A New Kind Of Youth Ministry

I borrowed this book from ben a few weeks ago and finally finished the other day. It took me a few days to process the things that stood out the most to me. I think the number one issue that chris raised was the idea that in educating teens we must be inviting them into a process, not a turning them into a product. This includes being realistic about what we are expecting. Here's how he says it...

"A youth ministry focused on product [as opposed to process] seeks to equip teenagers with all the answers for a life in the way of Jesus. How ridiculous is it for our churches and leaders to think that any person in their adolescent years can be made a fully devoted follower of Jesus? Equally ridiculous is the effort to think that any of us, regardless of age, can be made into fully devoted followers of Jesus. What would it be like if churches - or more specifically youth ministries - sought to invite students into a developing process of following Jesus? I contend that we would have more people who are continually seeking to live, love, and lead like Jesus." - p.125 (brackets mine)

A second idea that really stood out to me was his chapter on reculturing mission. Here are a few quotes from that section.

• Missional living is not about what one does on the occasional trip to a far-off place. It is a way of living at home, at school, and in our everyday lives – wherever God places us…
• Missional living means followers of Jesus are to live as active ‘missionaries’ among all with whom we may interact throughout the journey of life…
• Missional living means living incarnationally…
• Missional living is about a Spirit-filled engagement with the life unfolding around us, joining God in what he is already doing rather than what he might use us to do…
• The key to missional living is to love more profoundly and more deeply, it is not having a mission, but being God’s mission.”

Missional living begins by…

1. Consistently being Jesus in the mundane, easy, and ordinary context of their lives, not just in those infrequent and extraordinary moments of life. (p.97)

2. Recognizing that we are not spectators of God’s creation we are participants and that means we have responsibilities. (p. 95)

3. Knowing that a specific practical skill-set is not required. We are all created to be agents of restoration. (p.96)

Extracted and adapted from “A New Kind of Youth Ministry” – Chris Folmsbee