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Monday, July 25, 2005

Pacing...Then Leading



Those of you who know me, know that I always have several books I am reading. The latest I've stumbled across is Shaping the Spiritual Life of Students by Richard Dunn. While I'm not completely sold on some of his conclusions, I love the concept he puts forth for ministry to adolescents: Pacing...then leading.

This way of thinking encourages adults to invest personally in the lives of individual teens, to walk alongside them and learn about their world. It is only after this has occured that the adult is in place to actually provide healthy, informed leadership.

In reading the materials produced by Mark Yaconelli and the Youth Ministry and Spirituality Project I stumbled across this quote,

Our curricular aim was to "re-frame" the problem of youth ministry by focusing not on "reaching" youth (who are usually only the "identified patient" in a dysfunctional system) but by challenging the adult leaders of churches to look at their own lives in Christ and ponder whether they have a way of life that is genuinely attractive to young persons searching for healing, hospitality, and inspiring role models who accept them as they are. Our foundational premise was advanced: that all Christian life and ministry needs to be attentive first to God's presence within us, between us, and around us. (taken from YMSP website, documents section - In Service Session-1)


In order for anyone to effectively engage in a ministry of pacing - one of empathy and investment - they must be dedicated to attending to God's presence in their own life. Without this, any attempt to reach out will seem hollow or perceived to have an agenda. I believe that what we are discussing here is fundamental to any endeavor of Spiritual Formation but especially those within the context of a youth ministry.

But as the folks with the YMSP pointed out, many youth ministries are marked more by anxiety than pacing. The focus on "reaching the lost for Jesus" has often damaged our ability to be companions by feeding our desire to be on the cutting edge of outreach programs - we create a stressful environment that looks just like the world around us. I believe that in large part this is what Nate Bostian was referring to when he asked about the danger of
building an alternate Christian sub-culture that is populated by bands that sound the same as the world and styles that look the same as the world, except they just have "Jesus" plastered all over them.(see my post on The Role of Intentional Spiritual Formation in Youth Ministry)

Adults often want to be given a precise job description with hours required, tools needed and direction on exactly what they have to do. In my experience they often loose interest in helping when I respond with, "love the teens...spend time with them." The truth of the matter is that this is our greatest need. We need adults who are willing to walk alongside these young people and discover what it means to be a teenager in Dallas, Texas in 2005; we need adults who will communicate with their actions that these kids are important. That is very hard to program and its hard to plan, but it is impossible to replace.

Pacing, then Leading may then become the most important tool for raising up volunteer leaders - it is both the way we find companion ministers and the primary tool we provide. And yet, with all of this said, I am left with a nagging question. How do we get this started in a community that seems to value leaving not-so-well-enough alone? How do we present this concept to a group that isn't sure that we're really in need of anything more than overly planned and communicated but sporadically attended events? The only answer I can even muster at this point is that I must continue to pace with potential volunteers and hope that a critical mass will eventually form. It goes back to creating an environment where we ministers (paid and volunteer) are "attentive first to God's presence within us, between us, and around us."

Tuesday, July 12, 2005

Formed in the Image / Conformed to the Image


In a previous post I referred to Spiritual Formation as the process of being conformed to the image of Christ. I think that this language is appropriate and useful but probably needs a little more attention.

I have had people respond that they don’t see the scriptural validity of this view because Genesis claims that we are created in the image of God and thus any claim to be more fully formed takes away from the power of God. What I appreciate most about their concern is both the acknowledgement of God as the great Creator – the one about whom Paul says “He is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else.” (Acts 17:25) – and also the desire to avoid complicating our lives with pointless pursuits and human endeavors.

However, when I refer to being formed in or conformed to the image of Christ I am not speaking of our created being described in Genesis. Rather I call attention to the identity and character of our person which has been greatly affected by the presence of sin – both the sin in the world and the sin in our own lives.

In Colossians 3:12-17, Paul also says,
“Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

No one who has attempted this type of life can say that it is a simple matter which comes naturally because we are created in the image of God. In fact Paul himself says that there is a battle taking place in regards to this life;
“So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God-through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:21-25)

My favorite part of that passage in Romans is found in the statement, “Who will rescue me…? Thanks be to God – through Jesus Christ our Lord!” Christ is not only the rescuer but the perfect model of what the rescued will look like eventually. My life then is found in the balance between recognizing my total dependence on the rescuer and a journey toward the perfection of Christ. Though I don’t think I’ll be able to fully trust in Jesus or fully become like him in this life, my task is to continue in both.

One of the questions we should be asking in our personal lives as well as in everything we do in the Church is “what kind of person are we forming/seeking to form with this?” It is then an incredibly oversimplified and impossibly complex answer to say “someone who looks like Jesus.”

To be conformed to the image of Christ is not a simple matter of listing attributes (the list itself grows with us as we get to know the person of Jesus) but rather like an apprenticeship, it entails learning those aspects of identity and action which escape words. We’re not talking about simple moral principles. The image of Christ refers to the minute idiosyncrasies that can only be recognized by intimate travel companions. This happens in community, it happens over time, and it happens by the grace of God.