Ape Must Not Kill Ape: A Beginner’s Guide to Virtue Formation in Youth

This week’s guest post is from Jake Owens.  You can check out his previous post here.

Striking back like the Empire! Mason’s asked me to put some more thoughts down, this time on the idea of virtue formation in youth ministries, and like any good youth pastor, I begin with an anecdote.

I had been in full time ministry for about 60 days when the call came. The Church’s administrative assistant told me that one of the youth moms was on the phone, and she sounded panicked. This was it. I’d been called up to the majors, but now was the moment all youth pastors dream of: Bottom of the 9^th, bases loaded, 2 outs, and there’s a frantic mother on the mound.

Game on.

I opened with the usual pleasantries, thanked her for her help at a recent youth event, and then we got right down to it. “Jake, I need your help. I found something in one of the girls’ bedrooms this morning, and I don’t know what to do. I was hoping you could talk to them.”

Well of course I could! I have over 12 undergrad credit hours dedicated just to adolescent psychology! What was the offending item? Drugs? Stolen money? Illicit publications?

She managed to choke the words out: “A Lady Gaga CD!”

So clearly, virtue formation is a tricky subject.

The first and most obvious issue being demonstrated above: It’s a somewhat subjective topic. Sure, we can all agree that murder is wrong, but the average American youth group isn’t dealing with multiple homicides. Where virtue formation could be truly beneficial to our youth is in those grey areas. What sort of clothes should a Christian wear? What kind of music is appropriate for a Christian? What kind of people should I associate with? These are trickier questions that we can address in a healthy way and better prepare the young Christians in our midst. It seems to me that we are caught between two equally destructive approaches, and that as in all things, balance might be our answer.

Let’s start by identifying the need though. As we’ve drifted over the last 20+ years to a more grace-oriented gospel (and rightly so!) we always run the risk that the pendulum will swing completely in the opposite direction. In an effort to teach kids that God will love them no matter what, we’ve managed to leave behind a large chunk of instruction on how a Christian interacts with the world. And make no mistake, that is important teaching. If the Church is to fulfill its role as a priestly people, ambassadors to the world, then it is imperative that we develop a clear sense of who we are and how we must behave as a result. All cultures- mainstream, sub, or counter- have some kind of a code of ethics that helps them stand apart, and without them we run the risk of losing our identity as God’s representatives. (Heck, even the Planet of the Apes had SOME kind of rules.)

Of course many other Churches still teach virtues and their formation, but often times we’re going at it in a way that is legalistic and downright unbiblical. While some congregations have floated to a downright relativistic way of living, others have tightened their fist and cracked the whip to uphold “traditional values.” Ignoring the obvious fallacies in trying to claim the values of a 200 year old civilization are “traditional,” there are some real dangers in this. First of all, the values that we teach are often more reflective of our culture and history as a physical nation than our culture and history as the people of God. What’s more, it teaches that God’s love is conditional on our behavior, and even worse, that Heaven is the goal of our faith, something to be achieved, not a natural consequence of a life lived with God, which should be our true objective.

Enough negativity, enough dwelling on the problem. Let’s talk solutions. I’ve tried to put together a few suggestions that will help us head out on this journey together properly. As always they’re just suggestions meant to spark discussion and Spirit movement, not a set of rules to follow. Also, I’m making the assumption that anyone who is endeavoring to teach teens about God has done a good deal of praying in the first place. So if you didn’t do that, fix it. (That part’s not a suggestion.)

1) Discern who is and isn’t under your authority.

This is a tricky thing; you may have 100 kids coming to Church and youth group, but only 80 of them have really submitted to you and your staff as their mentors and pastors. The trick here is that there isn’t really a concrete way to say, “This kid has; this kid hasn’t.” They’re teenagers. Some of them are there against their will, and some aren’t nearly as advanced into their education about Christianity as they think. It’s on you as the adult and the leader to identify who is part of your pastoral flock and who isn’t. The ones who have submitted to your leadership are the ones you need to form some virtue in. The rest? Just show ‘em Jesus, they’ll get there.

2) Be careful about who you choose to lead the ministry.

I said something like this in my last article, but I mean it so much I’m saying it again. Our standards on who should and shouldn’t be a part of the youth ministry are lacking. I’m talking about adult volunteers here people. Procreating does not qualify you to lead another human being through the insane maze of adolescent spirituality. Choose volunteers who already exhibit some of the virtues you want your youth to develop. Give special attention to those who know how to forgive and sacrifice.

3) Develop a way of life.

