the Rooted blog

Give Up the Goldfish

2012-02-23T13:37:00.000-06:00

The Rooted Blog's newest contributor, Brian Cosby, is the author of the new book, Give Up the Gimmicks: Reclaiming Youth Ministry From the Entertainment Culture, which he promoted on The Gospel Coalition website this week. Read the article here in which he implores youth ministers to "give up the goldfish", so to speak:

"With all my heart, I plead with you to not be tempted with "success," professionalism, or the fading fads of our entertainment-driven culture. Rather, pursue Jesus as the all-satisfying Treasure that he is and feed his young sheep with the means God has provided."

We couldn't have said it better ourselves. Welcome to the team, Brian!

The Busy Youth Minister: Living in the World of Doing

2012-02-20T08:00:00.000-06:00

Student ministry in the church plunges you into the world of doing. You are constantly planning, preparing, writing talks, hanging out with students, doing busy office work, making endless attempts at communication (calls, Facebook posts, texts) with parents, leaders, etc. The work never ends. There is always more you can do at the end of the day. And you know it matters. Lives are at stake. You can work yourself to the bone and still feel haunted by Jesus’ call in Matthew 11 to come to him ... but you can’t see how his burden is light and easy when to you it seems so hard.

But let me assume that you want that life. You want a close fellowship with Christ in the midst of a busy life and work in church world. You see your need for the grace of Jesus for yourself and not just for your youth ministry and others. Here are a few key elements, knowing that how you or I observe them must remain flexible and may often change.

Scripture and prayer. Indispensible. We have to begin and end here, for both what fuels us and what we have to offer others flow from the same source. My usual pattern has been to read, study and try to pray through a different gospel each month, plus taking some time in Psalms and other parts of God's word. This year I want to read/pray the gospels again, particular seeking Jesus' leadership through the Spirit, and read through all of Scripture. To this end, we youth workers shouldn't hesitate to teach out of our personal learning OR let our teaching (if pre-determined) be an opportunity for our personal, prayerful learning. Calvin once said “prayer is the chief exercise of faith.” If kingdom-living is the with-God life, then prayer from a worshipping heart occupies the central place. This is probably my #1 need and desire in 2012.

Read theology and read for fun. What? Read theology in a disciplined way? Isn't that soul-killing, straight-jacketing academic stuff? It can be, but it doesn't have to be. It's amazing the way some of the older writers (who started and ended their days on their knees in the church) fuse devotion and exposition and exploration. And if you don’t get what the Trinity has to do you with your life in the Spirit, you are missing out on the great resources of the gospel. Theology is essential to student ministry because in our actions with students, the very character, heart, and intention of God is meant to be on display! (If you don't believe me, be convinced by 2 Cor. 3-4 or reading Kenda Creasy Dean or Andrew Root or Christian Smith or Kara Powell.) The fundamental question we are facing now is "what is God really like - and what does that mean for me? For us? For our world?" You need heavy stuff to help you with that. And read for fun. Read genres outside of ministry: fiction, biography, culture - whether novels, magazines, websites, or hobby-related materials. It keeps your mind sharp and it widens the circle of stuff you know. Plus, you'd be amazed how it works into conversation and teaching.

Community. I had an experience this fall that drove home to me the necessity of really living and loving and ministering in community. I cannot recommend enough the words of Henri Nouwen here: ministry is always communal and mutual. For me, that means four primary things. First, with Robin (my awesome wife). Second, with close friends - honest conversations, and (if not local) solid letters/email and seeing each other during the year. Third, community within your church. I am a strong advocate for finding real spiritual friendship and community among the people with whom you minister, whether leaders, parents, friends, or even a small group. Fourth, you must have a team of leaders who you equip for ministry. Nothing is as anti-Jesus and soul-killing in student ministry than to bear the burden and shoulder the work alone.

Body. I am more and more convinced that we live in a gnostic culture (read theology for that) and how we practice life in the body is going to be more and more a part of our Christian witness. Now, the paradox is that our culture worships health and we obviously don't want to go that far. But working yourself to the bone and neglecting your body isn't healthy or God-honoring. Our eating, our sleeping, and our physical exercise matter if we want to run the race of the ministry that God has entrusted to us. I cook a lot and try to eat well. I exercise most weeks. Since you have to start somewhere, my minimum goals for this year are 6 hours of sleep a night and at least 10 miles of running each week.

Sabbath. Where to begin ... through a teaching series last spring I became convinced that we need to recover a practice of the sabbath. I'm no strict sabbatarian, but the practice matters and Jesus makes it clear that it was made for us. There's a negative/abstinent dimension to this (stuff you don't do) and a positive/engaging one (stuff you intentionally do). Figure out a way to take a day off of your work. For me that means a day off of technology, too - no Facebook, Twitter, phone, email, and laptop (as much as possible, they stay on the desk and powered off). I like to read for fun, try to talk with friends, exercise, cook a lot, and spend as much time as possible with my family. The tough thing for me is that the only day I can really do this is Friday - and when you are youth worker, that doesn't always work.

The call of Jesus is clear: “Follow Me,” he says to us – not in addition to the work he has called us to as laborers in student ministry, but in its very midst. May God draw you deeply into Himself.

Andy Cornett is the Assistant Pastor and Director of Student Ministries at New Hope Presbyterian in Fort Myers, FL. Andy earned a Masters in Divinity from Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, CA and has over ten years of experience in youth ministry.

The Busy Youth Minister: Time Management

2012-02-16T08:00:00.000-06:00

It seems like when you ask someone ‘how things are going’ everyone gives the same answer, ‘busy’. There is a quote that has been reeking havoc on my mind and in my heart for the last month. I tweeted and and wrote it down, but for the life of me I can not find it. The essence of the quote was, “Don’t mistake busyness for communion with God.” This simple statement has been challenging me to think through my busyness - and I would assume that each one of us is in the same place - with ‘way to much to do, not near enough time to do it.'

What Matters - I need to not only know what matters, I need to allow it to lead me. Above everything else, what really matters is the gospel of Jesus. After everything else is said and done, Jesus still stands. So my time needs to be doing gospel-intentional things. Meaning I might go to the movies, but I go to the glory of God seeking God and learning more about Him. I might take a walk, but I do this unto the glory of God, enjoying his beautiful creation. Everything we do needs to flow out of what it is that matters most. If I only have limited time to devote, I need to devote what time I have towards the things that really matter.

The core of what matters is going to look the same for each of us. Loving Jesus and others matters; teaching about Jesus matters; being in communion matters; being Jesus unto my children, wife and students matters. Although the core should look the same, there is going to be a vast difference in what matters for you and what matters for me as we start.

Making Time - There will never be enough time to do everything you want, so you are going to need to make time. This means that once you know what matters you need to make room for it. Good managers of time spend time thinking about what they will do with their time. If you don't, the time will do what it wants with you. So if I conclude that I need to take one day a month and spend it alone and dis-connected, I am going to have to make time to do this. This might mean I have to remove stuff, stuff that I might even feel is important, but if it does not matter in the grand scheme of things, then it is not where my time needs to be put.

Redeeming Time – All too often we say we don’t have time, and this is partially true, but for many we are just bad at redeeming [using] our time. If you have a 30 minute commute to and from work, don’t just drive aimlessly listening to music. No, redeem this time. Download sermons or audio books onto your iPod or put them on a CD. Have list of prayers that you can crank through. Make phone calls that need to be made (use a hands free device please). Here is a short list of things to do to redeem your time.

Take a book wherever you go
Download free audio books to listen to in-place of music
Download sermons to listen to
If you have a long trip, take someone with you (Discipleship and community in one)
Read in the bathroom (I know it sounds strange, but it works. Just don’t loan out the book after...)

Passing off – To be a good leader, especially if your schedule is jam-packed, you need to learn to pass things off. What I mean by this is learn the things that God has called you to do - the things He has gifted you to do, the things that you know you’re to do, and no one else is to do them. Everything else needs to be passed off. It could be said do what matters, and have others do the rest. If you are called to study and preach then don’t waste your time updating the youth group facebook page or twitter account. Pass those things off to other people.

God is Sovereign & I am not – I am a type “A” guy. I like to work and I like to work hard. Many times at the end of the day I need to remember that God is sovereign, that He is the one who must work. This does not give me licenses to be lazy and do nothing of eternal worth with my time, but it frees me to know I can give it my all, my GTD list might not be completely done, I might have emails I need to send; yet Jesus gives me freedom to rest. Knowing that His work goes on. He will minister to the students, He will speak to their hearts. Even through we should work hard, manage our time well and be ubber-productive we must remember it is God who works, not us.
Josh Cousineau is a church planter at Redemption Hill in Auburn, Maine, coordinator of the Lead Conference, and a former youth minister. This piece is reposted with permission from www.joshcousineau.com

2012 Rooted Conference - Adopted: The Beauty of Grace- An Abandoned Generation

2012-02-15T08:00:00.002-06:00

The theme for the upcoming 2012 Rooted Conference has been unveiled! “Adopted: The Beauty of Grace” taps into the mission of Rooted, which is to transform student ministry by fostering grace-driven and cross-centered student ministers through rich and contextual theological reflection. Consideration of the Gospel in the context of student ministry and youth culture comprises a large part of the Rooted vision.

Chap Clark, a psychologist and theologian who studies youth culture, aptly summarizes the emotional state of postmodern teens as the abandoned child. In his book, Hurt, Clark looks at research on concepts of parenting and child development from the past thirty years. Each of these models of child formation centers around the idea of “child competence,” a term which David Elkund of Tufts University popularized in his 1980’s book, The Hurried Child. Clark, however, writes that the situation has worsened and that the emotional and psychological damage inflicted on kids has intensified. Clark writes:

I agree with Elkind’s findings in the Hurried Child. However, I prefer to use the label abandoned rather than hurried. As Ron Powers and many other note, adolescents have a longing that parents, teacher, and other adults have ceased as a community to fulfill. The reasons are many and varied, but this concept of the systemic abandonment of adolescents as a people group seems to capture the widest range of descriptors used by careful observers of adolescents and adolescents themselves.

At the root of this generation of hurting, isolated teens is a culture which demands competence, autonomy, and production. Teenagers live in a world of intense performance. The only thing that truly heals teens—and all people—is a message that frees them from this performance. The salve for wounded hearts is the Gospel, whereby we gain a new identity in the performance of Jesus in his life and on the Cross. Through the Cross, God calls us all to rest and surrender from striving.

Ministries proclaiming the Gospel of grace offer real medicine for the abandoned teenage generation. They present a God who loves and accepts them independent of their performance. Sadly, student ministries pushing performance-based Christianity, driven by guilt and fear, only exacerbate the problem and further alienate students.

The 2012 Rooted Conference will focus on speaking the message of the grace to hurting youth and doing ministry in a manner that embodies the freedom of the Gospel.

The Return of Reasons

2012-02-13T08:00:00.000-06:00

Check out this piece from Christianity Today about the shifting trend in youth ministry toward an increased desire for apologetics.

The Busy Youth Minister: Theology = Methodology

2012-02-09T13:30:00.002-06:00

My mentor in my early days of youth ministry was a straight-talking, loud-walking, 6 foot, 9 inches, 280-pound man who had done student ministry for over twenty years. He had about eight maxims that he would repeat, reminding me they were the only things I needed to know.

He used to love to say, “Big C, baby, what you gotta know is that theology equals methodology. What you do tells you everything you need to know about what you believe.” His words stand as 100% pure gold.

With about 90 hours of work under my belt one week – between mission trips, Sunday school, small groups, administrative work, contact work, etc. – I was strung-out and tired. I felt immense stress, and when I examined my methodology, as my mentor had taught me to do, looking to see what it revealed about my theology at a heart level, I realized that my work schedule included no prayer.

The busy lifestyle and absence of prayer clearly showed what I believed: that I had sole responsibility for moving the Kingdom forward and bringing kids to Christ. Even worse, this methodology uncovered an arrogant attitude that not only did I have to save the kids, but that I could. Sadly, it suggested that God could not.

Even while I was a preaching a Gospel of grace, teaching students that the Cross frees you from a life of performance, I was living as if the Cross had accomplished very little and as if God could not be trusted to fulfill His promises.

Ministry requires urgency; it truly is life-and-death business. But the nature of our sinfulness – constantly desiring to be “little gods,” as Martin Luther phrased it – requires frequent reality checks, daily repentance, and renewed trust in Christ.

When we are caught in the all-too-common lifestyle of the “busy” youth minister, we must ask ourselves: who, in fact, is the Messiah? When we feel overwhelming responsibility, we must examine: are we forgetting whose role it is to bring forward the Kingdom? When we are inconsistent or infrequent in our prayer life, we must question: do we really believe God can and will act? If we feel immense weight, we must remember: Jesus has already relieved our burden on the Cross; why should we feel compelled to pick it up again?

Cameron Cole is the chairman of Rooted: A Theology Conference for Student Ministry and the Director of Student Ministries at the Cathedral Church of the Advent in Birmingham, AL. He is a candidate for a Masters in Religion from Reformed Theological Seminary.

A Preacher's Decalogue

2012-02-06T08:00:00.000-06:00

Have you ever noticed that, although student ministers typically lack any formal training in theology or schooling, they are often required to preach and teach more than the head pastors of their church?

