• Archive of "young adults" Category

    Younger Missional Leaders, the Lausanne Movement, and the Shape/ing of the Church

    April 24, 2012 // 1 Comment »

    A College Memory

    For about a year and a half during and right after college, I got to live in a house w/ a group of guys, most of whom I still consider good friends and interact with regularly. This was one of the most formative (and fun!) times of my life. One memory in particular has come back to my attention recently.

    A few of us were sitting around on the front porch talking and the conversation turned toward the future. One friend commented on how he had had a personal epiphany recently. He said that he realized that he had developed, in no specifically methodical fashion, a vision of the man he would be someday. He went on to offer a litany of characteristics that he believed would accurately describe him when he was, say, 40 or 50 years old. That wasn’t what struck him however. The epiphany sprung forth from the idea that he was not just going to magically wake up and be this person that he imagined at some point, but that he was right then and there, in the present, either moving closer toward or further away from actually becoming the kind of man he envisioned. It’s probably characteristic of college-age students to disassociate who they are from the person they hope to become, but in the midst of an impending graduation, my friend, and through him the rest of us, began to wake up to the reality that there is no such thing as the person we imagine we will be someday, only the person we are actually becoming.

    The Inevitable Changing of the Guard

    This realization has important implications for how we think of our own formation for sure, but it begs the consideration of another reality; namely, that like it our not, in terms of Christian leadership, the younger generation inevitably becomes the older generation. The sad passing of people like John Stott and Chuck Colson bear this out.

    At 33, I feel like this is beginning to be important. I occupy something of a shared liminal space. Whereas I could rattle off a long list of Christian leaders that I and others have looked to for theological guidance over the last 15 years or so, the fact of the matter is, in another 15 years, many of these people will have offered most of what they have to offer and a younger generation of emerging Christian leaders will be looking to (gulp!) my generation for the same sort of theological guidance. Which compels me to ask the question, “What kind of Christian leaders are those of my generation becoming and how will these men and women serve and shape the Church?”

    I was insanely fortunate to have had the opportunity ride my wife’s coattails all the way to South Africa back in the fall of 2010 for the Third Lausanne Congress. I am equally grateful that I will get to participate in the upcoming Consultation for North American Younger Leaders. The Lausanne movement doesn’t need to be seen as THE locus for a quest to discern the future shape of the Church, but I have to agree with Dave Dunbar, the President of Biblical Seminary, when he supposes that perhaps Lausanne, and especially the Cape Town Commitment, hasn’t really received the attention it deserves (it’s a pivotal document for the initiative I’m working with, the Missio Alliance). They seem to have managed to bring a more globally and ecumenically representative tribe of Christians together than any other endeavor, and for the fact alone, I think it’s a worth-while point of reference. I think this brief video of my friend and Lausanne’s International Deputy Director for North America, Tom Lin, gets at some of this.

    From the Experience and Questions of “Wilderness” to the Experience and Questions of “Exile”

    Another friend, Geoff Holsclaw, and I have discussed that while Christian leaders of our generation (those under 35) have benefited greatly from the example and writing of many missional theologians and pastors, our actual experience has been quite different than theirs. They have had to navigate a ton of terrain on the journey from modernity to postmodernity / Christendom to Post-Christendom / denominational stability to denominational irrelevance, leading them to ask certain questions in certain ways with certain expectations and assumptions. By and large, this isn’t a shared experience for those of my generation. For most of us, the destination of our theological mentors has been the beginning point for us, leading us to ask (even if not altogether) different questions in different ways with different expectations and assumptions.

    To generalize, we don’t wonder about the shift of Christianity to the global south, we take it for granted. We don’t feel the same sense of Western (missionary) guilt, because colonialism wasn’t our project. We aren’t all that interested in conversations about restoring Christianity to the center of culture, because, for the most part, we’ve never known it, or, in a more theological sense, we reject it as not befitting the nature of Christian faith anyway. This list could of course be added to and argued with (as it should be). It also obviously wouldn’t resonate with the experience of everyone across the board (what does?!) But, my sense is that it nevertheless outlines some of the generational realities that shape and inform not only the questions we’re asking, but the way in which we ask them and, consequently, the shape the Church will inevitably take as younger leaders begin to take on more and more responsibility.

    I’m curious. Regardless of what generation you happen to find yourself in, what are your thoughts or impressions on the qualities, characteristics, and perspectives of younger Christian leaders and how do you suppose these will influence the future shape of the Church as these leaders shoulder more and more responsibility over the next 30 years or so?

