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Youth Ministry

Youth 2011 and Claiming Space

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Last week Kevin & I spent the week alongside my nephew & Josh Vegors putting together the ‘Sacred Space’ for Youth 2011 in Purdue. So what was this ‘Sacred Space?’ Well, it was a contemplative prayer & arts space that we set up that the youth could experience God on their own, where they were, and express that however they felt it.

The thing with crafting contemplative space is that you give up control. In a contemporary worship environment you can control the flow or the highs and lows of emotion through the time. When we do these contemplative spaces you set the stage, but whatever dance that happens after that is out of your control.

I was completely and beautifully reminded of this in this one moment at our Youth 2011 Sacred Space. Josh who was helping out started to take pieces of the artwork that the youth created and placing them in the hallway in a display type manner. Not part of my original plan but it is what he was led to do so we went with it. Hours later I was coming out of the sacred space room and I see this girl sitting on one of the chairs in the hallway. She looks distressed enough that it gave me some cause for concern. So I was just about to walk up to her and ask her if she was okay when I realized that she was actually visually meditating on the art pieces and probably in prayer. So I backed off.

To my surprise even more. She, just then, fell from her chair to her knees and proceeded to hold that prayer posture for some five to eight minutes. It was crazy. This was the freaking hallway.. There was not anything sacred about this hallway, until now. This youth broke some of my ideas of the space we set up in a contained room and took the sacred into the hallway and claimed it as something special.

I think it is neat that teens are wild and uncontrollable. God probably thinks they take after him.

Claiming Space as Sacred
Claiming Space as Sacred

 

3 Tips for Clergy Transitions in Youth Ministry

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Navigate ChangeBeing part of the United Methodist Church there is one thing we can count on. Change…

The big change marker to our church identity is the itinerant system where we move our pastors around from parish church to parish. The big plus is always that our churches identities are based on the make up of the congregation, not the personality of the pastor. But, the pastor does have a huge affect on the church and the staff & program ministries.

So we thought we’d put together a few thoughts on how to navigate those clergy transitions that are happening in the UMC this time of the year.

1. Stop the comparisons!! Maybe you hated your last pastor and can’t wait for this one, maybe you LOOOOVED the last pastor and are still grieving their new appointment away from you. The worst thing you can do in any case is to put together a set of comparisons from the old to the new. It is hugely unfair to the person and it is probably just going to upset you all along the way. This new person is a whole new person & needs to be treated with openness so that everyone can discover their gifts and talents, not their gifts compared to the prior pastor. It may take some open disclosure to the new clergy member to say, “I really loved them & enjoyed working with them, but I am looking forward to working with you and seeing what ministry we can get done together.”

2. Get a Grip!! They should have been through this a time or two so they know that their is some grief a congregation goes through with this change and that the staff encounters both a fear and excitement. Key is to get a grip on the emotions and not let them rule you. Big trick is to not let others emotions rule you as well. Don’t give your emotional being to a parishioner or other staff person who has ranting or gossiping about some element of the change. When you do that only harm to a possible relationship can be done, which you will probably need mending later on.

3. Meet Personally and Professionally: There is a need to start a relationship with this new clergy member. As the/one of the youthworkers for the church they might even have youth kids who they want to plug into the group. Meet them professionally as staff person who works on behalf and for the church. Schedule a meeting lunch to go over the vision of the ministry, where it has been, and where you all hope to go. Schedule another meeting later down the road where you can give them time to observe the church and its ministries and give feedback as to how you could be doing things better. They will appreciate the invite to contribute. Personally treat them as a parent, if they are. Give them the time you would give to a new parent and go through what is needed for getting their teenager involved in the youth ministry. Since their teenagers come to the youth community under different circumstances than most, have something that says “hello” and greets them very well. Do something personally to get to know the new clergy, maybe dinner with families or a golf outing (or something social in nature.