A large part of Rooted's mission being to equip student pastors for grace-driven ministry, we see a huge need for education and training among student ministers in the skills of theologically informed, cross-centered preaching and teaching.

Along those lines, we'd like to point you to Sinclair Ferguson's "Ten Commandments" of preaching over at The Gospel Coalition. We found #3 ("Don't Lose Sight of Christ") and #6 ("Speak Much of Sin and Grace") particularly helpful!

The Busy Youth Minister: Grace Enough to Rest

2012-02-02T08:00:00.000-06:00

Mark Howard is the Youth Director and Assistant to Pastor at Trinity Presbyterian Church in Covington, GA. Mark has a Masters in Theology from Wheaton College Graduate School.

Maybe it’s because right now in our Bible study we’re looking at the book of Acts, but when I stopped this morning (on my day off: hypocrite) to put down some thoughts for this blog, my mind went to Acts 20 where Paul gathers the Ephesian elders.

In this passage, Paul says goodbye to these friends, and in doing so, he exonerates himself by claiming that he is “innocent of the blood of all.” (Acts 20:26)

And I thought to myself, “How would I go about defending my innocence before those to whom I minister?”

Sadly, my first thought wasn’t the answer Paul gave: “I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.” (Acts 20:27) It was something more like, “Well, I stayed busy and worked really hard and met with the kids and their parents...and...and...and...”

...And I started to realize that in that moment I had forgotten the gospel of grace. Paul understood that it was the whole counsel of God that changed lives - it wasn’t his impressively full calendar or how long his appointment book was that gave him hope.

Grace comes through faith by the Spirit’s work, and faith comes by hearing the whole counsel of God. My job isn’t to be busy, but to be available to speak the truth in love when opportunity arrives.

Our call, then, isn’t to be busy, but to be alert and ready to preach the truth in love. Our hope is in the power of the gospel.

Paul’s claim to absolution was that he “did not shrink from declaring...anything that was profitable.” (Acts 20:20) I need to remember that God’s Word is the agent of change; I am just a vessel (and a broken one at that).

There is freedom to rest in knowing that it’s the whole counsel of God that has the power to change lives, for it means that salvation isn’t up to us. It makes sense: it is the gospel of grace, after all. Praise be to God!

The Busy Youth Minister: Busyness Check

2012-01-26T08:00:00.000-06:00

Josh Cousineau is a church planter at Redemption Hill in Auburn, Maine, coordinator of the Lead Conference, and a former youth minister. This piece is reposted with permission from www.joshcousineau.com.

Busyness; It has become almost a badge of honor in Christian circles today. Everyone says they are, and we use it as the excuses to get out of almost anything. This wonderful little word has become a critical part of our vocabulary, on a far too often basis. It seems like everyone is saying they are busy, even the high school drop out who works 14 hours a week at the mall (this is a real story!).

At the root of all this busyness is something more then simply cultural lingo: there is a heart issue. In Tim Chester’s book, A Meal with Jesus, he talks about how meals are enacting the mission of Jesus. When we eat with people we are able to share the gospel with them in a deeper way than simply handing them a tract, or knocking on their door and telling them about Jesus. Yet one of the excuses we often make for not living on mission is, yeah you guessed it; busyness! Chester offers this helpful examination:

Above all examine your heart. God did not make a mistake when he spun the world into being, making twenty-four-hour days instead of twenty-five-hour ones. He expects you to serve him and glorify him in those twenty-four hours. But he doesn’t expect you to do twenty-five hours’ work in a day. The person responsible for your busyness is you. We’re too busy because we’re trying to do more than God expects.
You may be too busy because you’re insecure and need to control life. But God is great and cares for you as a sovereign heavenly Father.
You may be too busy because you fear other people, and so you can’t say no. Bot God is glorious, and his opinion is the one that matters.
You may be too busy because you’re filling your life with activity in a desperate attempt to find satisfaction. But God is good, and the true source of joy.
You may be too busy because you’re trying to prove yourself through your work or ministry. But God is gracious and justifies you freely through Christ’s finished work.

You’ll never create time for people until you address the issues in your heart and find rest in God’s greatness, glory, goodness and grace.

When we dig deep, we quickly understand we are busy, because there is a lack of trust in God. So think through the four above points that Chester makes and see where your heart is. If not you may just end up spending your whole life busy, but doing nothing much for the Kingdom of Jesus!

Itchy Ears Want Works

2012-01-23T08:00:00.000-06:00

Joel Brooks of the Gospel Coalition offers some honest insight about how ‘itchy ears want works’. Check it out here.

“I confessed earlier that there were times in my past that I preached works while just assuming grace. The results that I saw from this were substantial. People loved it! I first thought that sermons like this would turn people off and drive them away, but how wrong I was. Especially younger Christians cannot get enough of it. It grieves me to look back and think of those times I looked out at the masses, got caught up in the moment, and briefly abandoned the gospel in order to scratch some itchy ears.”

2012 Rooted Conference: Adopted - The Beauty of Grace

2012-01-19T09:41:00.000-06:00

Rooted: ATheology Conference for Student Ministry is thrilled to announceand unveil our next conference which will take place August 9-11, 2012 in Birmingham, AL at the Cathedral Church of the Advent. Our theme, Adopted - The Beauty of Grace hits at thecore of the theological crisis in youth ministry, the emotional state of youthculture and the centrality of the Gospel of grace. Those interested can REGISTER NOW.

It is no secret that youthministry in America is failing. We have all heard the statistics. According to some statistics, 70% of youth group alumni will not return tochurch after high school. Christian Smith, Kenda Creasy Dean, and others havebeen champions for youth ministry in the way that they have identifiedtheology - the message - of youth ministry as the problem. The general theologyof religious, American teens is encapsulated in the term therapeutic, moralistic deism. The message of much of youthministry centers on what students do - performance and behavior - and less onwhat Jesus did on the Cross. As Adam McLane aptly writes, there is little Good News in the Gospel of youthministry.

First and foremost, the 2012 RootedConference will focus on the same old story, the message of the Cross. We willtalk about how the Gospel of grace must serve as the axis of what we teach, howwe minister, and how we relate to teens and youth culture.

Rooted believes that thegame-changer in youth ministry is simple: it’s the infusion and influence ofthe Gospel of grace in everything we do and teach. The full Gospel - the realitythat Jesus’s death on the Cross means He absorbed all of our shortcomings,sins, and flaws and, in turn, gives us His righteousness - is what kids need.Understanding how deeply and perfectly God loves them in spite of their sin iswhat will yield a desire for holiness, love, justice, and mission.

The Gospel permeates theessence of the 2012 Rooted Conference. We specifically will talk about how thismessage relates to the current emotional state of youth culture. More on thatlater.

BASIC DETAILS:

REGISTER HERE

DATES:
Thursday, August 9 – Saturday, August 11, 2012

COST:
$100 (beforeFebruary 1)
$150 (before June 1)
$200 (after May 31)
The cost includes conference admission, light breakfast, and dinner onThursday and lunch on Friday. Full refunds for cancellations will not begiven after August 1.

LOCATION:
CathedralChurch of the Advent
2017 Sixth Avenue North
Birmingham, AL 35203

FORWHOM:
Peopleministering to students, including youth pastors, college ministers, teachers,coaches, and volunteers who:

Need to be refreshed by the message of God’s grace
Want to serve students better with the Gospel
Care about the Gospel being central in the Church
Wish to connect with other student pastors
Want to grow in theology

Dinner Without Food

2012-01-16T08:30:00.000-06:00

Kenda Creasy Dean, author of Almost Christian: What the Faith of Our Teenagers is Telling the American Church and professor of Youth, Church and Culture at Princeton Theological Seminary, shares her thoughts on the Top 10 Characteristics of a Healthy Youth Ministry.

"Doing youth ministry without God is like doing dinner without food: you can come to the table, but there's nothing to eat... so why bother?"

The Busy Youth Minister: Boundaries are Best

2012-01-12T13:46:00.000-06:00

In my own experience, youth ministry has been a process of learning to relate and connect in different ways in different seasons. There has not been any universal outline or structure that has provided the ‘best way for going about ministry,’ but there have been many words of wisdom shared which have helped me to gain a more holistic idea of what youth ministry can (and maybe should) be.
There are many who expect youth ministers to be the role models for their children, the liaisons with the broader church, the fixers of problems related to/caused by youth culture, and the facilitators of small groups, youth groups, mission trips, retreats, and the like. Do we wear many hats? Yes. Are we meant to be the One who saves our youth? No. But we sometimes begin to live out of the subconscious belief that we can and must. Henri Nouwen may say it best with this:

We are not the healers, we are not the reconcilers, we are not the givers of life. We are sinful, broken, vulnerable people who need as much care as anyone we care for. The mystery of ministry is that we have been chosen to make our own limited and very conditional love the gateway for the unlimited and unconditional love of God.

-from ‘In the Name of Jesus’

One of the most important shifts that has occurred for me in relation to my ministry is realizing that it is not my ministry. Am I responsible for my job? Certainly. Am I responsible for the salvation, wellness, connectedness, and health of the youth of the world? No. The kingdom of God is at hand! Jesus is working and moving all the time to bring his beloved children unto Himself, and he uses any and everything we do- or don’t do- to accomplish His purposes. We are invited to trust Him with this instead of trusting ourselves and believing that everything is up to us (and within our control).
We are invited to die to the deep pride within us that makes us believe (even if unconsciously) that we can be all things to all kids (and parents). I really think we are invited to see ourselves in the same way that we see our kids- as the broken, needy, rescued and beloved humans we are. Living out of dependence on Jesus instead of reliance on ourselves fundamentally shifts many of the ways we relate to our ministries. No one can be expected to ‘have it all together’ all the time, and that means you as well. God’s Word of grace is offered you everyday just as it is offered them. And to love does not always mean to say ‘yes’ to every need of every youth, or of the church. Andy Root explores well the idea of being both open and closed in relation to others in his book, Revisiting Relational Youth Ministry. We relate to one another (and our youth!) as humans, not as semi-gods. We are filled with the Spirit, moved by His Word, reminded of our need for Him, and we open our lives and experiences up to the kids we encounter with the prayer that they will come to see and know Him through us. We are, all the time, at God’s mercy to provide deep and real love for the kids we work with.
Additional roles in our lives (e.g. daughter, sister, coach, student, musician, EMT, volunteer) will naturally require different boundaries and levels of investment; seek the One who made you (and others in similar positions) to guide you in making healthy boundaries in relation to your ministry- or it can easily take over your life and your other relationships will suffer. There is no way to do this perfectly; we will always fail at trying to navigate these things (and seasons & roles in life change, so something that works well for a while may need shifting later on), but boundaries can be a huge blessing in preventing burn-out and helping to remind us that we are needy, forgiven, beloved sons and daughters of Emmanuel, who never leaves us on our own.

*One wise & practical thought offered me years ago: in seasons where you are naturally spending larger spans of time on youth ministry (40–hour workweek, hah!), you might want to consider viewing days in 3 parts (morning, afternoon, evening). For every consecutive 3 parts spent giving to youth ministry, try to intentionally take the next part to refill/recoup/replenish/refresh.

Liz Edrington is a Youth Minister at Christ Episcopal Church in Charlottesville, VA.

The Busy Youth Minister

2012-01-12T10:36:00.004-06:00

As I come up for air from the chaos of the holidays, I look ahead to the expanse of spring and see mission trips to plan, forms to collect, hotel rooms to reserve, Sunday School to teach, Bible studies to prep, interns to recruit, students with whom to meet, parents to call, laser tag to book, and Quidditch goals to build (...is that just us?).

My life is busy.

Surely I'm not the only one - if the number of books and resources geared toward helping student ministers learn time management skills and break away from their students long enough to take a day off is any indication, there are a lot of you who find yourself in the same situation. How did it happen that the lives of Youth Ministers became characterized by chaos?

In our next series on the Rooted blog, we'll take a break from thinking about what the Gospel has to say to our students and look at what the Gospel has to say to us, the Busy Youth Ministers.

On Guard! On Intimacy & the Guarding of the Heart

2011-12-22T08:00:00.000-06:00

Liz Edrington is a Youth Minister at Christ Episcopal Church in Charlottesville, VA.

To guard, or not to guard… that is the question. Or is it?

How has the idea of ‘guarding our hearts’ evolved? We see the phrase used in Proverbs (4:23), but everyone has their own idea of what it means and how to use it. From Joshua Harris’ ‘I Kissed Dating Goodbye’ to Elisabeth Elliot’s ‘Passion and Purity,’ there seems to be a pretty well developed idea that attempting to intentionally protect or withhold some part of yourself from another when seeking God with someone in a more romantic context is important. However, the concept is often either hyper-spiritualized or made into law, and what may have been good wisdom becomes a confusing and abstract shackle.

We don’t offer all of ourselves to someone who we have not committed to (and who has not committed to us) in marriage. That’s just not a good idea. And we see the painful and broken consequences of that all the time. One person offers the other everything they know of themselves in an effort to draw another person unto them, or to get the other to stay in a relationship. Deep intimacies are shared (be they emotional, physical, or spiritual) that are meant just for marriage, and the classic fire-in-the-fireplace metaphor spews uncontrollable flames which burn instead of warm and delight.