    Posted in christendom, church, conference, culture, evangelicalism, lausanne, leadership, missio alliance, missional, modernity, post-christendom, postmodernity, spiritual formation, theology, western culture, young adults

    A Quick Hop Back Into the World of Student Ministry

    February 14, 2012 // No Comments »

    As a college student at Malone University, I majored in youth ministry.  I did internships as a handful of different kinds of churches, the last of which actually led into a full-time role as a student pastor at a large church, overseeing separate junior, senior high, and college-age ministries.

    When I was a grad student at Fuller Theological Seminary, I continued to serve in the world of high school student ministry as an interim director at yet another kind of church.

    Later, after some time working in a seminary context, I launched into yet another pastoral position at a new church, this time working exclusively with college students and other young adults.

    However, I haven’t really done much in the way of student ministry since the spring of 2009.  So, after nearly a 3-year hiatus, I was excited when my college buddy, Scott, who’s been a long time youth pastor at The Chapel in North Canton, asked me to come back into town and help lead a retreat for his high school student leaders.

    As you might expect, the topic of the retreat was leadership.  There were to be three main sessions over the course of our time together Friday night and through the day on Saturday, plus a final sermon on Sunday morning.

    The theme for Friday night was, “Leadership as Followership: Jesus’ Plan to Destroy Your Life.”  Here, we focused our discussion around Matthew 20:17-28 and reflected on how Jesus’ role as a leader was located not so much in clever skills and abilities, but a central focus on following where and how God was leading him.  We talked about how a relinquishing of our personal ambition and agenda is fundamental to receiving what it is that God might have for us.  I also sought to pass on a discipleship framework for leaning how to get better and better at recognizing where and how God is at work and responding faithfully.

    On Saturday morning our theme was, “Leadership as Discipline: It’s Always Easy… Until You Have To Do It.”  We moved our attention to Matthew 26:36-46 and we spent some time talking about how, contrary to the aberrant Celebrity Culture that seems to mark contemporary Evangelicalism, Jesus-shaped leadership is anything but glamorous.  Rather, a commitment to lead like Jesus did will nearly always take you to a place of utter desperation, disappointment, and dependence upon God.  In terms of discipleship, we focused on what it might mean and look like to structure our lives around practices that intentionally root us in relationship with God, fellow believers, and others who are hurting and/or far from God.

    The final session of the retreat on Saturday afternoon revolved around the notion of, “Leadership as Mission: Death as a Way of Life.”  As we spent time working through Matthew 28:16-20, we discussed what actually drove Jesus as a missionary-leader, namely submission to the unique role he was to play in God’s mission in the world.  We also reflected on Jesus’ commitment to equip and send others as opposed to keeping everything isolated to his direct (human) endeavor.  This led naturally into presenting a process for discipling others toward maturity and mission.

    On Sunday morning, in sharp defiance to the notion the Piperian notion that, “God has designed christianity to have a masculine feel to it,” Amy and I preached the sermon, “Leadership as Partnership: Embodying a New World Order,” as partners who together, as male and female, reflect the imago Dei!  We spoke out of Acts 2 and Ephesians 4, calling attention to the primary role of the Holy Spirit in constituting a body of people who, against all worldly convention, seek to lead one another out of their unique giftedness in partnership for mission.

    Seeing some family and friends was a highlight as always, but man, getting back around high school students for a while was a blast.  I was super-appreciative of just how seriously they took our time together and how much creativity and passion they brought to the discussions.

    Shame on youth pastors (Scott’s not one of them!), who sabotage their opportunity to shape a generation of students because they are so focused on growing a huge, cool youth group.  Double shame on senior/lead pastors who, out of their own insecurity, put that kind of pressure on youth pastors to do it!

    Posted in Amy, church, discipleship, God, Jesus, leadership, preaching/teaching, sermon, travles, young adults, youth ministry

    Grilled Cheesus

    October 13, 2010 // No Comments »

    OK, so there was definitely some buzz about this episode of Glee in the twitterverse, well, at least in my little corner of it anyway.

    I didn’t get the chance to watch it until just last night and I gotta say, if you think about the average way in which Christians/Christianity was portrayed on television, say, 10 years ago, and contrast that with this episode, there’s some serious conversation to be had about how things have changed.

    Rather than pick apart the episode from the outset, I wonder how those of you who watched (or will watch) this episode think about what’s going on here.

    Posted in atheism, culture, God, homosexuality, video, young adults

    Partnering in Kingdom Ministry

    October 4, 2010 // No Comments »

    Two weekends ago Amy and I were in Iowa.  We got to spend some time with her family and celebrate her birthday, but we also had the opportunity to guide about 20 students through a series of personality and spiritual gift tests.

