The protests started in Egypt exactly one year ago, on January 25. They led to the overthrow of the Mubarak administration when he resigned February 11.

I’ve spent a fair amount of time thinking on The Protestor as well as the Occupy movement.

Our challenge with the next generation is to make space for them to “protest” towards change for justice….  But we must also engage them in the ability to “profess” what it is they believe and why they believe change is neccessary.

In the words of a Billy Joel oldie, “We Didn’t Start the Fire” but we do have the spiritual tinder by which to fuel it.

Let’s talk modern day metaphor here.

You are on the ship when the Costa Concordia runs aground near Italy’s Giglio Island on the evening of January 14. You hear a crash. Glasses and plates fall down and as you leave the dining room, you are told it wasn’t anything dangerous. Yet, the light are now our and you were navigating darken crowded hallways and stairwells until you found the outside decks. Everyone who walk past shouts instructions, but the instructions contradict each other. (taken from eyewitness reports)

Acts 27 tells of Paul as a prisoner on a ship:  But they struck a sandbar and ran the ship aground. The bow was wedged in and could not be moved, but the stern began to break up under the pounding of the waves… Those who could swim {were ordered} to jump overboard first and get to the shore, and then the rest, some on planks, others on debris from the ship. In this way, all reached shore safely.

We may be moving beyond new maps.  We need new vehicles. There is no righting of the Costa Concordia that will be getting us to where we are aiming to get, to where we need to be.  No ship working for you means it’s time for figure out another way.

Get off the boat safely and begin figuring out your next mode of getting to where you need to be.

< Filippo Monteforte / AFP / Getty Images source >

On his blog recently, Adam McLane theorized the very difficult statement Youth Ministry is Flatlining.  Basically his argument is…

Statistically speaking you are flatlined. (As in– no heart beat!) You’re reaching just about the same percentage of people you’ve always reached. That may be OK from a church politics situation but I’m not sure I’m OK with that from a theological position.

And I’m positive that this flatlining has lead to the following problems in youth ministry over the last decade:
> A general cynicism about youth ministry internally and externally.
> A decrease in youth ministry staff and general budget funding.
> An increase in expectations that new youth ministry staff grow the program immediately.
> Lots of great youth workers moving on to other ministries or careers.
> The rise of family ministry models designed to circle the wagons. (Historically, youth ministry existed for evangelism. Popular models today are primarily interested in keeping church families engaged.)

Adam is NOT providing answers in his post, but he is asking perhaps the right question. Do we set up youth ministry, or church for that matter, for the very slight percentage that can dedicate a thin sliver of the pie chart of their lives for us? Or to utilize the language of the Occupy Movement…  Are we designing our ministry to the 1% when the great commission calls for us to go out and make disciples of all the nations… ahem, the 99%.

So, what changes to kick life into the flatlined?  It doesn’t make sense to step up our present efforts… We can only provide those eclectic paddles of more intensive efforts so often before before we admit our same old, same old solution won’t work…

Maybe we have to expect more of the 1%… not just to treat them as recipients or customers, but as actual collaborators. Perhaps, we have to also find new ways to collaborate in the lives, in the arenas, where young people are spending the pie charts of their lives. Perhaps we need to understand ourselves as the Church that occupies… like Jesus did.  We need to find ourselves within meals of others, not just at our Eucharistic meal. We need not to enclose the Living Waters within our  Churches, but to share them in the Samaritan Woman’s wells of young people’s lives.

What changes if we re-configure our church, our ministry efforts to occupy on behalf of the 99% we are not reaching?

Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone spoke of behalf of Pope Benedict to the Plenary Assembly of the Council of European Bishops’ Conferences (CCEE). The Pope asked bishops of Europe to "identify new ways of evangelization with missionary audacity," and he particularly stressed the need that young people have of the Gospel.

In a statement from the meeting, the European bishop identified evangelization as “the manifestation of the Church’s life and vitality. It should not be understood simply as a pastoral activity, but as the manifestation of its very nature and mission." They identified the "new evangelization" as not just for fallen-away Christians, but for everyone.  "It seeks to proclaim Christ, true God and true man, crucified to bear every human grief, raised from the dead that we might have life," they stated. "Through their baptism, all believers are called to take part in the new evangelization: families; young people who are generally the most open to being missionaries; but also parishes, the movements, and new communities.” (You can read more from the Zenit article)

Meanwhile, a Presbyterian elder and writer for the daily  Kansas City Star’s Faith Matters blog, Bill Tammeus recently advocated that we evolve our thinking from church as not a "place where" but a "people who."

The line oft-accredited to Saint Francis of Assisi is “preach the Gospel at all times… if necessary use words.”  When we are using words we are most often using words within a place where WE feel comfortable.