Recap: the fire-in-the-fireplace metaphor offers us a glimpse of God’s design for intimacy within marriage. It is most often used to talk about sex; however, sex is just one of the potential damaging intimacies that can be shared outside of marriage. And the sin that is in our hearts and minds (not simply our actions) runs much deeper than just having shared in that one act, so we must not neglect the other dynamics going on in romantic relationships which may be broken.

So, the idea with the metaphor is that a fire in a fireplace is a good thing. It keeps you warm, you can enjoy it, it can cook food, etc. It’s protected, it’s in its right place, and it is contained safely. Similarly, sexual intimacy has been designed to be good, to be between husband and wife within the commitment of marriage.   Outside of marriage, the flames leap and burn, uncontained and damaging. People are burned, scars are left.

However, this metaphor fails to recognize that sex within marriage can be a broken thing as well, and that marriage cannot protect both parties from burns. It also fails to recognize that we believe in a God who can raise the dead, heal the worst of wounds, and redeem from ashes. Marriage simply is the best place for sex, clearly, but we are not without vulnerability to sin even there. We need Jesus in each place.

The same must be said for these other intimacies that are shared between people in romantic relationships. They can be harmful, and scars can be deep. But there is the greatest of hopes in the Living God who is moving and working all things together for the good of those who love Him (Romans 8:28). There is a place for repentance when sin is discovered. And there is much need for forgiveness- from the Lord who always offers it to us in Jesus, and from one another. And there is wisdom to be gleaned from learning about the way sin looks in romantic relationships for you individually.
‘Guarding your heart’ should not mean refraining from sharing honestly and vulnerably with one another. It should not mean simply ‘not touching’ at any point of your relationship (as if that would protect us from sin). It must entail a seeking of the Holy Spirit’s leading in each of your lives, and asking to be shown the places of weakness or brokenness which may become damaging. It might involve sharing in those places together, or it might not. The only thing I am 100% sure it should include is time spent by yourself and in community asking for God to reveal, lead, and help in these things.   He does give us some pretty great insight in Scripture. Shared sexual intimacy is no joke- and we need to be walking with our kids in their questions.

It is crazy to presume that our own experiences with these sorts of issues can provide a general recipe or roadmap for everyone else- which we must be incredibly cautious of as youth ministers. Yes, we can learn from one another’s mistakes and God’s work there (and we should!), but we cannot provide a black and white rule book for engaging these sorts of things. We get to provide a safe space, a relationship, for our kids to consider their questions and experiences and to seek the Word of God who is ever showing and reminding us of His good design for this world. He uses it all to point us to Himself and to His Kingdom; so here’s to sharing in the hope of goodness, forgiveness, redemption, and celebration in God’s work- even in romantic relationships.

(Almost) Everyone's Doing It

2011-12-19T08:00:00.000-06:00

A must-read from Relevant Magazine, this article examines the high rate of Christian singles having sex and digs deep into why our abstinence campaigns aren't working. Also check out CNN's take on the issue here.

Considering the staggering statistics that are cited (80% of single Christian evangelicals between 18-29 have had sex), Joanna Hyatt says, "You cannot talk about sex within the Christian community without also [mentioning] God's grace. If we're serious about people growing in their faith, we have to help them see this issue will stand in the way of their relationship with God, but it doesn't have to keep them from God."

Carissa Woodwyk argues that in order for chastity to stand a chance, we must "go back to the beginning": "Our image of God and His heart for men and women and couples needs to be revisited and corrected. God didn't create this beautiful and sacred and amazing act called 'sex' to tempt us with = it and then make it a bad thing," Woodwyk says. "Could it be that if God is in everything good, that God reveals Himself through the profoundly breathtaking act of sex, too--that God reveals Himself specifically through men and specifically through women?"

Sin: Jesus Always Dealt With the Heart - Why Shouldn't We?

2011-12-15T08:00:00.000-06:00

As we wrap up our Theology of Sex series, we welcome new blog contributor Ryan Viner, the Sr. High Youth Pastor at Independent Presbyterian in Memphis, TN. The following letter is written by Ryan to a person who had asked for his help in encouraging a teenager struggling with sexual sin.

Dear Rob,

To encourage [the teenager], help him realize that purity is a process. Tell him to be patient knowing that God is glorified through his desire to be pure and that He will be steadfast and patient with His son. Key thing here is that God has already made him pure through the blood of His son. Now what we must encourage Him to do is RESPOND to the truth that God has spoken over his life that he is no longer a slave to sin but now a slave to righteousness. So we have a picture of God actively working in his life to help him fall more in love with God and less in love with sin so that one day he can truly say like David that "God's love is better than life itself.”

I get pumped about all of this, so I am going to share some insight from the Word and from God's wisdom.

1. Understand your personal sinfulness

This is a great place to start because it will help him understand his depravity and need for a Savior. It is important for him to learn that God hates sin and that this particular sin he is coming to you about is not his only sin. If you only deal with sexual impurity then you will only be treating the petals of the flower while the root system is sick. For example, in my past, sexual sin comes from a lack of trust in God to provide a way for me to express myself sexually, coupled with my desire to be my own god and live to please myself. There are many more things that are inherently broken about me, and I desire for God to put all of it back together for His glory. I do not want to see God just release him from porn, masturbation, and lust, but redemption from sin - my old way of life. Let us pray that God brings your friend to that point. In closing, ask him to search himself and to pray that God will help him understand what part of his sinful-self causes him to run towards sexual impurity. A good question to ask here is what is his sinful motivation that brings him to act out in the sin of sexual immorality – make your friend deal with his sinful roots and ask him to pray for God to heal those places of hurt and confusion.

Scripture: Romans 3:10 and Ecclesiastes 7:20

2. Know what God says about sexual sin in particular

It was extremely helpful for me to see what God has to say on this subject. As you know I really feel the church doesn’t teach on this topic enough so your friend will be served well to see what the Father teaches his children about sexual sin.

Scripture: I Thess. 4: 2-5, I Cor. 6:18, Proverbs 6: 20-29

3. Look for the grace of God all the time

And not only that, but also see the power of Jesus and the work he has done to free you from this sin - this is crucial because we must know how God has made us a new creation so we can learn to live like a new creation. Encourage him to know that he was not bought with gold, silver, or coins but with the blood of Christ, the lamb without blemish or defect. Knowing this helps us to be holy because He is holy and He is living in us. This to me is the best part, which makes "Christianity" beautiful and its message true. The God of the universe doesn't leave you to figure things out and get clean, He personally cleanses you by turning the gun on himself and then He goes one step further - he takes up a home in us and dwells within each of his children. We need to always encourage brothers in Christ that God hates this sin more than we ever could and that He fights this sin in you everyday because He sent a Spirit to live in us that is envious and jealous for our affections. God will not stop until we are forsaking our kingdoms for His kingdom and desires (I Titus 2:11-15).

Scripture: Colossians 1 (the whole chapter), Colossians 3:1-10, I Cor. 6:9-11 (here, notice the last part)

*** It is important to take Satan and this sin seriously and it is also important to know God's victory and authority over sin, death, and Satan. If he attributes too much power to this sin then he essentially worships it as a god in his life; encourage him to worship the God who "treads our sins underfoot" (Micah 7:18-20). These sins are big- but not bigger than the God who frees us from them.

4. Learn the art of confessing your sins to both man and God - James 5
and Hebrews 4:14-16

It is huge that your friend knows God always wants him to come into His presence even when your friend feels unworthy. Satan wants us and your friend to feel unworthy and therefore retreat from God's presence because we are not "clean or right" and once we take ourselves away from God's presence the propensity to sin grows greater and greater. Help him to remember that the sacrifices God desires are a broken and contrite heart; our Father is pleased when His children come to Him upset over their sinfulness and looking to Christ as our worthiness and source of cleanliness.

5. Expect to be called into repentance by man and by the Spirit

This connects with the previous point (2 cor. 7:8-13); here, Paul has initiated a process of repentance. An example of one of the Holy Spirit's roles about convicting us and leading us into repentance can be found in John 16:8.

6. Don’t ever be discouraged in such a way that you are spiritually depressed - Romans 8:38-39

There is much in the Bible about perseverance and a steadfast, workman-type faith. We are encouraged to be diligent in our love for God. If we do believe that our God sanctifies His redeemed people we must encourage our brothers struggling in sin to be steadfast in seeking purity – we must also help them to understand that it is a process and that they will “fail” on the way to “winning” because Jesus always wins. If we expect perfection then our brothers who are struggling will be strangled by an inability to perform, they must see that Jesus performs for them and that when they fall down into this sin that they can get back up because Jesus lives forever and intercedes for them everyday – this is how we are saved completely (Hebrews 7:25).

In closing, the more you know Christ the more you know your sinfulness and need for Him, and the more you see the power of Christ to free you from your sins. I pray that your friend begins to put God's word in His heart and meditate on it and that he falls in love with the Father.

A Gospel That Sticks

2011-12-12T08:30:00.000-06:00

Sticky Faith, a ministry of the Fuller Youth Institute, recently released a new video in which a student minister sees the harmful effects behavior-based youth ministry had on her students who messed up in a big way. Watch the video here.

How many students (or adults) do we know who have distanced themselves from the church because they feel God and the church will no longer accept them after they "mess up" sexually? When thinking about how we teach students about the Theology of Sex, Lord help us combat this lie with all our might.

The Goodness of Sexuality

2011-12-08T08:30:00.000-06:00

A few years back, a recently married friend of mine was sharing with me some of the struggles that had come in the early stages of marriage. In regards to the sexual dimension of marriage, my friend shared the following, “I waited for marriage to have sex. Before I met my future spouse and all through our courtship, we were told and believed that sex was to be avoided at all cost. Everyone said that if you wait, sex will be so much better. But I found that during the first six months of sex in marriage, I was plagued with deep guilt. I had spent a long time convincing myself that sex was wrong and I had to disarm my sexuality. And when I was finally free to have sex with my spouse, it was greatly intertwined with a sense that God looked upon us with displeasure and disgust.”

Unfortunately, the church has a long history of unintentionally demonizing good things, sex being one of the foremost. In an effort to counteract the sexual ethos of our times, we often end up applying black and white rules to try to hold at bay the desires of youth. A satirical example of this is Ignatius the Ultimate Youth Pastor’s stark delineation to his students, “Sex is a beautiful gift from God, that is designed to take place within the confines of marriage. So for you guys, sex is wrong. But for me and my smoking hot wife, it is so right” (5:45). Anytime I have taught about sex, the question invariably comes up, “How far is too far?” It is in our nature to want to give cut and dry rules, but what is truly necessary is a much more robust exploration of sexuality in relation to God. Tim Keller notes that for those ‘not awash in the love and acceptance of God through Jesus Christ,” often aspects of our vibrant faith are reduced to religious morality. Keller expounds,

“In religion the purpose of obeying the law is to assure you that you’re all right with God. As a result, when it comes to the law, what you’re most concerned about is detail. You want to know exactly what you’ve got to do… You won’t gravitate toward seeking out the intent of the law; rather, you’ll tend to write into the law all sorts of details of observance so you can assure yourself that you’re obeying it. But in the life of Christians the law of God – though still binding on them – functions in a completely different way. It shows you the life of love you want to live before God who has done so much for you. God’s law takes you out of yourself… “

It is so easy for our teachings on sexuality to become focused on sin management, rather than digging deeper to explain the God-made desires at the root of the fracture. Sexuality has deep theological roots that must be explored before we can prescribe guidelines for healing. We must set the bone before we put on the cast. Yet, I still often find myself teaching more on the ‘do’s and don’ts’ in the arena of sex in a fallen world rather than focusing on the glory and purpose of God’s intention for the gift of sex. At the core of Christianity is the theological truth that all things are created good, including sex. Therefore, the core of our message must be that sex is good. And because sex is God’s good creation, he knows the most about it because he created it. Therefore, Scripture’s wisdom regarding sex is not an arbitrary rule that God made to test if we ‘really love Him,’ but his wisdom about sex is the way it ‘really is.’ It is only when we explore the goodness and original purposes of sex that students can understand why they have the desires they do.

Dallas Willard makes an acute yet vital distinction that I have found is very helpful when talking to young people about sex,

“…We must be careful to recognize that sexual desire is not wrong as a natural, uncultivated response, any more than anger is, or pain. Moreover, when we only think of sex with someone we see, or simply find him or her attractive, that is not wrong, and certainly is not what Jesus calls ‘adultery in the heart’… Merely to be tempted sexually requires that we think of sex with someone… usually someone we see. But temptation also is not wrong, though it should not be willfully entered. Therefore those translations of Matthew 5:28 that say, “Everyone who looks at a woman and desires her” or “everyone who looks at a woman with desire” are terribly mistaken. They do much harm, especially to young people. The wording (in Matt 5:28) refers to looking at a woman with the purpose of desiring her. That's it, we desire to desire.”

When teaching students around the fire at one of our guy events, I made this distinction between lusting after a girl and being attracted to a girl. The former is not using the gift as God intended, but rather as a means to self-focused indulgence; but the latter is a natural part of the way God has made us as sexual beings. I could hear as the guys in the group all breathed a sigh of relief to be assured that their sexuality, in and of itself, is not bad. In fact, their sexuality is a good gift created to be enjoyed without shame for the glory of the great Giver.

A Response to "The Poison of Law and Shame"

2011-12-06T14:09:00.002-06:00

Tal Prince, one of the leading experts on the Gospel and sexual addiction, responds to Rooted Conference chairman Cameron Cole’s article, "The Poison of Law and Shame".