This is a fun one, and one that can be a great theme for a good while in a youth group. It practically writes itself! Study some Church history; hit the Franciscan orders and the codes that great heroes of the faith lived by. There are a variety of advantages here. First, it teaches the kids that these are rules that they’ve willingly submitted to, and that’s a LOT different than rules that were thrust upon you. The level of investment skyrockets. It also avoids legalism; this isn’t some code of law that all people must follow or be damned! It’s the way that we’ve opted to follow our Lord, and the way that we make sure that the world around us sees the difference in us.

An effective way of life would involve practices like daily prayer and fasting, attending Church gatherings at specific times, rules for hospitality and how we treat others, how we spend our time and money to benefit the poor, etc. It’s a much more Biblical approach than, “Good Christians don’t have sex or drink or listen to Lady Gaga.” It should also be formed with input from the youth themselves, and parents! (Sure, they shouldn’t all volunteer, but they’re still all more invested in those kids than even we are.)

Ultimately, it’s on us to find balance in our own lives, and to impart that to the people that God has placed under our authority, youth or otherwise. My prayer is that we all find a way of life that glorifies our creator, and honors the image of God in all people. Until next time true believers!

We’re All Creators

This week’s post is from Mitch Roush.  Mitch is a graduate of York College with degrees in Communications & Theatre with a minor in Biblical Studies. While at York, he took part in short-term missions in Mexico and China. On the heels of college Mitch attended The International Theatre Academy of Norway in Oslo to study creativity and entrepreneurship. Mitch has been a guest key-note speaker; teacher and performer at numerous events and universities. He is currently the Campus Team Developer for the Let’s Start Talking (LST) Ministry. He and his wife Marissa live the dream in Ft. Worth, TX with their two dogs.  Having spent his life at the crossroads of faith and art, I thought Mitch would be a good person to talk about how he believes faith and creativity intersect, and what potential such an intersection has for the Church.

Telling you I grew up in a house full of free-spirited and emotional artists in the middle of right-winged and white-knuckled Nebraska should tell you I’m comfortable being in the minority.  As far as family dynamics and hobbies are concerned, what most call weird–I call normal.

From the time I turned thirteen, I’ve been on a rather frustratingly beautiful journey.  (Or is it beautifully frustrating?  Changes from day to day.)  As an imperfect disciple of Christ raised by wonderful christian and creative parents, I find myself ever running towards answering a daunting question:

Is it possible for Christ to reign supreme in my life without compromising my artistic integrity?

Perhaps the most important discovery I’ve made worth sharing is that I’m in a constant state of becoming; and by the Grace of God, I’m discovering more and more of how my soul should manifest in the world around me.

What I’ve found is asking the tough questions and daring to go against the grain, when appropriate, has helped cultivate my creativity within the church that still seems frightened of the term itself.  I’ll do my best to make my brain-purging comprehensible.

Let’s play the, “What if?” game, shall we?

What if your search for something deeper could be materialized?

What if your, “pipe dreams” are exactly what you need to pursue?

What if the act of creativity was connected to nearly every decision you ever made?

What if life was breathed into you by The Creator so that you may create within a world that’s designed to be recreated and renewed?

Whether you’ve made the realization or not, all these, “What ifs…” are exactly aligned with the broader landscape God is currently fashioning.

So please, bear with me when I dare to say:

Your faith desires a journey into the artistic realms.

How can the church burst through the glass ceiling and embrace creativity?

It all starts with The Artist.

“In the beginning God created…”

Perhaps the most underrated cornerstone of Scripture is found in the first-sentence!  Dissecting the details of creation and its story finally allowed my artistic soul the chance to wonder.  Try to comprehend just how profound this concept is.  God, in His very nature, is an artist.

I don’t know the context of your church experience, but it seemed rather strange to me that this notion wasn’t discussed much while I was growing up.  Could there be a more obvious game-changer?  If you stop to think about the creative process, you start realizing how much thought and creativity God puts behind all He does.

The fact that God first conjured me up in thought; deemed me worthy of being created fills me with a sense love I’ve never otherwise experienced.

This is why we have so many, “spiritual epiphanies” while experiencing raw nature, or exploring an area that is new to us.  We’re filled with awe because we’re witnessing first-hand a snapshot of The Great Artist’s work.  The broader landscape that encompasses the world around us has God’s fingerprints all over it.  Make no mistake about it:  God is in the business of creating and making things new.  Which leads me to believe…

Creativity is a window into the very nature of God.

Art is an opportunity for us to experience a slice of the supernatural.

Here’s the point of my monologue where a “non-artist” interjects and says something to the effect of, “That’s all well and good, Mitch.  But I’m just not a creative person.”