(more…)

Jerry Goebel recently retold the story of Adele Diamond, groundbreaking neuroscientist at the University of British Columbia, who asks every teacher to consider this question, "If you and I were driving to a new destination, which of us would learn the route better, the driver or the passenger?"

The usual answer is the driver who we believe will know the route better because she experienced it, she didn’t observe it."  And, then, Diamond asks, "Do you have a classroom of drivers or passengers?"

And, that, there is one great question.   Is the journey of faith one to be undertaken actively or passively….? And how do you program your efforts accordingly?

Today’s YouTube for You will have an impact on next Tuesday’s YouTube to Use.

Years back, at a Youth Contact Meeting in the ArchBalt, then director Mark Pacione discussed the role of youth ministers as a conductor of talents within the parish.

There is a real beauty to the development of Eric Whitacre’s virtual choir here and I would contend that this is truly the gift of the WORLD wide web and the possibility for us.  How can we, as Church, engage social networking in such as manner as to convey the “you are not alone” in discipleship, that faith can be viral, and that one voce can make a difference and can be overwhelming when joined with others.  This sort of connection will never replace face-to-face incarnational relationships… But, WOW, what a hint towards connection as choir, as Church, as humanity.

What will happen in the fifty years following
[the publication of Hope for the Decade?]

Once can only guess,
but based on the growth and radical change
in the first half century of its existence,

Youth work should continue to be
an exciting and growing ministry in the Church

In 1980, (over thirty years ago) the National Catholic Youth Organization Federation (predecessor to today’s NFCYM) published Hope for the Decade: A Look at the Issues Facing Catholic Youth Ministry.

Throughout Fridays in September, we are pulling a few quotes, wondering about change and growth in our field.

Previously: Hope for the Parish, …for the Family, …for the Youth Minister, and … for Ministry

  Watched Moneyball over the weekend.  It’s a great baseball movie that’s very accessible to all with good performances by Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill.

A true-life story, it talks about changing the game of tradition laden baseball, especially how talent was evaluated and utilized… not much of the action is on the field  Scouts used to be always on the lookout for a “five-tool player,” one who observably excelled at hitting for average, hitting for power, baserunning skills and speed, throwing ability, and fielding abilities. The movie suggested that scouts looked at other intangibles such as the hotness of the girlfriend as an indication of a player’s confidence. Scout were happy to find a player with two or three tools. It was high praise to find a five-tool player.

Well, the movie tells the story of what happened to the near–successful (as in short of making the World Series) under-paying Oakland Athletics after the 2001 American League Division Series. The A’s were up two games on the New York Yankees, a team with three times the payroll, before losing it all. In the post season, they could not keep Jason Giambi, Johnny Damon, and Jason Isringhausen, free-agents who went to higher paying teams.

A’s General Manager Billy Beane has to rebuild the smaller market/ smaller budget team to again be competitive. As a formerly described five-tool player, he well understood the flaws in that system of evaluation and, therefore, latches on to a new system, sabermetrics, which boils down statistics to evaluate players’ value rather the traditional scouting techniques of observation and intuition.

The “Sabermetric Evaluation” of Youth Ministry

Hmmmm, I thunk and thunk to myself after the movie.  In the past few years, we have had book after book of statistics that call for us in re-evaluation of our efforts in youth ministry… If we moved beyond our own observation and instinct, what would be the sabermetric effect for youth ministry?

(more…)

On one level, the proliferation of inadequate defined ministries is a difficulty.
Some people and agencies have a high tolerance for ambiguity in this regard,
others require greater precision and clarity.

It is important that we clearly communicate to colleagues
the goals and assumptions that shape ministerial roles.
Since the rapid expansion in ministries causes instinctive defensive reactions in more traditional settings,
clear and affirming communication is necessary for joint progress.

In 1980, the National Catholic Youth Organization Federation (predecessor to today’s NFCYM) published Hope for the Decade: A Look at the Issues Facing Catholic Youth Ministry.

Throughout Fridays in September, we are pulling a few quotes, wondering about change and growth in our field.

Previously: Hope for the Parish, …for the Family, …for the Youth Minister

The youth minister will find he/she is responsible
for doing ongoing program development with the team ,
developing effective communication, collaboration and cooperation,
and serving as an advocate for youth concerns.

Enablement and advocacy take high priority in this leadership style.

In 1980, the National Catholic Youth Organization Federation (predecessor to today’s NFCYM) published Hope for the Decade: A Look at the Issues Facing Catholic Youth Ministry.

Throughout Fridays in September, we are pulling a few quotes, wondering about change and growth in our field.

Previously: Hope for the Parish, …for the Family