Sunday, July 22, 2007
Can we say self-serving!?!
So I was wondering what happened to the part of the church that is supposed to be outreach oriented. I didn't realize that we were supposed to sit back and stuff ourselves so much that we can't even get up from the table!! What causes this rant? Nothing new, nothing that most other leaders have not encountered at some point or another. A large church, spoiled youth, and no dependable adults. Yet somehow the youth department(which doesn't consist of much) is supposed to turn these young adults into something different than their predecessors. I thought I knew this full well when I took on the part, but sitting on a mound of junk in the middle of a storage room hiding from the young people outside the door I cried as I thought about how unfair it is for them and those of us trying to make some kind of difference. They don't understand my frustration because they are only following suit. I don't understand why any age person does not have something innate in them that aspires to be more than ordinary. Everyone has great advice about how to handle all this, but none of those voices come with helping hands. For those of you who might actually take the time to read this...thanks for the opportunity to vent.
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Laziness is a genrational curse that can only be broken by deep conviction that something matters beyond ones self. For teenagers it is nearly impossible. David had Philistines, Joshua had to protect Israel, Esther had to save a Kingdom and Jesus had to save us. Is there not a cause? Is there nothing worth fighting for?
Surely our students would be quicker to picket the closing of their ball park than to picket to close an abortion clinc. "It's not my problem" is there mantra. So, a youth workers job is to see and share a God instilled vision. But, can a youth ministry rise above it's predecessors? Can it supercede it's apathetic church culture? Can it rise above it's parent church? Many are called but few are chosen. We shift between protanganist (see dictionary.com) but wind up antogonists (see again). Somewhere in the anals of youth ministry job descriptions we forgot to put "raise up the next generation to do great things" instead we have settled for "run the program and don't cause trouble". Find the cause worth fighting for and the minority that will fight with you and you will be in good company. Don't forget that in the process God is leading, changing, making you more like his Son. So, maybe sitting in a maintenance/prayer closet is not that far from how God felt for Israel and Jesus felt for his disicples. Welcome to the ministry. : )
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