The one thing that is missing [in your article] is pain. We run to sex, booze, drugs, performance - you name it - to medicate the pain of our own experience with the fall. This is why grace is the answer; no law has ever healed pain. Ever. The focus on the law, very often, causes us to question our justification. That freaks us out, brings more shame, and down we go. This is why I heavily rely on these two historical questions:

Q. What is your only comfort in life and in death? 

A. That I am not my own,1 but belong—body and soul, in life and in death2—to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ.3 He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood,4 and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil.5 He also watches over me in such a way6 that not a hair can fall from my head without the will of my Father in heaven;7 in fact, all things must work together for my salvation.8 Because I belong to him, Christ, by his Holy Spirit, assures me of eternal life9 and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for him.10

11 Cor. 6:19-20;  2 Rom. 14:7-9;  3 1 Cor. 3:23; Titus 2:14;  4 1 Pet. 1:18-19; 1 John 1:7-9; 2:2;  5 John 8:34-36; Heb. 2:14-15; 1 John 3:1-11;  6 John 6:39-40; 10:27-30; 2 Thess. 3:3; 1 Pet. 1:5;  7 Matt. 10:29-31; Luke 21:16-18;  8 Rom. 8:28;  9 Rom. 8:15-16; 2 Cor. 1:21-22; 5:5; Eph. 1:13-14;  10 Rom. 8:1-17

Q. How are you righteous before God?

 A. Only by true faith in Jesus Christ.1

Even though my conscience accuses me of having grievously sinned against all God's commandments, of never having kept any of them,2 and of still being inclined toward all evil,3 nevertheless, without any merit of my own,4 out of sheer grace,5 God grants and credits to me the perfect satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of Christ,6 as if I had never sinned nor been a sinner, and as if I had been as perfectly obedient as Christ was obedient for me.7 All I need to do is accept this gift with a believing heart.8

1 Rom. 3:21-28; Gal. 2:16; Eph. 2:8-9; Phil 3:8-11;  2 Rom. 3:9-10;  3 Rom. 7:23;  4 Titus 3:4-5;  5 Rom. 3:24; Eph. 2:8;  6 Rom. 4:3-5 (Gen. 15:6); 2 Cor. 5:17-19; 1 John 2:1-2;  7 Rom. 4:24-25; 2 Cor. 5:21;  8John 3:18; Acts 16:30-31

[The above questions], combined with my love of Luther and his views of grace, are the backbones of my approach. It is the kindness of the Father that leads us to repentance.
They are medicating pain, and until we understand that, we'll just try to hand them a different bottle of medicine that is still not the true Gospel of Jesus Christ. It may be cleaner - it may seem less sinful - but it is powerless nonetheless.

I leave you with these words of Martin Luther: "It is my sincere request and admonition that you join our group and associate with us who are real, great, and hard-boiled sinners."

Never Stop Preaching the Gospel

2011-12-05T08:30:00.001-06:00

Joel Brooks of Redeemer Community Church in Birmingham, AL writes an excellent article on how ‘Itchy Ears Want Works.’ Check out the article here.

The Poison of Law and Shame: Merciful Responses to Teens and Sexual Sin

2011-12-01T08:00:00.000-06:00

Several years ago, I participated in an online forum with a network of youth ministers who had pursued seminary studies. During this time, one youth pastor asked for help and direction in dealing with a teen who had come to him with struggles related to pornography. I became aghast and saddened by this one response, which I saved. The individual wrote:

In working with teenage guys in this area I have also tried to point them to the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew where Jesus says, " But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. if your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. (Matt 5:28-9). I think that this helps guys understand the gravity of their sin and the seriousness of the sin in God's eyes.

The other thing that I have found helpful with guys is to memorize certain passages of scripture that deal directly with this issue (1 Thess 4, 1 Cor 6, etc). Having God's word in our heart helps us to kill the sin before it becomes an issue.

The youth pastor, who certainly desires to see kids struggling with sexual sin walk in repentance, offers one of the more damaging responses to teens struggling with sexual sin- especially porn. He/she suggests that the problem underlying sexual sin is a lack of awareness of its severity and an absence of God’s word in our heart.

If I have heard anything from sexual addiction expert, Tal Prince, it is that below sexual sin is usually mounds of shame, heaps of pressure to perform, and plenty of self-hatred. I am an advocate of a balance of law and grace, but in the arena of helping students bonded in sexual sin, I advocate an approach leaning heavily- almost exclusively- on grace and mercy.

I promise you that the problem with sexual sin amongst teens is not a lack of education. The boy or girl who accesses porn often and masturbates routinely feels like a shameful freak deep down inside. The girl who “goes too far” usually views herself as a whore, and the boy who sleeps around most often feels empty and hollow in his sober moments.
Sexual sin, especially for young people, naturally carries so much shame that offenders walk away hating themselves more than they hate the sin. Appealing to law (performance, fear, and guilt) only inflames the situation and probably increases the likelihood that students will fall deeper into sin. It heightens fear (which weakens their ability to resist) and elicits a performance-driven lifestyle (which led them down this road in the first place).

Responding with grace makes that critical delineation between hating the sin but loving and accepting one's self through Christ. Perhaps more than in any other of ministry, kids need to hear that God “does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities” (Psalm 103:10). God hates sin, but He LOVES sinners. He adores porn addicts and masturbaters and guys with wandering eyes and girls with compromised standards. The message for kids: hate and run from your sexual sin but love and embrace the God who erases your sins through the Cross and regards them no more, the God who makes you lovable and delightful.

2011-11-28T08:30:00.000-06:00

Matt Chandler, an elder at The Village Church in Denton, TX, shares a powerful story of coming to understand the grace and mercy of Christ in relation to sexuality.

But Did We Make It Sexy?

2011-11-25T11:24:00.001-06:00

Every youth worker knows the dilemma of talking about sex with teenagers. On the one hand, simply say the word and you will get most people's attention. On the other, it's really difficult to hold or keep that attention and gain a hearing for the deep, life-giving, biblical truths you want to teach (right?). I can think of times where I talked to students and you could hear a pin drop - and times where one mis-spoken world tanks a whole evening.
Last year, in an effort to gain attention and look at some cultural realities, I pulled some blunt lyrics from five gritty, popular songs on sex and had students come forward to do a solo "dramatic reading." Honestly, my hope was the relevance of the songs and a look at the lyrics would create some discomfort that we could talk about as an entry to the Scripture that evening. But the opposite happened: everyone started singing the songs with no embarrassment! I'm not sure we ever really landed the point I wanted to teach that night. I walked away with my own discomfort: in trying to make the message sexy, did I just sell it out?
By now we know that our message and medium are intertwined - so much so that the medium becomes the message. How you say something fundamentally shapes what you say. It's just as true for our teaching on sexuality. On Christianity Today's website, Sarah Pulliam Bailey posts an interview with Christine Gardner, author of Making Chastity Sexy: The Rhetoric of Evangelical Abstinence Campaign. (The link takes you to the print view of the article for easy reading: once there, you can follow the links to the article’s original context). She talks about the difference between some American and African programs in terms of both what they call students to and how they appeal to them. In the short interview (I want to order the book), Gardner seems fair, critical, and points in some promising directions. Read it!
She ends with this zinger:

"I wonder if a more richly theological under-girding to some of the programs could help lengthen those commitments. When the going gets rough, and there is no marriage partner on the horizon, and the abstinence pledge starts to grow cold and stale, what is going to be there for them? I hope that it's something more than a funny skit, a dramatic rock song, or a winsome testimony from a cute guy. I hope there is something deeper from God's Word that's going to stay with them."

Please God, let it be so. And let's each of us go back and think hard about both what we say and how we say it. Before you teach on sex again, may I encourage you to stop, read these questions, and then jot down some of your own responses?

Have you ever used "sexy" to sell your teaching on sex? Where? Why?
What is our primary motivation to get students to consider a chaste and abstinent life?
What's the difference between calling students to abstinence or to chastity?
What kind of life or experience are we promising down the road?
Where has "individualism and self-gratification" crept into our teaching about sex?
Have you ever used an abstinence pledge or purity ring in teaching about sex (or been to an event that does)? What role does the pledge or ring play? What gets communicated to students who break their pledge or go against the symbol of the ring?
The interviewer suggests that abstinence must be part of a larger endeavor, and Gardner calls that living out a bodily commitment to “become like Christ.” How do you situate your teaching like sex in this larger call and context?
After reading this article, what is one way you want to re-evaluate your teaching on sex or one significant change you need to make in the message or the medium?

Take Me to Pleasure Town: Sex Education and the Pursuit of Pleasure

2011-11-21T10:52:00.001-06:00

Read Part 1 of Harrison's article, "The Philosophy of Sex", here.

Too often we believe that pleasure is not on the menu for Christians, or if it is, it's like you're swearing and getting away with something. The truth is, scripture holds pleasure in high regard, even to the point of hedonism, and only condemns the perversion of our pleasure.

Romans 1 says it well: we suppress the truth because of our desire for pleasure (vs 18). Often kids know what's true or what they should do, but they (and we) easily lose grip on those convictions because culture tells us we should love pleasure the most. Look no further than Las Vegas and every spin-off movie that portrays that kind of life-style: pleasure is the holy grail. Romans 1:25 says that we tend to worship the created creature rather than the Creator. Sex becomes what we worship - something every boy draws in his school notebook and finds on the internet, and I can't speak from the girls' perspective, but I assume it's on their minds too.
Did you know God says we should love pleasure the most too? I love that the Bible fights fire with fire. The idea of Christian Hedonism is that God is out for our ultimate pleasure, just like the world is. But he says "my pleasure is better than the world because it's more than pleasure, it's joy." We have the opportunity to ask students: what's the difference between instant gratification (short pleasure) and lasting happiness (joy)? Which would you prefer? How have you experienced the two? We also can fit in bits of testimony: we all have bad habits that give us quick pleasure, but they come at a cost. Mention the ways God has been good to you in giving you joy, helping you to leave emptiness and find meaning and those amazing days when you know you're not wasting your life.
Side note: I'm not saying that seeking pleasure is our ultimate good, but seeking the ultimate good - God's will - leads to more pleasure. Some people are inclined to believe that Christians are supposed to seek God’s will as a sacrifice, which means we never pursue our own pleasure because that's selfish and isn't what a missionary would do. No wonder people can be bored with the church or never want to step foot inside. But that's an incorrect interpretation of Rom 12. It's not a living sacrifice that leads us to obligation, duty, and rainy days, but a giving up of cheap pleasure (sitting in the mud of sin) for the ultimate pleasure of having purpose (a holiday at the sea - see C.S. Lewis, Weight of Glory).
For the married youth ministers among us, it's another great idea to use our own marriages as a platform. I hope that we have the kinds of marriages where we don't make the spouse out to be the god or goddess, but that they are an arrow that points to the true God worthy of worship. And that the love we need and grew up pining for as teenagers is the love of God - it's the same love that we experience and find in our partner. It's all wrapped up together. Which is why the last thing I will recommend is that you should have a Valentine's day party in your youth group and just pass out "God is love" hearts instead.
At the end of the day, we all want relationships because we all need love. Youth leaders have an amazing opportunity to show kids that God is the source of that love, and technically, he is all we ever need because he brings the relationships and joy to us. Kids can so easily find their identity in being able to attract the opposite sex or in making people laugh before they even know what "identity" means. Getting them to realize they have an idol like that is a tall order - in fact it's impossible if God is not speaking to them. So as youth leaders, we can't forget to be praying that God would speak to the kids. We can't do this ourselves.

The Philosophy of Sex

2011-11-17T15:45:00.001-06:00

Harrison Jones is teaching in a secondary school in Mbarara, Uganda, and is involved in many ministries in the area, including developing businesses, sports, Bible studies, fellowships, and a film group. Before moving to Uganda, Harrison worked as high school teacher, and volunteered as a Young Life and youth group leader.

Covering sex in youth ministries - it's always a fun night. The awkward squirms and breaking-ice moments will have the kids thinking for days. For many of the students in the room, these sorts of discussions are the first time they have ever heard sex talked about in an intelligent way. Most kids don't know what "philosophy" means, but little do they know they have no philosophy on sex because the world never does either. It's always treated as the elephant in the room everyone knows about and is likely to feed, pet, and have fun with, but you don't actually use your brain when it comes to sex, right? If you did, that might mean you won't be having sex right away if you actually think about it.

Talking about sex in youth ministries (from Sunday school to youth group to high school fellowships) is vital, but it is not the gospel and should not come first in our curriculum plans. It is a major stone in life that students leave unturned and often have so many questions about, however, if the gospel is not clear in our ministries and we aren't sure that the students could repeat it back to us first, I believe we have no business moving on to sex. Paul obviously sees the life-giving worldview-changing heart-saving gospel of Christ as a priority (1 Cor. 15), even in a church that was so backwards sexually that they were having sex with their mothers and Gentiles were judging them for it. It is very tempting for us in ministry to see a problem in our local culture and want to focus our time applying a spiritual ‘Band-Aid’. But if you have ever watched ‘House’ or a good medical TV show, you'll know that the symptom is not the same as the source of the disease.

