St Jude's Uniting Church

   Mark Senter III wrote work leading to 'The Coming Revolution in Youth Ministry and it's Radical Impact on the Church' and released the book at the start of the 1990s. I recall mentor Fuzz Kitto showing me a typed copy and suggested I read some of the manuscript on the couch with a good coffee!!  
   To this day I remember that I didn't fully grasp what I was reading but somehow knew that it was important and would one day speak precisely into a context I did understand.
   Coupled with 'Four Views of Youth Ministry and the Church' I believe Senter's work has 'arrived' in terms of our current challenges. But more than that the very titles of the books teach me an important lesson. You see I've been talking about them a lot [I'm not one for including subtitles] but not using the full name. '...And It's Radical Impact on the Church' and '...and the Church' don't shift my understanding of the key points very much but they do make sure the focus is on the community of God's people that is currently commonly represented by a local group or congregation. They are key to the future of mission and ministry with young people. This is true whether they are shaped for mission or for getting out of the way of God's action in the world. What I mean is that whatever Senter's wisdom in these books they reflect on how the church engages in or will be effected by the very issues he's raising

Why do I think his work is now more relevant than ever?

   Because of a little hypothetical Uniting Church known as St Jude's. St Jude's could be a small rural church or a high density urban street corner or a large suburban centre or a neighbourhood group in a building too old or too large for their purposes... The congregation or main Sunday worshipping community aren't getting any younger. They as a group represent only a small slice of the culture/s, backgrounds, educational achievements and history of those in their wider community.
   At St Jude's there are a few under 60s but a huge gap between 25 and 45. There precious few youth or young adults if any alongside the remnant of a small infants and primary aged Sunday School with one volunteer teacher engaging with kids right across the spectrum.
   The older members are concerned about the lack of young people and especially the High School drop off rate. Who will we be without the youth? How can we have young people here again? Should we hire a Youth Ministry Worker?
   This is a common scenario and connects strongly with one of the 'Four Views' explored by Senter and called the 'Preparatory' model. Say what you like but the majority of ministry with young people I've seen over the last thirty years is subtly or strongly aimed at preparing the young people to 'be' the church... to take up where they leave off... BUT the global context of these young people has so radically shifted in the last 40 years that the models of church most encounter are simply contextually irrelevant.
   I don't blame the churches. The context has changed rapidly and radically and the generations who've left mean there are few change role models and we are still trying to share faith, foster discipleship and unpack the good news as it was taught to us...
   We need to totally re-orient the church for engaging in God's mission in the world. We need to develop our ethos and values and live those out in the everyday and shape our life by what God is doing. The goal is not church engagement but discipleship or 'following.' So growing faith to maturity is an additional measure alongside attendance.
   We need to develop skills in appreciative inquiry or at least 'listening' skills to understand the perspective of 'the other' not just our own narrowly expressed goal of 'saving people.' If a congregation is truly able to connect with a few areas where they believe God is active in their community then questions of numbers at worship and money through the offering will in time be irrelevant.
   But one key ingredient in this is leadership. People with contextual skills are used to asking questions, adaptation and experimenting with ideas. What if our view of 'church' was that we exist to serve? Or the very radical idea that we exist to create other communities of faith and so initiate our connected groups to 'plant' missional churches elsewhere. They learn the skills from earlier but apply them to a new community. Even one step shy by engaging young people in activity with which they share an affinity and direct social justice action... we could change St Jude's forever... more soon... what are the practicalities...