Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Eric Clapp
CYF 4510
Dr. Root
speak to that particular context. Even though this is how it should be,
we are frequently reminded that this is not how it often plays out in the
that context. There are a lot of different issues that are confronting
people in high school that have a great impact on how they view God.
we are, or keep us safe from the real, “secular” world that exists
outside of the church community. This plays out largely in the way that
adults relate to kids within the church. Along with this, there is a
growing sense among the youth that there really is not anything at
stake for these kids. The kids have a lukewarm response surrounding
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all things church and the church is not necessarily doing anything to
confront these issues that are clearly bubbling to the surface in the
interactions between the adults and kids that surround life in the
see that all of these are problematic because they fundamentally keep
Empirical Task
young families around that attend the church with varying involvement
the parents who interrupt youth group to ask their kids if they are
having a good time. The constant check-in is not only embarrassing for
the kids, but is also quite annoying as the leader as well. This sort of
evermore present in the lives of youth and the adults who interact with
them. In many ways, the church is seen as a place to shelter the youth
from a lot of the bad things that are happening in the world.
The common view among the parents is that there are a lot of
bad things that are in the “real world” that threaten the faith of their
who God is and how God acts in the world. If God exists only as a
shield from all of the bad forces in the world, that puts some pretty
Another one of the main problems that faces this church is that
the staff and ministries are very segmented. The youth room is far
down one corridor, seemingly the furthest distance possible from the
sanctuary and fellowship hall. One of the three full-time pastors may
stop by occasionally just to see how things are going. Otherwise the
rest of the full-time staff steers clear of the youth wing. A great way of
separate grouping and orbits the main group of the church, but never
the parents are involved in the lives of their kids, but not in a way that
within the confines of the “way they do things”. This is the shorthand
way to discuss the program that has been in place for the last twenty
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crucial to cast a new vision for moving forward alongside the youth in
the congregation in a way that fully includes them in the mission of the
church and equips them to go out as the ones who are sent into the
Interpretive Task
motivations for the ministry of the church. One of the current pastors
that are still in use today. When I first began doing ministry there, I
was told very clearly that this was the model that was most effective
for reaching out to the kids who came and that I was merely supposed
very little to say to any kind of modern context where social media has
One of the main reasons for the parents acting the way they do
stress that there really is not a charted progress that the kids must be
that it often has very little to say when a tragedy happens in life of the
youth. They have been going through this program of learning the
faith and yet still their dog has died or their aunt has cancer. Where
be entirely alienating when facing the pain and suffering that often
for the youth to gain a better understanding of who God is and what
God is doing in the world. More importantly, they can be equipped and
school kids.
Normative Task
we get more kids here? How will we have enough money to even have
a youth ministry? How will the kids respond to this? Bonhoeffer saw
this in ministry all the time. He calls for a shift in our questioning so
that we are not asking ‘how’ so much as ‘who’. Questions that seek to
answer ‘who’ are about transcendence. Who is the God that calls us to
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be the servant to our neighbor? Who is the God that comes down to
century America? These are the questions that get to the core of what
suffering world. So our quest begins with the minor shift of asking
God, the answer is often something less than concrete. However there
is one stipulation that ministry with youth calls for in its answers:
honesty. There is no room for a youth ministry that does not seek to
honestly deal with the questions that are being asked of it. This is not
these questions of the imagination that genuine faith and wonder can
be born.
A friend of mine has a son who is two years old who recently
asked his dad why we are not dogs. On the surface, this question
seems very silly and it would be easy for youth directors, who have a
perpetual pile of tasks to do, to blow off this type of a question. But on
is. Why is he human and not a dog? What does it mean to be a human
and not something else? Often times these kinds of questions come
into youth group but are veiled in layers that disguise them as what we
Abrams was once quoted as saying that mystery offers a better road to
wonder that we are then free from offering concrete views of what God
to make sense of who God is and what God is doing in their lives within
the realm of their own language and understanding. All of this is rooted
Glee. In last season’s finale, the members of the glee club were dealing
living room to celebrate the year. Instead of doing that, one character asked
if they could skip that and go around the room to talk about what being a part of
the group meant to them. Another member said that before joining the glee club
she had 2 Facebook friends, her mom and dad. After the group disbands, the
cohesive group they have become will go back to existing in their old social
structures. The jocks will hang out with jocks, band kids with other band kids,
theatre kids with theatre kids. But for a lot of these kids, they would go back to
living a lonely existence, which is sadly the case for all too many kids in our youth
groups. Facing this reality was too hard for most of these characters. So they
wanted to share stories with each other as they faced the daunting task of
people that came together and faced their anxieties and insecurities together by
were established through a glee club at school. It would be interesting to see what
could happen if the church and youth group operated as a place to deal with these
place for kids to share their stories of pain and anxiety with one
This is the basis for a Trinitarian way to view community. Through our
experiences of suffering and pain we are brought into the heart of God.
we see the death of Jesus, the fully human and fully divine second
of suffering and death that God calls us into community. What binds us
there are three very concrete things that are to be done beyond the
retreat or special event you have, make space for down time. This time
interaction, in which many youth will claim is the real highlight of the
time away from church, school and home life. The lack of structure will
actually serve them well because it gives them space to spend time as
they choose.
based in wonder. During lessons with youth of any age, engage their
once told a story of a children’s sermon where the pastor sat up front
and asked the kids to name what he was going to describe. He then
utterly confused. Finally, one kid said, “I know the answer is Jesus, but
it sure sounds like a squirrel.” This is all too common for our youth.
They have been socialized to think the answer to every question posed
back a sense of wonder and awe that has been lacking in many cases,
the life of youth with the life of the church. By understanding the
teaching them significant things about the ways in which God moves
and acts in the world by incorporating them into the life of the church,
the life of the people of God. Along the way, we are freed to form
days. If we see them not as the separate Mickey Mouse ear, but rather
to do the work of God in the world. We are also walking alongside them
as we all live into the communities of hope out of suffering that God
ultimately calls us to be. Because of this, we are then the ones who
have suffered, been resurrected and are sent into the world as the