A broken sexuality is something to weep over in our teenagers, but if we think we will fix it by quoting Hebrews 13 or 1 Corinthians 6 to them, we're mistaken. Paul says that we have no ability to keep the law apart from Christ, who perfectly kept the law. Our disease is bigger than teenagers watching provocative movies, listening to sex-dripping rap music, or of course having sexual encounters before marriage. Our disease is that we're separated from God spiritually, and until we receive Christ's grace, we won't be reconnected to the only power that can pull us out of our sin. Often churches can move on to practical living without considering how the gospel is the empowerment for that: suddenly we will find ourselves teaching moral-deism (how to be a good person), not Christ, and with that comes a large percentage of people leaving the church because white-knuckle self discipline only lasts so long. (Watch this short clip from Matt Chandler for more on Reaching the De-churched)

All that said, if the gospel is clear in your youth ministry, kids can awaken to wisdom on sexual matters at a very young age. You can have an amazing platform for wisdom as a youth leader in light of how the gospel helps us to understand everything about ourselves, especially that we were created to have sex but the best sex is in a married, loving relationship. It's not that we're Puritan 2.0's, not allowed to talk about sex, and it's not that we're heathens, thinking about it all the time. Christians should be happily in the middle: feeling comfortable talking about sex openly but knowing that it has its fences.

God Gave You Sex! (Part 1)

2011-11-10T09:26:00.004-06:00

How many times have you told a group of students, “All you need is Jesus?” I know I have as many times as Michael Jackson did the moonwalk or as often as my junior high kids reference Lady Gaga. Thousands.

The question begs: would Jesus Himself agree with that statement? I think the answer is both yes and no.

In studying ecclesiology and sacraments, one comes to see that indeed our union with Jesus is the very thing that sustains and satisfies us. At the same time, God recognizes that in our weakness and sinfulness and in this fallen world, we need physical reminders and representations of the grace God has given us through Christ. Scripture, the sacraments, the Church, and, to a lesser degree, marital sex, are gifts God has provided to help us enjoy and better grasp the reality of our union with Christ.

I have seen a propensity for youth workers - mainly myself - to hyper-spiritualize conversations about sexual abstinence. Knowing how fervently students yearn for sex in their teenage years, I try to help them understand at the heart level that what they desire for is union with Christ. While this line of thinking is theologically sound, it is somewhat incomplete biblically.

While reminding students that the object of their perceived “hormones” really is Jesus, our message is incomplete without acknowledging that God gives us physical means by which we touch, feel, consume, and process our spiritual union with Christ. Their desire to experience union in a physical, tangible manner is accepted by and accounted for by God. He also knows that we cannot grasp the mystery of this union and has blessed us with signs to help us better understand and experience it.

Too often this statement “all you need is Jesus” takes on a mystical, hyper-spiritual nature which discounts our very real need for physical representations of grace. God gave us sex and marriage - among other things - for that reason. Paul hints at this in Ephesians 5:31: "Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, andthe two shall become one flesh." This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.The union of a husband and wife, sealed through sex, resembles the union of believers to Christ.

Theological jargon aside, we need to affirm that a student’s desire for union in a physical manner is a reasonable, human thing. We need to acknowledge that God knows that they need physical signs of our union with God and, consequently, has given us His Word, the sacraments, the Church, and marital sex as helps in this struggle. And we need to direct students to Jesus and these gifts, which point to Him, in order to satisfy our deep need to experience union with God.

The Theology of Sex

2011-11-03T08:42:00.011-05:00

Rooted Blog editor Liz Edrington kicks off our new series on the Theology of Sex. We'll address the question of why and how we approach and address sexuality in light of the gospel in our ministry to students. Stay tuned!

Sex! Yep- it’s what gets their attention… (that and food).

There is no question that our kids are being bombarded by messages about sexuality every day and in any number of capacities. They regularly watch ads on TV which use sexuality to sell products, they watch shows which make sex into a commonplace way of relating in casual relationships, they read magazines which offer advice on ways to use their sexuality to lure potential partners into relationship, and they exist in a culture which says, “Hey, sex is no big deal.”

So, as I see it, there are few topics as important to address with our kids in the church because they are relating to sexuality (their own and the world’s portrayal of it) whether anyone likes it or not (which I say because there tends to be a lot of denial in the parental realm). And the great thing about it is that it really is a universal topic which can be a platform for so many of the crucial truths of Christianity and ways of relating which Jesus offers.

Before we can dive into offering our kids teaching, advice, or really anything deep in relation to sexuality, we’ve got to come to terms with the ways we relate to it ourselves. We all bring our broken selves to the table- hopefully recognizing that

A) There is a proper design to the intimacy of sexuality, and that is within marriage (Genesis 2:24).

B) We are all the same in our sexual brokenness because it is in our hearts and minds and not just our actions (let’s take Jesus seriously in Matthew 5:27-28).

C) We really are all forgiven by, in, and through Jesus for our sin (Romans 3:23-24) and we need to look to His Word (scripture and the Living God) for help at every step in relating to one another in love, honor, and faithfulness.

Folks, let’s face it, it’s probably going to be awkward to broach the topic with our kids (unless you have that gem of a student who brings the issues & questions to you), but it is going to be worth it. Humor can be helpful here. Honesty, vulnerability, and relationship with our kids are fundamental to any kind of ministry we do- and teaching on sexuality is no different. Our kids must know they are loved and met just as they are (and not left on their own), and everything we do should reflect that. We must use wisdom and discernment in how we share of our own lives and experiences (considering where we are with our own relationship to the Lord and sexuality), and I think it incredibly valuable to tackle the topic as a team or in a partnership when possible.

Hopefully any topic on which we teach allows for the message of the gospel to be conveyed, and certainly the lies of culture and the world yield countless platforms for this. The lies the world is telling our kids about sexuality are no different. We don’t need to swing to the opposite side of the spectrum then making the biggest deal imaginable out of a subject which should find its rightful place among other subjects of scripture; but we should be aware of the particular significant connections sexuality has to relationship, love, identity, and sin (I Corinthians 6:12-20). And we should be cautious about talking only in abstractions to our students; they have very concrete questions and situations to address, and we are here to walk alongside them in those and to point them to our Living God who has the best for them. Let us also remember that there is no shortage of abuse or unhealthy relating to sexuality which plagues the lives of our students. The message of God’s gift of intimacy in the form of sexuality must be coupled with the message of God’s forgiveness and redemption of the very broken ways sexuality has been twisted. And let us pray for and with our students regarding this, for Heaven’s Sake!

*Recommended reading: 'Mom, Sex is No Big Deal' by Sharon Hersh, and ‘Real Sex’ by Lauren Winner

Tough Stuff: The Unfairness of the Gospel

2011-07-12T20:14:00.007-05:00

1.) How do you define and describe this concept to students?

Ephesians 2:4-9 is an incredibly beautiful passage. There Paul ruminates on the glorious grace we’ve been given. Because of God’s great love for us, while we are rotting in our sinful rebellion, God gives us new life together with Christ, he seats us with him in the heavenly places so that in the coming age God might show us the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. Twice he breaks into the wonderful refrain of salvation in Christ - by grace you have been saved! And this is through faith; it is the gift of God. It is not of our own doing. It is not because of our works.

In short, it is grace because we get what we don’t deserve. When someone gets something they don’t deserve, we call that “unfair”. Therefore, since grace is supremely unmerited, it is likewise supremely unfair.

Now, because of Christ’s sacrifice, God’s grace is just. Atonement has been made. The debt has been settled. Blood has been shed. But to call it just does not mean we should dare to call it fair.

In truth, God’s grace is radically unfair. I mean, if sometime between September 11th 2001 and May 2, 2011 the Spirit had lead Osama Bin Laden to repent and trust in Jesus, God would have forgiven him and made him as holy and healthy as anyone else in Christ. He could have even made him the next great Christian leader if God so chose - like he did the apostle Paul who terrorized the early church. His grace is that sufficient to save, that unfair - and that powerful to transform those who are his.

2.) Why is it difficult or unpopular to teach?

It is difficult to teach because we like to think that we are better than others. When it comes to categories of “good” and “evil”, we like to think that we fall into the “good” category. It is difficult to admit that we are evil. Moreover, it makes living in a country and culture that is so eager to condemn enemies as “evil” uncomfortable for the Christian. I mean, if God’s reconciling and self-sacrificing mercy extended to us, his enemies...how far is our mercy to extend toward others?

3.) Why do you think it is important to teach this?

First and foremost, it is essential to teach the unfairness of the gospel because it’s not grace if you in any way deserve what’s been given to you.

Secondly and practically, until we understand the way we’ve been forgiven - the mercy we’ve been shown in Christ - forgiving others and pursuing forgiveness from others, especially our enemies, will be impossible.

Take for example the apostle Paul. Before he became a Christian, Paul approved the murder of Stephen, a man recently commissioned by his friends Peter, James, John and the other disciples. He breathed murderous threats against the other Christians - people loved by the apostles - and drag them from their homes to take

them to prison. Rather than Paul being punished for his atrocities, he was praised by the authorities of the day and advanced beyond many his own age for his zeal. He was never tried or punished in a court of law for his crimes.

Suddenly, Paul becomes a Christian all but disappears. Can you imagine what it was like for Peter and James when Paul returned to Jerusalem after three years to spend fifteen days together? Again, during a later visit, Paul met with the apostle John as well Peter and James. ...And Paul tells us in his letter to the Galatians that Paul was given the right hand of fellowship. In fact, Peter’s first letter, he fondly refers to Paul as “our beloved brother.”

How could Peter, James and John so such affection towards one who had brutalized those they loved and seemingly “got away with it”...? How could they treat Paul so unfairly and just forgive him his atrocities, accepting him into their fellowship?

I believe it is because Peter, James and John understood the unfairness of the Gospel. They didn’t get what they deserved, so they didn’t give Paul what he deserved. They saw Paul’s sin nailed to the cross right next to their own and so they were able to truly forgive - unfairly, but justly.

4.) How does this concept help a student better understand the Gospel and grace of Jesus?

The unfairness of grace we’ve received reminds students of the sufficiency of God’s grace. There is nothing left to add or earn when it comes to our salvation in Christ. This magnificent truth frees teens from trying to deserve the grace we’ve been given, and it frees them to have mercy on those who don’t deserve grace. Unmerited salvation frees teens to rest in and receive the reconciliation we have with God in Christ, and it frees them to pursue reconciliation with those who have wronged them.

This post comes to us from Mark Howard, assistant to pastor and pastor to youth at Trinity Presbyterian in Covington, GA and Rooted steering committee member.

Tough Stuff: Hell

2011-06-20T11:46:00.002-05:00

Jeremy Zach, the editor of the blog REyouthpastor, joins us as a guest contributor on the Rooted Blog. Jeremy works at Orange in the XP3 Student Ministry department. He holds a Masters in Divinity from Fuller Theological Seminary. As part of our series on tough stuff, Jeremy answers our questions about why Hell is such a difficult and important topic for students to know.

How do you define and describe the concept of Hell to students?

God finds no pleasure in punishment (Ezk 18.23). Youth pastors need to make sure that the student knows: God is passionately pursuing each human being. When defining HELL youth pastors must combat the myth God is not for us, when in reality He is completely for us.
God allows humans to keep making destructive and evil decisions and choices because God is patient and continually forgiving and longing all of us to come to life! God will not stop us from going to hell if we insist on it. Hell is a real place where everyone admits: God—I do not want your love.

Why is it difficult or unpopular to teach?
Who wants to talk about eternal death? I think teaching about Hell is like cleaning the bathroom. Yes no one likes to do it but it has to be done.

Why do you think it is important to teach about Hell?
Youth pastors need to steer the student away from ONLY what they think and feel about the doctrine of Hell, but what the Bible says about Hell. Youth pastors need to appropriately deal with what scripture tells us. Scripture tells us Jesus is the only way, truth, and life and no one comes to the Father except through Jesus.

How does the concept help a student better understand the Gospel and grace of Jesus?
Students are wanting guidance on how to ask deeper questions theological questions while learning to live in the paradoxes of the Christian faith. So youth pastors who clearly communicate the both the popular and unpopular attributes of God will give their students a fuller and broader understanding of who God is and how He operated in the Scriptures.

Rooted in Youth Specialties

2011-06-02T15:41:00.005-05:00

Rooted contributor, Cameron Cole, authored this piece, What The Tornado Taught Me, for the Youth Specialties blog last week. Cameron, who has thirty-five youth group alumni at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, writes about his experience in the aftermath of the tornado. The piece accentuates the necessity for students to have a deeply formed belief system in the Gospel for the inevitable day when catastrophe comes, and hits at the core of what we are aiming for with Rooted.

Tough Stuff: Total Depravity

2011-05-31T15:12:00.007-05:00

Ah, yes, nothing more fun to teach than that sweet-smelling doctrine, total depravity. While it is unpopular, it is very important for students to understand for many reasons. Cameron Cole tells us why.

1.) Why is it difficult or unpopular to teach?

I think it is difficult for two reasons. First, who really likes to be told that they are totally depraved? That just doesn’t have a pleasant ring to it! In this light, it is a part of our sinful nature to resist the dark reality of our humanity. In this day of secular humanism, where every form of media proclaims the inherit power and benevolence of mankind, the message of original sin and depravity starkly contradicts what students hear.