    The students are all part of something called TOAG – Training Ordinary Apprentices To Go.  Catchy right?!

    They spend a year living in intentional community and doing various kinds of incarnational ministry as part of their preparation to serve as international, probably long-term, missionaries.  I think this is an incredibly helpful model of discipleship for mission and we were privileged to be a part of it.

    Our time with these friends was a huge reminder of just how much I miss investing in the lives of young adults (now is the first time in 8 years that this hasn’t been a major feature of my life) and how much I personally receive from doing so.

    We had fun, and I enjoyed leading these students through a presentation and guided reflection on their spiritual gifts, but man, what I really loved was watching my wife in action.   She has a crazy passionate heart for God’s global mission and a mature set of gifts to compliment her firm calling to mobilize people into it.

    With our trip to Cape Town, South Africa for the Third Lausanne Congress just over a week away, I am reminded of just how grateful I am that a passion to partner in Kingdom ministry forms the bedrock of our marriage.  It’s gotta be close to my favorite thing about life!

    Speaking of our trip to Cape Town, we are just about $1,500 $1,000 (We just received an incredibly generous gift of 500!!) shy of our support raising goal.  Not enough to keep us away, but significant enough that we’re still inclined to ask people to partner with us.  Below is a 5 minute video Amy & I recorded about this once in a lifetime opportunity.  If you’re inclined to partner with us, you can give here.

    Posted in Amy, conference, discipleship, intentional community, spiritual gifts, young adults

    Can Megachurches be Missional?

    October 13, 2009 // 8 Comments »

    That is the questions that Ed Stetzer and Dave Fitch are addressing in this video interview (26:44).

    The video is worth your time, but there’s in inherent flaw in the question.  Asking if megachurches* can be missional is sort of like asking if a diesel truck can run on unleaded gas.  Or if someone with type A blood can receive a donation from someone with type B blood. On the surface, it might seem like a legitimate question, after all, diesel and unleaded are both automobile fuel and unless you have the right tools, A blood looks just like B blood, but that’s just the problem – the superficial appearance is where it stops.

    Megachuches and missional churches, while superficially similar in some regards, are so intrinsically different that the question loses all meaning.

    The model of the megachurch relies upon Christendom as a cultural context while missional churches (as I said my last post) see Christendom as a debilitating cultural condition and therefore seek to subvert it.

    The very medium of megachurch so distorts the message of the gospel, that it’s left virtually powerless to shape a people for fully and authentically participating in the mission of God in the world – the hallmark of missional ecclesiology.  Note: I am not saying that God cannot or does not impact and change peoples lives in the context of megachurches.

    Another version of this question is probably more worthwhile.  Can megachurches become missional? Maybe, but we need more people who are willing to be honest about the full scope of what a shift like this will mean.  There is just too much money and and too much popularity to be gained from going around and telling megachurches that they too can hop on the missional bandwagon without monumental shifts in identity and practice.  Like telling those who are wealthy, happy, healthy, and powerful that they are in fact poor, confused, sick, and weak, most people who lead “successful” megachurches simply don’t have ears to hear or eyes to see.

    So, my experience tells me not to bank on it.  But my wife tells me that if I believe in the power of the gospel to restore the world, I might not want to be so quick to discount its power to transform churches!  Good thing she’s around ;)

    *my comments on megachurches are limited to a Western context.  I simply don’t know enough about megachurches in non-western contexts to speak intelligently about differing cultural factors.  However, I’d be quick to ask, “Who taught them to do church like that anyway?!”

    Posted in christendom, church, community, gospel, missional, young adults

    Young Adult Picnic

    November 28, 2008 // No Comments »

    This is about a month old, but better late than never right?

    At the end of October one of the small groups at Living Hope, comprised mainly of young adults, hosted a picnic at a local park as a way for other young adults to make some connections.  It was a really fun afternoon consisting of game playing, chili eating, and much conversing.

    The event was significant for at least two main reasons.  First, it was a great example of the people of the church (as opposed to merely church staff) taking responsibility and initiative for ministering to others.  Second, the event succeeded in a number of these new young adults committing to meet for a number of weeks to discuss issues of life and faith as well as to pray with and for one another with a view toward connecting to a more permanent small group.

    I was really excited about the event and look forward to helping people and groups host lots more stuff like this in the future.  Here’s a little slide show of great pictures that Brian took.

    Posted in community, living hope, young adults

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