series of posts on Young Life and Non-Negotiables

I've been writing and thinking a bit about Young Life and some of the controversy stirred up over the issues of their Non-Negotiables and staff getting fired over on my other blog, but since this has a lot to do with youth ministry, theology, and emerging conversation, I thought I'd go ahead and post this stuff here too. I look forward to some great conversation!

avoiding indoctrination

Summer is in full swing, halfway over already. Many of you have probably already gone to summer camps with your students or will be heading off soon to some new adventure...whether a mission trip, a mix of mission and fun, or a sort of evangelistic type summer camp with all the bells and whistles, or maybe even a contemplative and reflective camp experience.

This Sunday I'll be leading a group of students down to Impact VA! a missional and justice oriented summer camp put on by Virginia Baptists, this time in Appomattox, VA a small town where I grew up. Whenever I prepare for any camp/retreat experience with the students, I always have the rising fear...a fear that the speaker or the worship leader is going to force something down the throats of the kids. A fear that the kids will be pulled around by a charismatic personality or a fear of hell, or an authoritative voice from the top-down. Summer trips are full of possibility, and having grown up in churches and with a strong parachurch organization background as well, camps kind of scare me these days.

If you haven't seen Jesus Camp yet, you should, and if you have, you'll know why I get scared of the indoctrination and forced fear that students often face when going to these sort of mountain-top experiences during summer camps. There is an other-worldliness to these experiences that often trap our students into believing in a fear that is stronger than love.

As we are processing and spending intense periods of time with students this summer, how do we help avoid some of the indoctrination or brainwashing that can often happen at camps? How can we foster a spirit of conversation and hope in the camp/retreat experiences that we help create for our students? I'm not scared that the speaker or worship leader will say something crazy that we can't talk about or work through as a group...I'm scared that the attitudes and arrogance of having all the right answers or the most authoritative voice will drown out the beauty of conversation amongst my group.

Obviously I'm wrestling with this whole "taking kids to camp" idea, and I don't think that taking kids to camp is bad...but how can we avoid treating students like kids who need to be told what to think, but instead help teach and invite them into a new way of thinking?

some things to avoid

So after the epic first post that probably you are still trying to read (because it was soooo long) it is time to get into some tangible thoughts and ideas, methods and theologies, paradigms and perspectives of how this youth ministry should go down. Before we can build up, it is probably good to state some assumptions, admit some presumptions, and participate in some deconstructions in hopes of illuminating some of our hopes and ideas about "youth ministry." So here are a few things that I try to avoid in creating some paradigms, theologies, etc. about youth ministry...

• entertainment- especially entertainment in the form of passive receptivity. i think for many students, having their faith catered to them as a perspective and way of living that is available for their consumption and the notion that you can "entertain them into the kingdom" just doesn't make sense to me. that whole notion, "it's a sin to bore a kid" just doesn't jive for me, it operates on the false notion that if the students aren't 'having fun' they will not buy into this whole 'Christian thing.' my pops has been good to remind me that "The means by which a person is converted, is usually what they are converted to."
  

• 'It's all about YOU!' Youth ministry- that is student centered youth ministry, where the goal, similar to entertainment, is to make the students comfortable, complacent, and the center of all activities and events. What happens however when they realize the radical demands of the gospel means that we must carry our cross and follow Christ (Luke 14:27)? Or better yet, that we are called to love our enemies, and give up the very things that seem to give our life meaning apart from Christ...we must remember, that everywhere our students look, whether on billboards, tv, on the radio, stores, etc. they are being catered to, advertised to, and manipulated to get a desired result--how radical and life-changing might it be to thwart this practice of manipulation and self-centeredness, and call the students to a life of radical transformation with Christ?
  

• I avoid only doing thematic Bible studies. I am not saying that there are times that it may be necessary to study themes for a while, but, if your students are anything like the ones I work with, they struggle to understand the basic narrative outline of the Scriptures. I think that as adults we have assumed that they can't handle reading a book of the Bible (probably b/c we too struggle to read and make sense of a lot of the Scriptures) and figure that we should shelter students from reading whole books, or even the whole canon. I think that we should avoid this belief that students can't handle reading the Scriptures. (I'm not arguing that you start with a book like Revelation or Daniel however...)

What are some things that you try to avoid in youth ministry? What are some perspectives, themes, notions, theologies, etc. that you think we should be aware of that could change the landscape of how youth ministry is practiced?