it was hard to believe she was a Xn. However, she was always keener to catch up and talk to the other leaders a couple who were her good friends.

Pretty early on in the life of the group they both had to leave. Who do you think the kids always ask about?

In fact 6 months later they were still asking about Joan even though she had been with the group for a few months

My Beautiful Wife

Last night I got to go to a great wedding. At the reception one of the women at our table spilt some dessert on her dress. Embarrassed and ashamed she felt stupid for what she had done. My wife not only reassured her that it didn't matter that she had stained her dress but put her finger on her own dessert and stained her own dress. The woman laughed and exclaimed "I love you!" ,she was no longer worried. My wife is beautiful.