And that’s it.  That’s the left-hook they think is strong enough to end the discussion.  Don’t get me wrong, if any of you reading this and truly feel as though you have no artistic or creative inclinations what so ever–I still love you.  This is exactly my point.

For a multitude of reasons daring to explore the unknown; inviting others to wonder; and pursuing our day-dreams has become a fearful notion for us in the church.  It’s much easier for us to assume those of us that aren’t, “artsy” will surely find fulfillment remaining “safe” in the middle.  Certainly those whacky artists will eventually have enough real-life-experiences sober them up to a point of being realistic.  But I ask you this:

What are we if not creative and deeply emotional beings?

In his book, The Crowd, the Critic, and the Muse, Michael Gungor sums-it-up perfectly:

For many people words like art and creativity feel lofty and out of reach.  But in truth, the foundation of the artist’s work is no different than any other human work.  It’s simply an intentional ordering of reality.  Every sentence you’ve ever articulated has been a creative work on some level.  As a child, you learned how to use your tongue, lips and vocal cords to create sounds that have been culturally agreed upon to act as symbols of objects and feelings–even abstract ideas like justice or beauty.  Speaking is the process of creating and communicating a series thoughts by combining these sounds into patterns–like a painter combines individual colors into a painting or a musician strings together individual notes into a composition.  Creativity is simply the human brain forming new connections between ideas, and we all are engaged in this process every day.  The common idea that there are some people who are creative and some who are not is a myth.  On some level, we are all artists.  We are all creators.  (p. 3 – 4, emphasis added)

No longer is it a question of, “Am I a creative individual?”

Now you can embark on the spiritual and euphoric journey of discovering how art and creativity fuses with faith.

After all, art is the great equalizer.

Goosebumps appearing when your favorite song plays.  A surprising emotional revelation that’s sparked when looking at a painting.  Joyous belts of laughter while reminiscing through family photos.  Surprising tears falling while watching your favorite film.  Every single one of us has been deeply moved by experiences that accompany artistic media.

Art aids us in discovering the depths of emotion.

Art is how we dictate our values to the world.

Art provides the most meaningful platform for the voiceless to be heard.

Art has sparked revolutions of the mind, heart, spirit, and religion.

Art is perhaps the most profound medium for which generations have been and will be remembered.

Art is the manifestation of the supernatural experiences in the world.  That’s why the act of creation is so in-tune with the very nature of God.

What does this mean for the church?  As my dad eloquently expresses:

“Once the created get past their fear of exploring the unknown; then creativity can be a huge key to helping us discover more about the Creator.”

Here’s a short-list of ideas a congregation of any-size could implement to delve into the realm of creativity while welcoming more brothers and sisters to the family:

• Start the Discussion & Open Our Minds:  Feel empowered to open-the-floor of discussion on the spiritual ramifications of creativity and art.  Yes, let’s discuss the raw power to be found in the Bible.  But let’s also open our minds to the fact that we can discuss the spiritual undertones found in a Bob Dylan song.

• Be Intentional:  Instead of asking yourself, “What can I get out of this?” start challenging yourself to ask, “What can I contribute?”  Sharing a hug; causing a stranger to smile; telling your story; inviting someone to coffee; random-acts-of-kindness; and so many other things are all opportunities to create something new.

• Story-Telling:  Once a month, host an out-door BBQ for members and visitors.  Fellowship, break-bread, enjoy each other.  Culminate the evening with a bonfire.  Have men and women from the older generations share their stories of life, love, & faith while everyone else sits at their feet.  Truly, this would be creativity found in the church.

• Sponsor an Entertainment Evening:  Concerts, film viewings, poetry-slams, reader’s theatre, art-shows, ANYTHING.  Imagine bringing in sacred and secular professionals to perform their craft, sponsored by your congregation with an audience filled with members and visitors.  What a wonderful way to invite new people to the family of God while removing the, “Country Club” atmosphere.  And on that note…

• Scrap the Sermon:  What if once a month your worship service was completely dedicated to celebrating creative media minus the sermon?  Congregation members (as well as professionals) can share their original poetry, orally interpret a scene from Scripture, share inspirational videos, children performing, finger-painting murals, the list goes on and on!

As christians it’s okay to admit that we gain the bulk of our emotional experiences from stimuli that are normally categorized as “secular”.  But daring to view the world as though faith and creativity co-exist changes everything.

I’m not declaring that all American churches need to be turned-upside-down in order to effectively share Jesus.  What I’m simply pointing out is, on some level or another, we’re all emotionally touched by art.  The act of creating comes from God.  Why would we not want to explore what means for others finding Grace?

