Youth matter. The topic of kids come up in most every one of my conversations with congregation leadership teams. Typically though, its a recounting of by-gone days when kids were more present and involved. Our experience of membership decline has not only led to institutional despair and trauma, but severe generational gaps in our churches. The challenges and opportunities concerning our youth have taken center stage before, but often languish amid unfulfilled expectations of the under trained youth worker, unsupported associate for youth ministries, or the rapidly disappearing Director of Christian Education.
The increasing median age of our congregations is a big part of the result as well as the challenge we face. Though we can learn best practices and develop more effective responses to the needs kids face today, one simple thing we all can do now is to focus and pay better attention to our kids. Pay attention. Respect. Listen. Have you or your team really tried this recently?
We need to pay attention to kids. Period. Not just kids within our church, or circles of families and friends, but those who are our neighbors and residents in our communities. When we choose to focus on kids, our mission priorities and resource allocations would shift to support that commitment.
One way we are resourcing this youth intentionality is creating Multimedia Academies in some of our locations. Grants have provided the technology, we recruited proven leadership, and now are starting conversational and creational spaces in our buildings where caring and responsible adults can show love for kids while the youth learn technical and life skills in a safe environment. Our MultiMedia Academy is one way we can pay attention to our community youth.
If your team has been effective in reaching youth in your community, I would like to know more about your experience. Resources abound and together we can demonstrate God's love to young people in more sustainable and creative ways. I'm trying to pay better attention… you with me?
Thanks for all you do today to pay attention to kids.
Kevin
Monday, March 28, 2011
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Community and Congregational Health:
What’s the Connection?
Expecting a donation of money since he could not work, a man needed to make a change in his life. More importantly, he was ready for change in his life. His pattern included seeking donations in the plate, but these gifts, even generous ones, did not ensure a sustainable future. Who would have been able to offer the intervention he needed? Though this story could be relating an actual occurance I observed last week. It's the apostle Peter’s experience with a disabled man at the Beautiful Gate of the Jerusalem temple in the first century impressed historian Luke so much so that he gave this story prominence (Acts 3:1-6). It’s a favorite story of mine.
In Acts, Peter embodied, and even extended, the very ministry of Jesus as recounted in Matthew’s gospel when the tax collector reports that, “People brought anybody with an ailment, whether mental, emotional, or physical. Jesus healed them, one and all.” Could that be said of your church? Peter saw the inextricable link between spiritual health and physical vitality. A wholeness of body, mind, and spirit leads to a sustainable and hopeful future.
We offer what we have. The man received what he needed. He got up and walked! A few coins would get him through the day. Two strong legs would now get him to a job for a lifetime.
As faithful and eager as the church is to focus on spiritual concerns, we have a long way to go to practice the theological convergence of spiritual, emotional, physical, and public wellness. Often regarded as an unmentionable topic in church and governing body conversations, our individual and corporate mental health, and its advocacy, is mission critical for a missional church to be a compassionate blessing in the world.
I believe Newark Presbytery’s churches are increasingly poised to intentionally, humbly, and authentically become an agent of community wholeness, not merely an example of it. How's your team doing? Congregations can choose to promote community wellness and wholeness, not just in being generous with funds placed in a plate, but helping people walk in the newness and in the fullness of life. We must address the fragmentation our communities, and churches, experience.
Healthy communities self-correct. Healthy communities make for healthy congregations. What can our churches do? More of what we are already doing! And much more.I will post a few missional ideas for your leadership team and congregation to explore. I hope you find them helpful.
What has worked for you?
Expecting a donation of money since he could not work, a man needed to make a change in his life. More importantly, he was ready for change in his life. His pattern included seeking donations in the plate, but these gifts, even generous ones, did not ensure a sustainable future. Who would have been able to offer the intervention he needed? Though this story could be relating an actual occurance I observed last week. It's the apostle Peter’s experience with a disabled man at the Beautiful Gate of the Jerusalem temple in the first century impressed historian Luke so much so that he gave this story prominence (Acts 3:1-6). It’s a favorite story of mine.
In Acts, Peter embodied, and even extended, the very ministry of Jesus as recounted in Matthew’s gospel when the tax collector reports that, “People brought anybody with an ailment, whether mental, emotional, or physical. Jesus healed them, one and all.” Could that be said of your church? Peter saw the inextricable link between spiritual health and physical vitality. A wholeness of body, mind, and spirit leads to a sustainable and hopeful future.
We offer what we have. The man received what he needed. He got up and walked! A few coins would get him through the day. Two strong legs would now get him to a job for a lifetime.
As faithful and eager as the church is to focus on spiritual concerns, we have a long way to go to practice the theological convergence of spiritual, emotional, physical, and public wellness. Often regarded as an unmentionable topic in church and governing body conversations, our individual and corporate mental health, and its advocacy, is mission critical for a missional church to be a compassionate blessing in the world.
I believe Newark Presbytery’s churches are increasingly poised to intentionally, humbly, and authentically become an agent of community wholeness, not merely an example of it. How's your team doing? Congregations can choose to promote community wellness and wholeness, not just in being generous with funds placed in a plate, but helping people walk in the newness and in the fullness of life. We must address the fragmentation our communities, and churches, experience.
Healthy communities self-correct. Healthy communities make for healthy congregations. What can our churches do? More of what we are already doing! And much more.I will post a few missional ideas for your leadership team and congregation to explore. I hope you find them helpful.
What has worked for you?
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