This Saturday I'm boldly going where I've never gone before. I'm doing something I've thought about quite a bit, but always come up short on. I'm flirting with disaster, disapproval, disdain, or simply disinterest. I'm talking to the youth in our church.
It all came about because of this blog of mine. My friend Paul took something I love and used it against me! Since he's heading up the organisation of this youth day with two others from the church, he decided he'd ask me to get involved, since some of the issues he wants to address are one's that I've written about here. Well, since I had no good reason at the time to decline his offer (I've thought of several since, but I guess it's too late to pull out now), here I am, preparing to give an hour long 'workshop' to two different sets of youth.
First of all, what's a workshop? It's a term I've heard used a lot in Christian youth circles, and even a word I use myself, but I'm really not sure what it entails. Based on past experience, it generally involves a talk about sex, questions along the lines of 'How far is too far?', and if someone is really in the zone, the big 'm' word will make a cameo appearance. However, this seems like too narrow a definition for a youth workshop, so I intend to break the mold. I'm pretty crazy like that.
My talk will not be about sex, though in any given youth talk its bound to come up in one form or another. Instead we've decided to do two workshops - one on the mind, the other on the heart. The internals of Christianity if you will. I'm involved in the one on the heart, which is good, because the Bible has quite a bit to say on this topic. To be honest though, I was hoping to do a topic a little more vague than 'the heart', but I guess there's no harm in getting specific with these young people [?]. OK so talking about the heart is about as vague as talking about God or life, but in my preparation so far I think I've narrowed it down enough so that what I have to say is relevant. And if I've learned anything from the emergent movement (and it's distinctly possible that I haven't), it's that being relevant is all that matters. If the cross isn't deemed relevant, get rid of it. If the cost of Christianity doesn't appeal, then don't talk about it. This is what's required when talking to young people today, right?
Well, not in my opinion, which is why I've always struggled over the tension between what young people want to hear and young people need to hear. These two don't always line up, which creates a problem. Tell them what they want to hear, and you won't be doing them any favours in the long run. Tell them what they need to hear, and they might not listen.
My approach to preparing this talk is to tell them what God wants them to hear, and that is His Word. It may not always be the prettiest thing to hear, it may not tickle the ear, but it's good news. The less of me and the more of God these young people get, the better. That's all I think I can do at this point.
My next challenge is to then present God's Word to them in an engaging, understandable way, which means that favourite words of mine like 'propitiation', 'sanctification' and 'substitutionary atonement' have to take a back seat and be replaced by phrases such 'Jesus took our sins', 'Jesus makes us pure' and 'Jesus died on the cross instead of us'. Although now that I think of it, wouldn't it be cool if the youth of today knew what the word 'propitiation' meant? Hmmm...now there's a thought.
Overall though, I'm excited about what will happen, and hopeful that God will use me in whatever way He sees fit. Do pray for me if you're so inclined, and pray for the young people too. Thankfully for them however, we four (Paul, Aisling, Rachel and I) are just the warm up act; the comedian before...Pink Floyd come on stage. One Dr Arden Autry is speaking in the evening time, and I have no doubt that even if everything we say is utter rubbish, his sermon will be a propitiation for our workshop. See, you can use the word 'propitiation' seemlessly in everyday English. That's it decided so - Young People of GCF, prepare to learn a new word.
It all came about because of this blog of mine. My friend Paul took something I love and used it against me! Since he's heading up the organisation of this youth day with two others from the church, he decided he'd ask me to get involved, since some of the issues he wants to address are one's that I've written about here. Well, since I had no good reason at the time to decline his offer (I've thought of several since, but I guess it's too late to pull out now), here I am, preparing to give an hour long 'workshop' to two different sets of youth.
First of all, what's a workshop? It's a term I've heard used a lot in Christian youth circles, and even a word I use myself, but I'm really not sure what it entails. Based on past experience, it generally involves a talk about sex, questions along the lines of 'How far is too far?', and if someone is really in the zone, the big 'm' word will make a cameo appearance. However, this seems like too narrow a definition for a youth workshop, so I intend to break the mold. I'm pretty crazy like that.
My talk will not be about sex, though in any given youth talk its bound to come up in one form or another. Instead we've decided to do two workshops - one on the mind, the other on the heart. The internals of Christianity if you will. I'm involved in the one on the heart, which is good, because the Bible has quite a bit to say on this topic. To be honest though, I was hoping to do a topic a little more vague than 'the heart', but I guess there's no harm in getting specific with these young people [?]. OK so talking about the heart is about as vague as talking about God or life, but in my preparation so far I think I've narrowed it down enough so that what I have to say is relevant. And if I've learned anything from the emergent movement (and it's distinctly possible that I haven't), it's that being relevant is all that matters. If the cross isn't deemed relevant, get rid of it. If the cost of Christianity doesn't appeal, then don't talk about it. This is what's required when talking to young people today, right?
Well, not in my opinion, which is why I've always struggled over the tension between what young people want to hear and young people need to hear. These two don't always line up, which creates a problem. Tell them what they want to hear, and you won't be doing them any favours in the long run. Tell them what they need to hear, and they might not listen.
My approach to preparing this talk is to tell them what God wants them to hear, and that is His Word. It may not always be the prettiest thing to hear, it may not tickle the ear, but it's good news. The less of me and the more of God these young people get, the better. That's all I think I can do at this point.
My next challenge is to then present God's Word to them in an engaging, understandable way, which means that favourite words of mine like 'propitiation', 'sanctification' and 'substitutionary atonement' have to take a back seat and be replaced by phrases such 'Jesus took our sins', 'Jesus makes us pure' and 'Jesus died on the cross instead of us'. Although now that I think of it, wouldn't it be cool if the youth of today knew what the word 'propitiation' meant? Hmmm...now there's a thought.
Overall though, I'm excited about what will happen, and hopeful that God will use me in whatever way He sees fit. Do pray for me if you're so inclined, and pray for the young people too. Thankfully for them however, we four (Paul, Aisling, Rachel and I) are just the warm up act; the comedian before...Pink Floyd come on stage. One Dr Arden Autry is speaking in the evening time, and I have no doubt that even if everything we say is utter rubbish, his sermon will be a propitiation for our workshop. See, you can use the word 'propitiation' seemlessly in everyday English. That's it decided so - Young People of GCF, prepare to learn a new word.
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