Imagine what we could be on the cusp of:

• Our collective fear of public emotion and the journey towards healing will subside.
• Embracing the universality of creativity will help us better understand deep grace.
• Avenues for the artistic souls to serve, create, perform, share, & worship will open.
• Maybe, just maybe, those, “of the world”, will feel welcomed as family rather that projects.

Here I am, an open-hearted artist trying to make sense of my journey.  Some days I feel closer to answering the daunting question.  Other days I feel stagnant.  But everyday, I remain a ragamuffin soul on fire for Jesus, getting my fix from emotional artistic experiences.

May our journey of connecting life, faith, art, and creativity lead to a deeper understanding of the Love that is God and strengthen the foundation of which our community stands.

 

 

Manifest Destiny?

(This month’s guest post is from Jake Owens.  Jake has spent a decade in ministry, whether as a volunteer, part-time, or full-time professional.  Jake graduated from York College in York, Nebraska with a degree in Biblical Studies with an emphasis in Youth Ministry. He has been on multiple mission trips to multiple continents and countries. Jake briefly worked as a Short-Term Programs Director for an international missions organization.  He is currently a Senior Youth Care Worker at Boys Town Nebraska’s Intervention and Assessment program. He lives in Omaha, Nebraska with his wife Elise, dog Sheldon, and hairless cat Nakey.)

When Mason and I were undergrad students together, we spent about 5 nights a week at a truck stop called Petro. (There weren’t many options for entertainment after 8pm in the booming metropolis of York, NE.) For the first several months as roommates, we had a regular waitress by the name of Deb. She knew what I liked, how I liked it, and gave me free sweet tea because she was so impressed that I did homework every night. She could anticipate our needs with a supernatural prowess that led me to believe that she was a house elf someone gave an apron to and set free. Then, one terrible night we showed up and Deb was gone, replaced with a grouchy lady named Linda. She didn’t know what I wanted, didn’t get it to me in time, and would never be able to fill the Deb-shaped hole in my heart.

Hi. I’m Linda.

Mason asked me to write on a topic that I have some level of knowledge on, and since this blog has absolutely nothing to do with video games, comic books, or pathetically bad sports teams, that left me with non-profit ministry work.

My topic today is short-term missions, and I think that before I get into the subject I should make a few disclaimer statements:

1)    I love the Church, with all of its faults and all of its blemishes. I love us for what we are, what we can be, and in spite of what we do sometimes.

2)    I am in no way advocating that we shut down all short-term missions programs; simply that we reevaluate how we do them.

3)    While there are a great many places from which I could draw inspiration, my primary theology for this post comes from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7 and the teachings of St. Francis of Assisi. I don’t claim to perfectly represent what Francis or our shared Lord taught, but I do aspire to emulate these things as best I can.

If you’re still with me, I’d like to open with a story.

The names have literally been changed to protect others, which is pretty awesome. It takes place in a city in China in the summer of 2009. I was there on a mission trip to teach English to college students from the Bible, an evangelism method that has a long history in the Church, sometimes proud, sometimes shameful. I was speaking with a young man I’ll call John, who I became rather close to over my brief time in China. We were discussing our shared interest in history, and while discussing the Japanese invasion of China during WW2 (Something China’s still not over) he suddenly became very serious and said, “People have come to China a lot to try and make us more like them. Japan, Americans, Christians.” He smiled at me to make sure that I didn’t take any offense to this, and honestly, I didn’t.

I felt pretty much like I’d been smacked in the face.

John’s comment is just one of several incidents that led to a growing unease with the way that we do short-term missions.

I’ve seen Christians in South America fighting over doctrinal issues that trace directly back to the US’s culture and history.

I’ve been told by new believers in developing nations that they hope they can have a Godly nation like we do.

I’ve seen youth under my care enter a cycle of spiritual starvation followed by summer binging, where they fly off to all corners of the world hunting down a temporary high, then I’ve heard those same youth tell me they’re so glad that they went and helped the “less-fortunate.”

My goal today is to fix a problem, and where I work we do that by observing and describing what’s wrong, then suggesting an alternative. So first, we observe and describe.

Short Term Missions are all the rage among youth ministries these days.  They’re also growing in popularity and frequency with Millennials like college students and late twenty-somethings. We’ve begun to follow the very Godly pull in our hearts to contribute more to the world than we take from it, but we’ve rushed off to do it without consulting God or thinking it through. The results are terrifying.

Your typical short-term mission trip is organized by a youth pastor. Said pastor gathers up a handful of parents, usually as much based on willingness as on qualification, and designates them “chaperones.” Youth are sat down and shown pictures of people living in conditions less affluent than their own, then given a price tag and a schedule. The youth raise the appropriate amount of money, flight plans are booked, meetings are had, prayers are said, and after many months of preparation, the youth arrive. Roughly 7 days are spent doing back-breaking labor, fumbling through a foreign language, and experiencing a different culture. Youth return exhausted, uplifted, and enlightened by their multi-cultural experience.