NOTE: I consider some of the employment of much like an HR system found in the college coaching field. Many times you will hear about a new athletic director having a coach that ‘wasn’t their hire’ and inferring that they would want to change whenever they get a chance. You could find yourself in one of these scenarios and there isn’t much you can do about it, it just stinks. However, if you are able to keep these three tips in mind you will conduct yourself with such class & integrity that if a fit never emerges then your leaving would be something you can hold your head up high about and not feel like a victim of a system.

Wild Goose Festival a final gander

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Wild Goose Festival**This originally posted at Youthworker Circuit Blog. Kevin headed up the Wild Goose Festival Youth Community tent where he was able to get folks like Shane Claiborne and Brian McLaren came to share with the teenagers at the event.

When you get right down to it, there are more goose jokes than you might think.

I came into Wild Goose in a kind of hodge-podge, last-second decision kind of way and managed to experience it in a similar fashion. At the outset, I was alerted to its existence by a Twitter mention from Gavin: “@elvisfreakshow really wants to go to this, he just doesn’t know it yet.” It was the end of February, I think. So I headed over to the Wild Goose site, which at the time was less cool and more borrowed looking. I poked around a bit, but apart from a sense that Derek Webb was involved, there wasn’t much information. “Maybe he was kidding,” I concluded.

A few months months and a circus of communication later, I was asked (two weeks ahead of the festival) to lead the youth team. Which, as it turned out, was a bit of a blank page considering how close we were to the festival. My experience of the festival, then, was from the perspective of both insider and outsider. The most common sentiment I picked up throughout the festival from everyone I encountered was that we were all so glad it was happening. I don’t know if any two people came away with the same story; everyone seemed to be moving through in their own way. Two truths: I missed about half of the bands and speakers that I would like to have seen. And I would do it again the same way.

Because I approached the festival as an attendee, I came with my family. Because at the very last I became staff, my family and I had very different experiences of the festival and we were careful to evaluate our time together and apart as we went along, to avoid the former intention being ruined by the latter obligation. Late one evening we arrived at this conclusion that I think pretty fairly sums up the Wild Goose experience: in no other set of circumstances over any other 4 days would we ever have encountered such a powerful collection of moments. And all those moments added up to a sense of worthwhile that is difficult to express.

Ordinarily the event is about, well, the event. The right speakers, bands, whatever. At Wild Goose, it felt like the event was about those in attendance. Conversations you’d have nowhere else. People you’d meet nowhere else. Presenters and performers that were present for the duration of the event. When does that ever happen?

Sure, it wasn’t perfect. There’s probably a mighty check-list being nailed to the wall somewhere as you read this (“#16. Don’t attempt to transition from soul-warming Americana to intimate worship by putting a comic in the middle. #17. Especially if you’ve just passed out 1,000 marshmallows to the masses). But the spirit of the festival was picked up by the crowd entirely; walking the grounds the last day of the festival felt like the last day of a mission trip. Something special had happened. People weren’t streaming for the exits; they were lingering, savoring.

I’m all in for next year; I suspect I’m not the only one who has already Googled, “Wild Goose 2012″ with unreasonable optimism. I’ll be making my case to head next year’s youth team later this week; people seemed to resonate with this year’s efforts–imagine what I could do with more than a week and a half of preparation!

Hope to see you there next time.

Peace,
K


Youth Ministry & a Daily Bread

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I stumbled upon this website which had some compiled data / comparisons of the average salary of a job position in an area. I was reminded that my corner of the world doesn’t do to well at taking care of their ministers.

I chose in this captured instance to look at the average salary of a ‘Director of Youth Ministries’ in part because my United Methodist tribe seems to like that title over Youth Pastor or Minister. My best guess on that reasoning is that we have a lengthy ordination process and some might see the ‘pastor’ title as not quite earned by some youth leader. A ‘youth worker’ made significantly less than either a Youth Pastor or Director of Youth Ministries. Not sure why that would be except maybe it averages in some other non-profits.