Secondly, because most teenagers do not have a deep theological understanding of sin, the idea that they are completely depraved defies their experience. A common reaction to this doctrine is a student misunderstanding that total depravity means that all they do is murder, rob, and steal, which conflicts with “nice things” they do in their life. Surely, a person giving to the poor or helping their mother with dishes is not evil, right? They initially think about total depravity in terms of external actions, not internal motives. In other words, they see the Wicked Witch of the West when they hear this term.

2.) How do you define and describe this concept to students?

First off, I do not think it is critically important that my kids know and can use the term “total depravity” at this point. I am more concerned that they understand conceptually that all human action possesses an underlying sinful motive.

I describe total depravity to adolescents by telling them that deep down inside all of our behavior inherently has some unconscious motivation rooted in operating independently from God or seeking selfish gain. All action has at least some selfish taint. I also explain that this occurs innately, without our awareness, because of our sinful nature. And then I say that the Bible describes living that way as depraved.

3.) Why do you think it is important to teach this?

Acknowledging the truth of the depth of our sin sets kids free. Last year on a mission trip, a student said that understanding total depravity “relieved a burden” because it showed her that trying to be perfect was pointless. The doctrine alleviates the need to keep up the illusion of being something we are not. It also creates an environment for deep worship because knowing our total depravity magnifies the grace and mercy of Christ. It shows just how good God is.

4.) How does this concept help a student better understand the Gospel and grace of Jesus?

Total depravity is a critical building block for a student to understand the freedom of the Gospel. It shows how utterly ill-equipped we are to make ourselves good or righteous and reveals our need for Christ to do all of the work for our salvation. Total depravity takes the wind out of the sail of moralism. Total depravity magnifies just how amazing God’s grace is in that he “saves a wretch like me.”

127 Hours, Part 2: Sovereignty and Suffering

2011-05-12T11:46:00.000-05:00

Why should a living man complain,

a man, about the punishment of his sins? Lamentations 3:39

As hours turn into days, it begins to dawn on Aron Ralston that no one is going to come to save him and he will most likely expire in this canyon. Why did no one come look for him, after he had been missing for three days? Because, he sarcastically boasts, “(I am) something of a big (choice word) hard hero. I can do everything on my own.“ And because of his heroic estimate of himself, how many people did he tell where he was going? None. Surprisingly, Ralston does what so few of us are willing to do: he takes responsibility for the dire circumstances he is in. He lives a life of self-sufficiency, and when his self-sufficiency reaps its natural consequence of helplessness, he points the finger at himself, rather than God, family, government, or whatever scapegoat seems most culpable.

In Part 1 of this series, we fleshed out how important it is to let students wrestle with questions. We also looked briefly at a couple of the questions likely to be asked. To enter deeper into our student’s questions of the Sovereignty of God, we must change the paradigm of the way they see their notion of freedom and their liability in sin. Our perceived ‘freedom’ is actually slavery, slavery to our desires. When it comes to our choices, we always choose our self-deification over the divinity of God. And our efforts at self-deification have led to the state of the world in which we live. Romans 1 has a profound definition of God’s wrath: God’s handing of us over to our desires. God’s wrath means He lets us have what we want, the natural outcome of our desires. Hosea puts it beautifully; we “sow the wind and reap the whirlwind.” Therefore, the cause of the suffering in this world rests on man’s choice to rebel. In current events, such as Bin Laden’s recent death, one can nod their head and say, “I understand that his choices led to his consequences.” But the issue of liability becomes more muddled when it comes to natural disasters, such as Hurricane Katrina, or car accidents. How are these people responsible for this disaster? Again, our objections come from a place of perceived innocence. As Christ taught about the tower of Siloam (Luke 13), a tower that fell on eighteen in Jerusalem, we all deserve to perish, if not for the mercy of God. Due to the prevalence of God’s mercy, similar to the prevalence of oxygen, we easily begin to treat it as a right. But mercy is not a right we should expect, rather a choice left up to God’s foreordained plan. And sometimes, for reasons we cannot understand, God chooses to not have mercy (Romans 9:15) (this is something I have personally wrestled with so feel free to email me if there is something you want to discuss or you object). So, the hole we find ourselves in, whether by direct or indirect consequences, is one that we have chosen, as Aron Ralston chose. We are helpless to escape, with no faculties within ourselves to save us.

For the Lord will not cast off forever,

but, though he cause grief, he will have compassion

according to the abundance of his steadfast love;
for he does not willingly afflict

or grieve the children of men. Lamentations 3:31-33

But our story, as Ralston’s story, does not end in a crevasse or a tomb, victims of our own self-sufficiency. Although there is suffering that comes from our sin, we have a sovereign and merciful God who is constantly at work redeeming this world, even redeeming us through suffering. Behind the scenes of this destructive world, we have a God that, although He has not caused the destruction, is ordaining events such that they work together for the good of those who love Him (Romans 8:28), those He has called to Himself. Although we cannot always see His movements of mercy at work in every circumstance, the Christ of Golgotha is our picture of how God can use suffering to bring about his plan. Because of Golgotha, we know that suffering is not in vain, without hope. Although God does not ultimately ‘willingly afflict the children of men,’ He uses even the result of our rebellion as a way to draw us back to Him and to teach us how to follow Him. Similar to a windmill, he takes our whirlwind and uses it to bring life and redemption to us. Similar to a guardrail on the Big Sur (a road along the cliffs of the Pacific), he allows us to crash so that we will not run headlong into an ultimate destruction. He is, in His perfect sovereign plan, working even the destruction of the world into His plan, not disposing of our swords but beating them into plowshares. In the Brothers Karamazov, Dostoevsky hints at the ultimate working out of God’s sovereign plan,

“…in the world’s finale, at the moment of eternal harmony, something so precious will come to pass that it will suffice for all hearts, for the comforting of all resentments, for the atonement of all of the crimes of humanity, of all the blood that they have shed; that it will not only make it possible to forgive but to justify all that has happened.”

127 Hours and Sovereignty, Part 1: Questions

2011-04-25T17:07:00.003-05:00

Our next piece in the series, Tough Stuff, comes to us from our newest contributor, Dan Wolf, youth director at Anglican congregation, Church of the Apostles, in Columbia, SC. Dan takes a look at three critical questions and issues when discussing the sovereignty of God with students. He uses the movie '127 Hours' as a vehicle to unpack this heavy topic.

Recently, my wife and I watched Danny Boyle’s newest film, ‘127 Hours.’ If you have not watched the movie, I am sure that you are familiar with the true-to-life backstory: A mountain climber named Aron Ralston (played by James Franco) becomes trapped by a boulder crushing his hand in a narrow canyon in Utah. After realizing no one is going to rescue him, he brutally severs his own hand. In the movie, he internally dialogues before commencing on the unthinkable:

“You know, I've been thinking, everything is...just comes together. It's me. I chose this. I chose all of this. This rock...this rock has been waiting for me my entire life. It's entire life. Ever since it was a bit of meteorite a million, billion years ago. There in space. It's been waiting, to come here. Right, right here. I've been moving towards it my whole life. The minute I was born, every breath I've taken, every action has been leading me to this crack on the out surface.”

This quote illustrates one of the major tensions of the faith, who is in control of this world we live in? Is it our own choices? Is it the random unfolding of a world devoid of God? Or is it an all-knowing, all-loving God? The Gospel claims the latter, that God is in fact sovereign over all life. To give a full definition, God has ownership, authority, and control over all things. In short, this means that God is in control of the whole universe and nothing happens that is a surprise to Him. Recently, I taught on this crucial doctrine of the sovereignty of God. And, as I am sure you can imagine (or have experienced yourself), the questions immediately begin to bubble up. And the questions were not uniform, but custom fit to each of the different lives of young people whom I serve. Some questions were more intellectual, while some were very poignant and personal.

I think most of us steer clear of ‘tough stuff’ like sovereignty because we don’t want to throw sticks into the spokes of our students’ young faiths. After all, they are still wobbling all over the place and falling down all of the time anyways. Let them wrestle with the hard stuff in college. If they crash and burn, the blood is on some campus minister’s hands (tinge of sarcasm intended). So, I know I have personally tried to stick to the uncontroversial, like God’s love for us (which is controversial in its own way) and our need to reach out to those in need. But, I have come to believe that doubts and questions are a cornerstone of a healthy believing community. If our students don’t feel free to struggle with these issues, then we are building nothing but straw-man beliefs that will be swiftly dismantled by their first philosophy class. Therefore, as Tim Keller aptly puts it in his book The Reason for God, "Faith without some doubts is like a human body without any antibodies in it. People who blithely go through life too busy or indifferent to ask hard questions about why they believe as they do will find themselves defenseless against either the experience of tragedy or the probing questions of a smart skeptic. A person's faith can collapse almost overnight if she has failed over the years to listen patiently to her own doubts, which should only be discarded after long reflection."

So the issue remains: What of the questions relating to sovereignty? The inquiries are many, so I will just share a few of the more common ones that arose in our study. First of all, there is the more circumstantial questions of, “If a good God is in control of this world, how can it be so screwed up?” As songwriter Patty Griffin succinctly notes, “I must confess, there appears to be a whole lot more darkness than light.” I tend to agree with her. So, how can God be in control and let all of these things happen? The Japan earthquakes are an obvious case-in-point. How about my friend who ‘left’ the faith? Or my cousin who committed suicide? Or how could God let my parents get divorced. These are the questions that arise, and must be handled with both truth and grace. With these more delicate questions, we must first make sure that the person is aware of God’s love for all people and His desire for all people (1 Tim 2:4), before we can talk about the more intellectual answers to their questions(below). How we communicate becomes of the utmost important when addressing the more personal questions. As Eugene Peterson quotes, “We cannot skip the way of Jesus in our hurry to get to the truth of Jesus….Only when the Jesus way is organically joined with the Jesus truth do we get the Jesus life."

The above questions lead to the more theological question of, “If God is in control of the world, isn’t He ultimately responsible for the way things are?” This is a very good and important question; it is vital to give the young people an understanding of sovereignty. In Romans 9, Paul deals with this issue from a number of different directions, revealing that God is not responsible for sin. Another helpful way I have found to process this tough question is distinguishing between foreordination (God’s ordaining of all things) and causality (God did not cause sin, we did). God ordains all things according to His will (Eph 1:11) and God works all things for the good of those who love Him (Romans 8:28). But God’s foreordination does not override or violate the will of His creatures. So, the cause of sin therefore rests solely with man. In God’s sovereign world our choices do matter. The sin in this world, both actions (murder, genocide, slander, etc) and consequences of our sin (death, natural disasters, accidents, etc), are due to our rebellion against God. But, we have the promise that God, who is not abstract or impersonal but is of the same heart as Jesus of Nazareth, is weaving all things, even our sin, into an unspeakably beautiful plan of redemption and restoration. And, in the midst of the struggles of our youth’s lives, whether it be divorce, death, or sin, they can know that God is ultimately in control and working all things according to His perfect will. In this truth, no matter if one finds themselves stranded in a lonely canyon, one can rest in the peace of the Gospel offered to us in Christ Jesus, that it is God who is in control.

In the movie, as Aron Ralston finally detaches his hand and frees himself for the first time in 127 hours, he looks out of his would-be tomb to the heavens and shouts, “Thank you.”

This is the first of three articles from Dan Wolf on this topic. Check back later this week to read more.

Tough Stuff: Chewin' on the Leathery & Unpalatable but Realizing it's the Sweetest Thing.

2011-04-18T10:34:00.000-05:00

Radical Grace. Unfettered, life-changing, paradigm-shifting, gift-love.

How do we even begin to define and describe this reality to our students? I’ve found that people who have come to know the grace of God in and through Jesus have had their understanding of the Christian faith drastically altered. Often, what was once an intellectual understanding of Christianity or a works-based operation out of Christianity becomes a need- and gratitude-based relationship to a Living God which hinges on His provision. There is a shift that happens here, from a self-dependence (e.g. relying on the self’s capability to understand/obey) to a God-dependence (which is inextricably linked to and based upon the atoning death of Jesus which offers us utterly undeserved and full, real, life-giving love).

Most basically, we’ve got to realize that this is an offensive message, and it goes against everything the Western World tells us. “You can’t do it” isn’t exactly what anyone wants to hear. And really, apart from the intervention of the Holy Spirit and the proclamation that “But, He has done it- and for you!” we can’t expect anyone to readily accept God’s offer of grace. It should actually fall into the category of ‘too good to be true.’ We are used to earning our merit, working for success, and performing for points; there is very little that’s freely offered us. Therefore, the free offering of eternal life and of present, hope-offering, life-transforming relationship with Jesus doesn’t make sense. That just isn’t the way we’re used to relating to the world or others. Granted, God’s gift of grace doesn’t come freely- it came with the greatest cost of all: the sacrifice of His own Son. But the point is: He paid that price, we didn’t. We couldn’t. We can’t.

But we are offered that gift. And although we’re not very inclined to open our hands and receive, it’s still always there for us. In ministering to students, one of the most important things we can do is share with them the ways we experience our need for Jesus, for His grace. We can offer them stories where people have been met where they are by love (which reflects the great Love, Himself) and have had an undeserved, unmerited, transformational experience. We can help kids to expose the hamster-in-a-wheel-based paradigms of the world and hold Scripture up to them, pointing to the redeemed grace-paradigm of Christianity.

“But what about the seeming free-license to sin that may offer?” you ask. “Won’t this understanding of unmerited and unconditional gift-love lead our kids to act recklessly and irresponsibly?

