I work in multiple worlds – education, youth ministry, and publishing. They wonderfully mix together in my love and concern for the youth of the world and I’m able to contribute in a variety of arenas that work with young people ages 10-25.
One of the consistent concerns in teaching and youth ministry is the trend toward adult-centered programming. Much of how decisions are made and what is ‘produced’ is centered on the adult by convenience (it makes the job ‘easier’ for the leader) and purpose (the adult determines what it taught and rarely, if ever, checks to see if anyone is engaged or not). Gavin Richardson observed this about youth ministry this when he wrote, “Youth ministry as it is most often lived out today is really a series of adult controlled environments strung together with the hope (and expectation) that youth lives will be transformed.”
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Posted on Monday, August 27th, 2012 at 7:11 AM in CONNECT EFFECTIVELY, YOUTH MINISTRY. No comments
Courtesy of @hh5800/@iStockPhoto
The field of youth ministry is one that values real-world skills. The ability to work well with people, hold teens’ attention, get things done, and be productive are what matters most. So when it comes to encouraging people where to get educated on ministry, the emphasis is often on these type of ‘how’ qualities. When I talk with folks about getting a college degree in youth ministry, I hear phrases like “I want an education that is practical.” Or, “I don’t want anything that’s theoretical.” I understand what is meant, but the response heads too far away from the ‘why’ or the ‘what if?’ challenges that the real world will present. We tend to think of that as technical skill (what the Greeks called poiesis) training versus phronesis – developing practical wisdom.
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Posted on Thursday, June 21st, 2012 at 8:48 AM in CONNECT EFFECTIVELY, YOUTH MINISTRY. One comment
I sit with parents and prospective students every month who are curious about majoring in youth ministry at Bethel College. More often than not, the student is very excited about his or her interest in youth work, but the parents are more hesitant to see their son or daughter choose that their major in college. The concerns generally range from whether they can earn a living in youth ministry, or whether they should major in a real degree so they have something to fall back on ( I presume the concern is that they may fail and youth ministry, or get chewed up like many do in local congregations).
These are valid concerns, however I think they also tell more about the economic pressure we feel when facing correlation versus anything else. As I stated in a previous post, I think we have begun to see higher education more as a means to be productive financially versus a process to become educated and wireless. And the reality is that not many people actually were in the area the major in while attending college. I am always amazed that youth ministry as a degree tends to get higher scrutiny than degrees like music (what I majored in), or history, or even psychology (the second most popular major for college students) that requires an additional Masters degree in order to work in that world.
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Posted on Monday, June 11th, 2012 at 6:31 AM in IN THIS CORNER, YOUTH MINISTRY. One comment
I walked in to the Cross Fit workout area, the daily reluctance present as I knew what awaited me in that day’s workout. Sure enough, the usual physical agony, the press against my cardiovascular ability, and the psychological temptation to quit faced me once again. Why do I put myself through this, I thought. And I’ll do so the next day.
Because it’s good for my body. And for me in other ways.
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Posted on Tuesday, June 5th, 2012 at 8:25 AM in CONNECT EFFECTIVELY, THE WORLD. One comment
If you haven’t learned by now, I’m super proud to be a faculty member at Bethel College near South Bend, Indiana. I tell new faculty members who come here that, though they may not be very familiar with Bethel College, they just came to one the best places to be a professor. There is a warmth and spiritual Christ-centered vitality here that is not common and a lot of freedom to publish, research, and live. Plus, Bethel College has what is so important – location, location, location (near Notre Dame, Chicago, and Lake Michigan beaches).
The other reason Bethel College is a great place to teach is the quality of students who come here to study. Just check out our graduates for proof of that. In the youth ministry degree program here, we have a special wealth of dynamic group of student leaders who are loaded with standout leadership gifts, yet humbled and called to follow Christ in Christian service, and who want to not sit around while in college but make a difference now.
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Posted on Friday, April 13th, 2012 at 10:32 AM in YOUTH MINISTRY. No comments
This is a bit of a “thinking out loud” therapeutic post. I invite you to jump in on this and respond.
I’ve been reflecting this past month on ‘wisdom’ and what it looks like in everyday life. The importance of wisdom seemed to pop up often – during various meetings where the future seemed unclear, while parenting teenaged children, and in my reading. Wisdom’s value seems obvious. It’s what separates people, yet it seems to be a rare commodity. Troll through the Internet, watch the news, or listen to people talk at your local gathering place and you’ll find anything but wisdom at work.
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Posted on Monday, April 9th, 2012 at 7:35 AM in LEAD WELL. 2 comments
Last week I talked to a professor who complained about how college students don’t read like they need to. Frustrated, he asked his students what it would take to get them to read. One student replied, “You could read the books to us in class.”
Ok, uh, I’ll take that as an outlier. I hope. Still, the average student, according to research reported in the Boston Globe, studies less than students used to study. In fact, some people say people read less that previous generations.
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Posted on Monday, January 17th, 2011 at 5:30 AM in THE WORLD. No comments
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