I was payed pretty well as I considered it at my last church position. Sobering thought however was that many of our pest control employees made more than me for work that had less responsibility. What might be even more sad, I know some of our ordained clergy (and to be ordained you’ve gone through at least masters level divinity education) made less than I did.

Where these wandering thoughts had me going was, how do we provide for our leaders ‘daily bread?’ Now, I am well aware that making more than a dollar a day is richer than some 80% of the worlds population. But in the United States of America those can be some really struggling numbers to make housing, transportation, food/health, debt (M.Div is the worst investment from financial perspective ever), etc. It is probably a shallow reasoning to, but depending on the church you serve you have to ‘keep up with the Jones’s.’ It’s true, if you work in a affluent church, chances are you’d feel some pressures to dress to that culture. Sure it is shallow consumerism, but just because it is that doesn’t mean that it is very real.

So 1) this was kind of a fun site to play around with, so have fun there. 2) and most importantly, can we look at how we as a church are taking care of our people who we claim responsibility for as an employer and ask if it is really something they can provide their daily bread with. Even if the answer is ‘no’ and ‘we cannot do anything more’ at least it helps to acknowledge the value of a person until a church can.

Lap Bands for Teenagers & our Failure

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I am really troubled this morning to be reading this article in the LA Times about a leading producer of lap-bands targeting overweight teenagers.

The Irvine company has asked the Food and Drug Administration to approve Lap-Band surgeries for adolescents as young as 14, and is conducting clinical trials on teenage patients, said Cathy Taylor, a company spokeswoman.

Allergan says the device — a silicon ring fitted around the stomach to reduce food intake — has proved a safe and effective way for obese adults to shed pounds. With an estimated one-third of U.S. children now overweight, the benefits should be extended to teenagers, Taylor said.

“We identified a significant need with this patient population in terms of the increasing rate of obesity in younger populations,” Taylor said. “Obesity, if left untreated, correlates to life-threatening diseases.”

Disclosure: I’m not the best (or maybe I am) about talking about weight and health. I’m probably at close to my heaviest weight in my life & I take flack for being clinically ‘obese.’ However, it is not a problem with my body in my opinion. I eat too much and exercise very little. It’s a Gavin psyche issue & it is Gavin who will handle this.

I am trouble by our need in a culture to not take accountability for our selves. Obesity has its population that is predisposed to the illness & the illnesses and psychological affects that come along with it. However, that population is not so large that a medical surgery product company would be angling to market to a niche of that population. We have an alarming issue & a slippery slope we are apparently going to participate in.

Should something like this happen (which teens can already get the surgery if parents sign off on it, the company is just wanting to start marketing to teens) teens will get marketing messages tapping into their fears of being alone or ridiculed (which might be real already). Now they have a medical company telling them they have a magic solution that takes little change to their life except an outpatient day of surgery. It’s an easy fix… That would be the marketing message.

True change in a life, whether it be weight, spiritual growth, education, deeper relationships, health, family enrichment, etc. take intentionality effort & sacrifice. Marketing messages cannot capture that…

As a pastor with teenagers I’ve struggled with the health & eating portion that comes along with ministry programs. Where are we going to stop to eat on the way to the ski slope or missions camp? McDonald’s Wendy’s?… What do we do for our youth swim party/lock-in/Wednesday night worship/visiting group? Cheap Pizza Pizza Pizza…

So here are some quick thoughts in planning for your teenagers if you care for their health:

  • Find low calorie meals that volunteers can multiply easily enough for the number of people in your group
  • Have a parent volunteer (might even have a nutritionist in your congregation) who coaches you & volunteers on nutrition and food vs food product)
  • Stop serving cokes/sodas/pop
  • Pack lunches for the road and stop at rest stops
  • Throw in some frisbees & footballs, maybe a badminton set to have active games while hanging out, that’d be a cool scene at a rest stop
  • Stop looking at travel as a “gotta get there” thing and more of a pilgrimage experience

In other fun listening, check out Spurlock’s latest product placement documentary.

Any other ideas on helping teenagers with food, health and self concept in ministry?