Chances are, if you’ve come to really believe in and understand the grace of God, it came through knowing His gifts of forgiveness, love, and redemption in the midst of your sin and/or failure (aka ‘reckless or irresponsible’ behaviors or thoughts). This is not to say we want our kids to go out and sin, causing themselves (and those around them) pain and suffering. But it is to say that we are sometimes more interested in trying to protect our kids from the consequences of sin than sharing with them the God of Grace who meets them right in the middle of it and loves them, helps them, and forgives them. Those of us in leadership positions are especially prone to controlling or attempting to control things. We fall into a trap of believing (sometimes unconsciously) that we can protect these kids from Satan and sin, we can tell them just the advice which will prevent suffering, or we can have such tight relationships with them that they surely will not make bad decisions. I mean, really? Really? We live this way, and sometimes we minister this way. We need Jesus! We need His grace just as much as our kids do- and this pattern of thinking we can save them is just as sinful as the acts we are trying to save them from.

That shift from reliance on self to reliance on Jesus, the lavish Grace-Giver - for us and for the kids we minister to- is one of the most (if not the most) important things we can talk over/think about/ponder/share in/teach on in our positions as youth leaders. We’ve got to highlight grace in our ministries; it separates Christianity from everything else. Instead of man reaching out to God (and reaching, reaching, reaching for everything else in life), God reaches out to man through Jesus. Hallelujah!

The Comfort of Absolute Truth

2011-04-08T00:37:00.002-05:00

This post comes to us from a new Rooted contributor, Sandra Hagood. Sandra is an attorney, parent, and outstanding youth Sunday school teacher in San Diego, CA. She leads off our series, Tough Stuff, with this excellent piece about teaching absolute truth.

Recently, I was talking with a college-aged friend who was expressing intense anxiety that a cherished career goal of his may never come to pass. I asked him which he would choose between obtaining this goal and following Jesus. I only asked him the question because I thought he would easily answer that he would rather follow Jesus, and I was intending to suggest that we all have to choose what we want the most, pursue it, and pray that the rest will follow.

He hesitated, and then looked at me horror stricken and said he wasn’t sure. He clearly expected me to chew him out or tell him what a fool he was. But I told him that every once in awhile, I feel like, if I could, I would walk away, and that apparently, I’m not alone in that sentiment. Then we talked about one of my favorite Bible passages:

After this [Jesus’ explaining that to have eternal life, one must feed on Jesus’ flesh and drink his blood], many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. So Jesus said to the Twelve, "Do you want to go away as well?" Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God." - John 6:66-69

There’s more than one way to read Peter’s answer, but I think it’s important that Peter did not say, “But Lord, why would we want to go anywhere else when this is so much fun?” It seems to me that it’s implied in Peter’s answer that Peter would go away if he could, or at least that he’d been tempted to consider it.

Close to thirty years ago, when I was in high school and had been a Christian about two years, I was struggling to keep up with the demands of my performance-based understanding of the Gospel. Even though I was madly in love with Jesus, I remember thinking that I was going to have to give up Christianity because it was just too hard and I couldn’t do it. I felt like I was looking into a terrible abyss. But I realized almost the next instant that the reason that I could not walk away from Christianity was that it was true.

I have returned to that moment several times in the last thirty years. Thanks be to God, I understand much better now what it means that His yoke is easy and His burden is light, but I still sometimes think for a moment that I would prefer to have no one to answer to. (Of course, in my right mind, I absolutely cannot imagine the unbearable wasteland that life without Jesus would be.)

I take great comfort in two things. First, the above passage in John shows me that Jesus understands that we are human and He does not expect us to be spiritual robots. He realizes that, no matter how much we love Him, serving Him is costly (Luke 14:28), and that, even though it’s really a “no brainer,” it seems like a hard decision to us. But even more, I am greatly encouraged that even when I cannot hold onto the Truth, the Truth holds on to me. As Peter said, Jesus has the words of eternal life. I think once you have tasted those words, you cannot walk away anymore than a thirsty man could walk away from water in the desert.

In the present climate of moral relativity, many students are conditioned to label those claiming the absolute truth of Christianity- or any worldview- as intolerant, immoral, and close-minded. The absolute value of the postmodern world is tolerance. However, knowing that the “words of eternal life” are, in fact, True yields an amazing comfort to students in the long run.

Tough Stuff

2011-04-07T15:17:00.006-05:00

In the coming weeks, the Rooted blog will provide a series, called Tough Stuff. Certainly, every student minister, Sunday school teacher, and parent knows the cringing sensation that comes when students ask tough question. At the same time, a gap in a student's belief system on all of the pieces that comprise their knowledge detracts from their full appreciation and grounding in the Gospel.

This series aims to identify tough issues and why they are important to discuss in the name of a more fully understanding the Gospel. Also, included are ideas on best approaches to discussion of these sticky topics. Get ready to cringe; these topics just are not easy.

Gospel of John: The Best Text for Instant Gratification Generation

2011-03-21T15:02:00.008-05:00

All of scripture- from Genesis to Haggai and Matthew to Philemon- is holy inspired and valuable for teaching. I will say, in my humble opinion, that the Gospel of John is the most important New Testament book for student ministers to teach to postmodern teens.

In the following paper, The Gospel of John as Priority Text for Postmodern Teens, I write about John's concept of eternal life, compared to that of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. In the Synoptic Gospels, content about eternal life almost always pertains to that which believers inherit when they die and go to heaven. John's Gospel, though, portrays eternal life as something one can receive and experience immediately upon entering into relationship with Jesus.

John, much like postmodern youth ministers, primarily wrote to a culture focused on their experience in this life. Greek philosophy and religion emphasized the fullest life on this earth, with little consideration of the age to come. Consequently, John accentuates the benefits one receives in this life through relationship with Jesus. A good example of this mentality is the well-known verse, John 10:10, where Jesus says, "The thief comes to rob, kill, and destroy. I have come that you may life, and have it to the full." Jesus was not talking about heaven; he was talking about here and now. (To be clear, we are not talking about health, wealth, and prosperity but about intimacy with God, the most abundant life on offer.)

John did not neglect the reality that a major question on the mind of all people (in particular, his Jewish audience) was the hope of eternal life upon death. Jesus most frequently talks about eternal life both on this earth and in the age to come in John. For example, Jesus talks about how he is the "resurrection and the life," relating respectively to eternal life upon death and that which one gains in this age.

Given postmodern teens' fixation with instant gratification, I believe the Gospel of John constitutes an absolute priority text for those ministering to students of this generation. The hope of eternal life when you die has little resonance with students who think they will never die (and modern medicine suggests that there's a touch of accuracy to their mentality) and who can access nearly any pleasure through the power of the internet. John's Gospel speaks about the benefits one can experience here and now through relationship with Jesus and provides a message relevant to our young postmodern audience.

Contact Work: Youth Minister As Presence of Judgment

2011-03-14T08:24:00.012-05:00

How many times have you done contact work in the community, you see a student, and his or her first, nervous response is, “I’m coming to church this Sunday, I promise.” Now, you had no intention of asking this student about his or her recent lapse in attendance. In fact, you probably have not noticed it. However, you’re greeted with the expectation of shame.

Recently, I visited a school and saw a fantastic young man. This kid is so delightful that I’m thrilled any time I see him. He has a relationship with Jesus, and like all of us, probably has his ups and downs in his walk with God. In spite of my genuine enthusiasm, when I approached him, his first statement was, “I’m coming to Sunday school this week, I promise.”

I think this common reaction to youth ministers reflects the expectation of judgment all people naturally carry as a product of original sin. After eating from the tree in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve run from God when they hear Him coming. They hide and lie when He asks questions.

Does God immediately drop the hammer on these two new sinners when He approaches them? No, the Lord asks Adam and Eve about why they are hiding. He asks them neutral questions, and, in essence, is offering them an undeserved opportunity for mercy.

How does the recognition of the reality that people expect judgment from God and the church inform youth pastors? First, I think it reinforces the need to repeatedly teach the same old story: Christ died for sinners and there is no condemnation for those in Christ. God approaches us from a standpoint of grace. As the Anglican Prayer of Humble Access, states, we serve the God “whose property it is always to have mercy.”

Also, from a practical perspective, student pastors have to maintain an awareness that the students we serve, like all people, come housed with a compulsive expectation and heightened sensitivity of judgment. Therefore, any message or action to a student suggesting that they don’t measure up cuts deep, deep to the core. Very often, consistently inviting kids to events while out in the community doing contact work puts them under judgment. Even though we may be trying to include a student, often they view the invitation as something to live up to. If I come my youth pastor likes me. If I don't I have let him down.

Beyond Bible study and Sunday school, student pastors need to embody the message of grace in contact work, in a manner that reflects the same message we teach. Our relationships need to communicate that I love you where you are; my interest is you, not your attendance. You measure up through Jesus, and have nothing to live up to any longer.

A Liberal Scholar Who "Gets It" Better than Most

2011-03-09T15:01:00.012-06:00

Rudolf Bultmann, a liberal, twentieth century critical scholar of theology, had this interesting take on Jesus’ relationship to ethics. George E. Ladd provides this summary and translation of Bultmann’s thoughts in Theology of the New Testament:

Bultmann views Jesus’ ethics as setting forth the conditions for entering the coming Kingdom. These conditions are not, however, rules and regulations to be obeyed in order that one may merit entrance into the coming Kingdom. The content of Jesus’s ethics is a simple demand. Because the Kingdom is at hand, because God is near, one thing is demanded: decision in the final eschatological hour. In this way, Bultmann translates Jesus’ ethics into the existential demand for decision. Jesus was not a teacher of ethics, either personal or social. He did not teach absolute principles or lay down rules of conduct. He demanded one thing: decision.

Bultmann basically asserts that Jesus did not teach moralism; he called for surrender and commitment. What is interesting about his analysis is that Bultmann, while personally professing to be a Christian, accepted very few of the tenets of orthodox Christianity. For example, he did not believe in the scriptures as the Word of God and rejected the reality of a bodily resurrection. Bultmann was a critical scholar who dedicated much of his career to “demythologizing” the claims of the Gospels. He rejected the supernatural works and personhood of Jesus, labeling them “mythologies.”

As overly skeptical as many consider Bultmann to be, it is interesting that he “gets” Jesus’s call, in some ways, better than most people in the church today. In his efforts to strip away the superfluities and concisely synopsize the call of Christ, he essentially says that Jesus called for faith over moral performance. (However, it is important to note that his concept of faith in Christ is different in many ways than that which orthodox Christianity has espoused.)

Bultmann’s quote challenges us to take a fresh look at the Gospels and the basic call that Christ issues. A fair reading shows Christ is not the ethical teacher, to which secular culture and academia try to reduce him. Christ is a Savior proclaiming the Gospel and calling for full surrender.

Our student ministries need this reminder. We need to question whether we are “ethical teachers” or proclaimers of the Gospel, hoping and praying for fully surrendered students.

Answering the Question, "What Can I Do?"

2011-03-03T14:00:00.008-06:00

When hearing the message of true grace, where one discovers that Jesus’s work on the Christ completely makes him or her perfectly righteous for eternity and where we make no contribution, students often come away with one question: what do I do now? In some camps, the answer sometimes is “nothing.”

What people often mean by this is that Christ calls us to die, surrender, and submit. The love of Jesus compels us to submit our lives to God, who then does a work on us and through us to make us into people that bear the fruit of the Spirit and more closely resemble the image of Christ.

My experience has taught me that simply saying, “nothing, just submit” leaves most young Christians feeling a bit helpless. I certainly am not going to feed their human, law-driven fervor by giving them a list of things to do and not do. Simultaneously, I need to recognize the reality that students enter a real world, with real scenarios, and real decisions. How do I give kids something practical, that is drenched in grace and points them to the Cross?

Here’s what I say we can do, in light of our marred will and grave limitations as sinners:

Remember- First and foremost, we encourage kids to remember the Gospel always. Remember that Christ loves them perfectly and that His work on the Cross means they measure up in every way. The one thing they need is perfect love, and Jesus provides that. "Remember" is the most used verb in Deuteronomy, where God invoked the Israelites to remember how He had brought them out of slavery in Egypt and provided for them in the wilderness. Christianity is, by its nature, a retrospective religion, where we constantly look back and remember God’s goodness and faithfulness. In a more New Testament and Lutheran sense, deepening in the knowledge of our justification promotes our sanctification.

Repent- While the debate remains on just how free our will is before and after salvation, scripture suggests that our will gains greater power to deny sin. Augustine says in the later coined “Four-Fold State of Man” that man is able to not sin (posse non peccare) after salvation. We can encourage students to say “no” to sin in the moment and to repent from sin (living under our own control) in a broader sense as well.

Relate- A wise old man said to me once, “Never talk about sanctification outside the context of relationship with Christ.” From there he quoted Christ’s “I am” statement in John 15:5, “I am the vine, you are the branches, apart from me you can bear no fruit.” As creatures made in the image of God, we have the ability to pursue relationship. Once Christ brings us into right relationship with God, we are able to engage in this relationship with Him.

In my eyes, these three concepts help students to have a clear vision for practical Christian life, while directing them to Jesus and His love as the means for transformation.

