'What is....' a repost and follow up to 'What if...'

For those connected with my Youth Ministry Development Work and the UCA...

Original post

"It's a bit dangerous to 'what if ?' in a blog entry with half formed thoughts or to think about how some things you'd 'what if ?' have been held up by being outside processes you could help with or would cajole you to act earlier too... anyhow... I have some strategising to do prior to the last week of November and this is a great way to process some thoughts because let's face it, who reads this stuff anyhow!! And my "Nobody Reads Your Stupid Tweets" t-shirt is very appropriate really...

In not the right order, in the UCA in the Hunter, if we continued a path of seeking to be 'missional,' what if ?

- we understood that to be participation in God's renewing and reconciling the whole of creation and sought to explore the implications of that by asking questions like: who do we want to be? what story do we want to tell? And how does our mix of gifts, abilities & passions suggest we'd be best placed to serve the 'hurts' and 'hopes' of our community with an outward focus ?

- we could convince people that Sunday worship was supposed to be an outcome of our activity not the sole focus that itself is a remnant from decades past? The societal change over the last 70-100 years find us in a time of transition which means the shape of church best suited to this 'mission' is up for grabs

- people of all ages chose to be church that focused on meeting young people in their community and created forms of church they need [or even if for folks their own age if not young people] e.g. St Laurence, Reading

- we knew several city based congregations cannot continue to offer a subtle variation on the same style of worship

- some of those same places collaborated in ministry and mission with children and young people and understood that the goal was/isn't and can never really be integrating them with existing Sunday congregations. At least five decades of rapid social change necessitate forms of worship that arise out of and reflect the culture and experience of younger generations

- Every ministry placement in the Hunter was made a Presbytery [regional placement] and ministry and mission fields for those agents was interpreted for a new scenario, not just geographic or financially based history

- Groups and activities in local congregations were mission focused and invited all ages to make their contribution 'shoulder to shoulder', choosing 2-3 key activities to develop 'legend status' on the community 'grapevine'

- our focus on Christ sought to understand his identity in our midst and so we taught faith seeking practices in context not faith content knowledge in abstract [not so much what we believe but how]

- we knew that this is genuinely a time for experiments where no change is permanent but might be worth a try

- we embraced David Bosch' notion creating flexible structures enabling us to move fast and to respond

- we sold some buildings and pooled the proceeds for some jointly envisaged projects across existing congregational areas but seeking to create new forms of church

- ministry with younger people was undertaken by congregational members alongside any paid ministry person

- Youth Groups formed around some agreed mission focus with young people whose socialising and worship grew from the projects they collaborated on

So now that's edit two...."

So, I had a conversation this week with a colleague and we both went along to a Presbytery meeting conversation that related to these issues [loosely]... determined to write more in response to that meeting and to press for strategic thinking about our goals in the light of limited money....

The conversation reminded me of the many times in recent years I've asked a question alongside the missional thinking...... the question is "what is the good news/gospel?" The contention is that we've lost the language to articulate our answer. What ? 

I mean, in an effort to be communities of faith people have forgotten/not attended to/lost/been challenged about the what ? What is the 'good news'? i.e. today, now, in our communities. It's important because lots of our sharing is about stories, questions, things that made sense decades ago, or it impacted us, won't it impact others now...

I've mostly offered the question in encouraging thought about ministry and mission with young people because that's been my main context... it aligns with Kenda Creasy Dean's haunting questions for youth ministry...

Does youth ministry matter?

Do our practices of youth ministry reflect Christ?

Do our existing 'models and practices' reflect the church's best theological work?

Do they accomplish what we imagine?

Do they bear any relationship to the church?

Do our practices of youth ministry. shape Christians?

How long can we keep this up?

Can we do better?

   In reflecting on these questions and the common practice of a 10-15min 'Devotions' I've begun by asking 'what is 'good news' about what and how we believe in Jesus Christ?... It helps you begin [in the right place] thinking about and responding out of why anyone would want to be part of who we are...

[As an aside, sometimes I want to reflect back to groups that a focus on 'doing stuff the way we like', dressing in Sunday best, offering judgement not compassion, coming across as being people who are 'better' that you and focus on Sunday worship as a main or only major activity are all black marks against our best efforts]

   Now, you could simply change the focus of these questions where applicable, to the whole church and any and every community of faith/congregation...

Being 'missional' doesn't replace these questions. it just means an outward and sent focus, connections with context and culture that give effect to how we respond in action and worship....

They are onto something talking about Youth Workers and Leaders, becoming 'practical theologians'. As long as we know the questions are different from the past as well as our answers. Some theologians 'potshot' current missional thinking but it's because they can't see that the questions have changed, not just the answers...

Best practice youth ministry would be about communities of people attempting to live through life's real issues together trying to discover the identity of Jesus in the middle of life and them. Trite answers, one verse Bible quotes and 'preaching' transformation without evidence you participate with your own life is a bit empty. Young people are not wrong to want to see 'life and faith connected in action.'

OK, can you tell today is a verbose day of reflection, space and thinking... I'll be lap swimming and thinking about this asap!!