While good things can come of this experience, I want to argue that those good things are more an accident, and testament to God’s ability to work through human failure than they are the result of planning and foresight.

When we do missions this way, there are two key problems I see:

1)    Youth are inadvertently taught that we (our culture) are more blessed than others, somehow favored by God, and that living a life with fewer material blessings than ours is somehow outside God’s plan for humanity.

There are several problems here. First of all, it encourages the patronage system that we find so often in Christendom. Our youth learn arrogance and develop mini-messiah complexes rather than learning humility and service. In addition, it equates salvation and blessing with a certain level of material wealth, encouraging materialism. Worst of all, it equates our culture to God’s Kingdom, an idea that has had disastrous consequences in the days of colonialism and western expansionism.

2)    Youth are set into a self-destructive, out of rhythm cycle of spirituality.

I’m fully aware that your average evangelical American isn’t practicing centering prayer or Lectio Divina; that being said, this is a problem that transcends missions and enters our entire Church/Youth Ministry culture. The mission trip is simply the crux of the problem. Kids are starved spiritually for 9 months, given only the occasional weekend retreat to truly engage in community driven, disciplined spirituality. Then for 3 glorious months we send them off to camps, service projects, and mission trips, all the while preaching against the dangers of the dreaded “camp high,” in a thinly veiled attempt to up our retention rates from the summer by lowering expectations. When service and community are taught only 3 months a year, we teach kids to grow into the sort of out-of-whack Christians that purge and binge, rather than experience a reasonable relationship with highs and lows.

Ultimately, the low-quality mission trip is just really, really bad theology; and it’s damaging our witness to the rest of the world, on top of completely screwing up our relationship with God. We’re training entire generations that God’s ultimate plan is for us to fly into a frenzy of activity every year at the same time and save the poor “have-not’s” of the world from a life of poor hygiene and inadequate building projects.

As I said in my disclaimer, I’m not suggesting that we should pull the plug altogether on Mission Trips. Some Churches do need to embrace the fact that God hasn’t gifted them with the resources to do mission work, and move on to areas where they can better serve the Kingdom. But a lot of Churches can do a lot of good if they can make some major changes to their thinking.

Here’s what I recommend. Rather than a model to be rigidly followed, it’s meant to be the start of a discussion about more Godly missions:

1)    Teach a more Biblically sound theology of poverty

The poor are so close to the heart of Jesus.  I would argue that you can hardly know him without knowing them. This is a blessing if there ever was one, a far greater blessing than my air conditioning or my Xbox 1.  We need to stop teaching kids that we’re coming to “save” or even “help,” and adjust our language. Said with the best of intentions, these are still loaded terms that speak of patronage and arrogance. Instead, teach kids that we’re going to go meet the beloved of Christ, to learn from them and be taught by them what it means to be poor, and in turn to offer whatever inadequate gifts we may have in exchange.

2)    Choose your volunteers carefully

I won’t rant about the “Family-Based” model of youth ministry here, but the simple fact is that having a kid does not qualify you to lead a ministry. Parents have plenty more invested in their kids than we do, and in an ideal situation they’re going to be partners in the ministry.  But that doesn’t mean that a kid’s mom needs to come on every event if she’s not going to create the sort of culture where the Holy Spirit thrives and grows in young Christians. If Dad has a morbid fascination with racist jokes or if Mom thinks people are only poor because they’re lazy, leave them home. Plain and simple.

3)    Make the mission trip a part of your culture, not an event

This one’s trickier. Maybe in an ideal situation we could break from the mold and have our mission trips at a different time of year than summer, but the reality is that’s just logistically impractical. Instead, teach lessons related to a healthy theology of poverty during the fall. Make consistent spiritual disciplines a part of your program, and incorporate them into the trip.

4)    Make a long-term commitment to one site/group of people

Once a long-term commitment is made, engage those people in community. Skype them in for worship service once in a while, and let one of them teach you. Encourage the kids to develop close relationships with specific people and keep in touch. Help them find prayer partners in the other culture and facilitate regular prayer sessions together. This makes us all one community; two parts become something greater than their sum. When people are friends and family, it gets harder to view them as strangers that we’re blessing with our presence.

As I said, these are just some suggestions to get the conversation rolling. Above all, pray. Pray with your leaders, pray with your family, and pray alone that God will help us find our place in the Kingdom, and fulfill the role that we’re best suited to in the Body of Christ.