First Draft: A (Evolving) Theology of Youth Ministry

This semester at Western Theological Seminary, one of the classes I am taking is called the 'Practice of Youth Ministry'.  In this class we are diving into a number of things and one of our assignments is to begin articulating our 'Theology of Youth Ministry'.  Though I've been in a number of interviews and asked to articulate such a position, I've never actually sat down and attempted to put pen to paper. Needless to say I'm excited to begin this wrestling match.

I recently posted the title of the paper on Twitter, A (Evolving) Theology of Youth Ministry, and there were some requests to check it out. Given this reality and that I decided to put the word 'evolving' in the title - I felt it was appropriate to show how my thoughts might also evolve through the semester as I process - since it has a rolling progressive due date.

A (EVOLVING) THEOLOGY OF YOUTH MINISTRY

A robust theology is one that can move and flow with the waves of society while remaining strong and steadfast in the eternal and simple truths of who God is, how He has engaged in His good creation and how His creation responds to His prompting. With this said, any attempt to articulate a lasting theology can prove as difficult as herding cats or as complicated as the practice of youth ministry itself might appear to be to those not called to serve this demographic; or as Stanley Hauerwas has been summarized as saying about writing on theology:

A theologian should not write for the ages, for to do so is to try to secure a position against the movement of the Spirit through time.

Considering this and given the lengthening of adolescence, the development of emerging adulthood topped with the reality that the human brain is not fully developed until the middle of an individual's twenties - are all factors in how matters of faith should be approached, engaged and positioned towards youth and for those ministering them.

IN THE BEGINNING

What is the starting point for any ministry? For that, we must ask what is the starting point of identity – for all of humanity regardless of gender, race, religion, class, and location – the Christian must look no future than the beginning. And in the beginning there was God and He creates sky and sea, the fields and the fowl – in the midst of all this creation was a chorus: it was good, it was good, it was good, it was good, it was good. Then creating in His image, He makes them male and female and calls them – very good. God did not make a mistake with His creation – He dwells with His good creation. Too often within the church, the view of humanity is one of mistake and regret – of depravity being core to our identity. If we cling to this latter perspective, are we affirming in the visitor or other who might be different from us, that what they lack is some thing only we can give them. If our starting point for engagement, conversation, youth ministry and identity begins with the fact that all of humanity was made in God’s image, then there is a Divine spark to be seen and tugged at within all of us. Pastors and those who consider themselves part of the Church in many ways need to stop trying to be more like Jesus, in our approach and ministry is to engage all of creation. Instead embracing a posture like that of John the Baptist, and be proclaiming to where we see heaven crashing into earth and where God is at work and engaging His good creation. The foundation for a theology of youth ministry among other things is that of our shared identity and that is of being made in the image of God.

THE FAITH THAT WAS ALWAYS THERE

We talk of being Christians—believing in the life, death, resurrection, ascension and eventual return of Jesus; the life He then invites us into, of service and sacrifice, of hope and love, grace and peace. We articulate our positions on things like the elect, heaven and hell, discipleship and what it means to follow Christ. How and what we do with these concepts are in fact extremely formative but are they (the conversations themselves) actually dealing with faith? If not, what is faith then?As we look through the narrative of Scripture we see faith also being related closely to trust , fidelity and steadfastness , and conviction to name a few. Although conviction can be a term that we might believe would go hand in hand with the articulation of beliefs, it is much closer to the idea of trust. Whereas belief could be defined as confidence placed in some person or thing. As ministers of the gospel we sit in a certain amount of tension, where I would argue that we sit among and speak to room full of individuals who have and possess a tremendous amount of faith – but it is their belief that we speak to. Or to put it otherwise, faith is which we know but have no answer; belief is what we have an answer for. In the book of Romans, Paul cautions us not to judge based on ones faith when he says:

For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.

Much of Romans is Paul trying to mend the divisions within the church in Rome, between the Gentile Christians and the Jewish Christians. Each group had faith, but it was in their differences in how their faith was lived out (or belief) that Paul is then careful to affirm the unity they shared in Christ but also walks the delicate line as to what was appropriate for both sides to be partaking in. His approach is one that we should seek to embrace, to maintain unity while then instilling and articulating the gracious life of servanthood Christ has called us into.

It is important then in our interaction with adolescents that we celebrate and engage what they have been given by God, faith, as the precious and sacred gift that it is. That faith is not some thing that is learned or taught but some thing was always there and only needed to be tapped into.