Biggie Size Your Grace in the Pursuit of Holiness

2011-02-25T08:43:00.019-06:00

The Rooted Blog welcomes a new contributor, Andy Cornett. Andy is an assistant pastor and student pastor at New Hope Presbyterian Church in Fort Myers, FL. Andy holds a Masters in Divinity from Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, CA and is ordained in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. Andy has done student ministry for over a dozen years and brings much to the table for Rooted.

We need a big, thick meaning for the word “grace” and how we talk about it. For many (and I include myself here as too often stuck in this), grace is that thing we only talk about when we’re telling what God has done for Jesus on the cross to save us from of our sins and bring us to Himself. It’s the word we often use to describe some arrangement between God and Jesus that lets us off the hook and gives us eternal life. And then we fumble around with words like “works, obedience, rules, habits, laws” for stuff we’re supposed to do now.

I don’t think that’s enough. If that’s all it is, we’re in cheap grace mode. We need a bigger picture of grace.

Let’s get heavy for a moment: For Calvin and many others in the Reformed tradition, there is the grace of justification (done for us) and the grace of sanctification (done in us). Both are in Christ. They are not separate – they are twin graces, or rather a double movement of the same grace. It is the double embrace of God: Christ embracing us by the Spirit in our sin to bring us to Father, and Christ by his Spirit embracing the Father for us, making the perfect response for us, in our place, on our behalf. These graces are joined.

r If we talk about the first without the second, we are doing cheap grace.

r If we talk about what God saved us from and forget to proclaim what he is saving us for, we are missing the point.

r If we talk about the indicative of justification and don’t follow through its outflow in the imperatives of sanctification, we risk becoming hearers of the word only, and not doers of it.

r If we do the first without the second, we communicate that God’s grace doesn’t mean much of anything for the realities of our daily life and the web of relationships that enmesh us…

r If we talk about the first apart from the second, we’re caught in the language trap of telling people about what God did for them and then struggling to tell them what they’re supposed to do now (which undercuts the truth of the first).

Now let me be clear: I believe that at root the gospel is the announcement that Christ died for our sins, once and for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring us to God. It is fundamentally something that God has done for us, in our place, on our behalf to bring us into his family, to make us his sons and daughters, to give us his own nature and life. It is the astonishing gift of God that floods our hearts and minds. But the announcement is the beginning, not the ending. It’s the doorway, not the house or estate we now live in. If we do not follow that announcement with an unpacking of how now we have crossed from death to life, that we have been rescued/delivered from darkness into light and now must walk as children of the light, we’re not being true to the gospel. Titus 2-3 makes it clear that devoting ourselves to doing good is the only natural response to the grace, mercy and kindness of God who saves us through rebirth in Christ and makes us heirs with him. It makes it clear that God’s grace is our teacher to say “no” and renounce certain ways of life, and say “yes” and rediscover new ways of living that fit who we are now in Christ. These, too, are God’s grace in our life.

Grace is no one-pump gift dispensed from the heavenly realms – it is the constant, steady flow of the life of God himself both for us in Christ and in us by his Spirit. It is the astonishing giving which leaves you speechless. Grace simply IS. Grace is the source for all life lived in the kingdom of the Son of God, and it is marked by righteousness, peace, and joy instead of me and my load of stuff. This grace must be taken far more seriously than we take sin or the fear of lapsing into a legalism. Grace is the Spirit teaching us to trust the Father as we yield our lives in obedience to his Son our Lord.

If we fail to call to students to a life of joyful obedience through the grace of Christ, we have missed the point. If we aren’t calling them to hear his words and put them into practice, then we’re not talking about the Jesus revealed in Scripture. If we talk about grace without connecting it to the discipling work of the Holy Spirit in us, leading us to be an apprentice of Jesus, it must be some other kind of grace than that which Paul was so passionate about. And if we are not talking about a grace-powered life in the kingdom of the Son whom God loves, here and now – then we’re missing out on the joy of pointing students to something way bigger than anything this world can offer.

For God’s sake – don’t back away from it.

Sanctification: Starting from Higher Ground

2011-02-23T11:51:00.008-06:00

One of my favorite pastimes (addictions) is surfing message boards related to Alabama football, predominantly TiderInsider and BamaOnline. I love scouring the threads for inside information about player development, recruiting, coaching changes, and SEC rumors.

The world of football message boards can be toxic, erratic, and exhilarating all at the same time. When Alabama loses a recruit of a football game, the board spirals into a meltdown. After Alabama lands a major recruit, particularly at the expense of a rival, electric euphoria fills the air.

Over the past five years, much has changed with Alabama football, but little has changed in the culture of the message board. Since Alabama hired Nick Saban in 2007, the Tide has risen from an historic national power (with little to show for it on the field from 1997-2006), to now being one of, if not “the,” preeminent power in college football. In the ten years before Saban, Alabama accrued five losing seasons, only one SEC title, and three ten win season. In four years with Saban, Alabama has three ten plus win seasons, a national title, an SEC title, and two SEC West titles. Alabama has won more games in the past three years than any other program, and they have been ranked #1 for nearly half the year in 2008 & 2010. Few expect this overwhelming success to stop any time soon with Alabama racking up their third #1 recruiting class in four years and with nearly all early prognostications pointing to the Tide as having a preseason number two ranking behind the favorite Oklahoma Sooners.

Still, with the new identity as baddest boy on the block, the tone and behavior on message boards has changed little. People still flip out after a loss and attack the coaching staff. Panic ensues when a rival has success. Fans get downright nasty when a recruit de-commits from Alabama and heads to another school. Fear, venom, and complaint still generally define the culture of message boards. (Posters call this “Shula-itis,” referencing the dismal Shula era at Alabama, where the Tide mustered one winning season in four years.)

At times, I just want to scream (or post), have you guys forgotten who we are? We just signed top recruiting class in America. Why are we freaking out over a four star linebacker going elsewhere? We just won the national title in 2009 and probably will again in the next two years. Why are we having a panic attack over the success of another team? We have who many call the best head coach in college football. Why panic over play calls and schemes?

In essence, I am saying that true recognition of our identity in the grander scheme of college football- a national power- naturally should warrant a change in our behavior, compared to the struggling program we were ten years ago.

So it goes with considering sanctification in the Christian life. Too often student ministers teach sanctification as self-improvement or becoming a better person.

This tone suggests that Christ’s work on the Cross was insufficient to make us holy and work is still left to be done. Truly, Christ’s death makes us without blemish in the eyes of God, fully righteous. Jesus makes us a son of the King. As Anglican theologian, Ashley Null, said at Rooted 2010, “God is not interested in making you a better person. He’s interested in helping you live like the person you already are in Christ.”

Hence, recognizing our new identity and status should influence the way we live our lives. In football terms, the top program in football does not have to worry about this recruit or that recruit: we’re going to have our needs met. We don’t have to freak out about other programs: we’re going to beat them most of the time.

In terms of Christianity, a son of the King does not wallow in the things of the world but is above them. A son of the King does not live in fear and anxiety, but walks in the peace and assurance of his or her impenetrable, inherited status.

In no way do I suggest that this article gives a complete theology on grace and the pursuit of holiness. It does not address the reality of helping kids with their everyday sin. I simply say that our starting point for consideration of and conversations about the pursuit of holiness must begin with a recognition of what Christ already has done and who we are through his blood. Hence, the conversation begins focusing on Jesus and His work and lays the Cross as the foundation.

Salvation Accomplished

2011-02-17T22:15:00.007-06:00

Mark Howard, assistant to pastor and minister to youth at Trinity Presbyterian in Covington, GA, offers this insightful article in our series about the tension between preaching grace and the pursuit of holiness. Rooted is glad to have Mark as a new contributor to The Rooted Blog.

I appreciate the current discussion between Hood and Ortlund concerning “effort and action” and our sanctification, but I think the focus shouldn’t be so much on how “effort and action” relates to our sanctification - but from where the strength to overcome emanates. Once we know where this power comes from, then our “efforts and actions” should be directed towards being filled with the source. This reality is particularly true in the space of student ministry.

Thus, I believe the fundamental question is this: Are we responsible to muster up the energy and will to put forth the effort and action to overcome sin, or does the power to overcome sin come from God working Christ in us through the Holy Spirit?

If the strength comes from us, then we truly should be preaching the “do more and try harder” way to holiness to students. Our effort is central. But if the strength comes from God through the Holy Spirit’s working Christ in us, then our self-effort in pursuit of holiness is misdirected. Rather, our pursuit should be more of the Triune God in whom the power resides.

So, where does the power to overcome sin and evil originate?

To answer this question, I think its helpful to look at Jesus in his humanity. Born without sin, I believe that he is a good comparison to how someone like Hood views the newly created Christian in Christ: truly able to overcome sin and temptation, free from sins slavery.

And Jesus did face real, painful temptation. The author of Hebrews tells us that Jesus was “like his brothers in every respect” (Heb 4:17) and that he “suffered when tempted” (Heb 4:18). In fact, the author describes Jesus as “one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Heb 5:15).

So when we look to Jesus’ pursuit of holiness and overcoming sin what do we see?

We don’t see someone relying on his own strength or his own ability to persevere, rather, we see Jesus crying out to the Father for strength through the Spirit. As the author of Hebrews tells us, “In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence” (Heb 5:7).

Jesus’ strength to overcome came from the Father through the Spirit manifest in his human body. Our effort and action must follow the example of Christ: we are to cry out with every fiber of our being to the one who is able to save us, knowing that he has already saved us in Christ, through the Holy Spirit.

The apostle Peter in his first letter reminds the Christian that if you are in Christ, you should “set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” Peter knew his hope wasn’t in himself. It couldn’t be. He knew his limits - even the limits of his “already and not yet” newly created self.

Each time I prepare a sermon, each time I teach or work on a lesson, I have this one question staring me in the face: Mark, where are telling these kids to place their hope? In whom are you asking them to trust?

If I’m asking them to trust in themselves, I’m giving them false hope. Dead hope.

But we have a living hope - the resurrected Jesus, who has in love, graciously united himself to us. “For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified” (Heb 10:14).

A tree does not bear fruit because of its own effort. Rather, the tree bears fruit because it is firmly rooted in fertile soil with the power to bring the seedling to maturity. This is why rather than telling those under my teaching to “do more and try harder” to overcome sin, I follow Paul in his exhortation to the Colossians: “Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving” (Col 2:6-7).

Likewise, a newborn infant cannot bring itself to maturity, rather it must be fed and nourished by its mother. This is why I follow the apostle Peter in his pleading: “Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up to salvation - if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good” (1 Pet 2:2).

Scripture says that “God is light” (1 John 1:5). If we turn to him, abide in him and cry out for more of him, he will fill us with this light. And “the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:5). I cannot overcome, but the Spirit’s working light within me can - and will. This is the good news of the gospel, not heresy. This is exactly what students needs.

Goodness, Oh Goodness!

2011-02-14T10:22:00.002-06:00

Liz Edrington, Youth Minister at Christ Episcopal Church in Charlottesville, VA, writes the first contribution in our new series called "The Pursuit of Holiness". You can find the background info to this series here.

“Impressing the importance of holiness in the Christian life.”

Three years ago, this phrase would have produced small retching noises in the youth ministry portion of my brain. “Surely, there are enough sources of ‘morals & values’ teaching bombarding our kids- at school, in ‘family-oriented’ tv shows, by parents,” I would have thought. And I’d seen so much of youth ministry offered in a WWJD format (or a ‘being a Christian means imitating Jesus’ format), that it would have been difficult not to react adversely to the phrase ‘teaching holiness’ because it would have been associated with a youth ministry M.O. I simply couldn’t (and can’t) swallow- one which often sacrifices focusing on the gospel of our Living Lord for the need to see/provide ‘results’.

But here, we are considering the question, “How do we teach holiness while maintaining the love of Jesus as the anchor?” This is something that interests me much more, as it contains the most essential thing I think we can offer kids as youth ministers: the love of Jesus as an anchor. We must begin there and end there. But we are also responsible for teaching our kids what goodness really is, and for using Scripture to share examples, pictures, and stories of that.

There is no question about it: we are called to be perfect, and to be holy. (Matthew 5:48 and 1 Peter 1:16- from Levitical references, 2 Peter 3:11, etc.). And we cannot do this; hence, Jesus died for us and we are now seen as perfect and holy in Him. But even as believers, we are still sinners who fail to live into our calling to be perfect and holy- although we have the Holy Spirit in us Who works to help us know and do what is right and good.

So I offer you this: do we really want what is perfect and holy (and therefore Good)?

I think we are made for it, and our kids are made for it. We are made for God (the only One who is Good-Mark 10:18), and to be in relationship to Him. But I think sin (and Satan) confuses us so deeply that we often lose sight of this great goodness we’ve actually been made for- which is freedom! That confusion turns the law- and the importance of holiness- into duty, obligation, and something that seems like it must be generated by the self. I think we need to be addressing holiness from a perspective of goodness and gift (inseparable from the gospel); it is living toward freedom (by/in/through Jesus) from sin (which causes so much damage and so much pain). Run from sin, run toward Jesus, toward Love, toward goodness (which includes holiness).

And when kids can’t run, or because sometimes nothing you can say, do, or teach causes them to do this sort of running (as only the Holy Spirit can), be assured that Jesus did all of the running (in the form of dying on the cross) for them and for you. And He runs after them and after you. Without an understanding of this suicide marathon on our behalf (the most ultimate, incredible love ever to be offered), talking about or teaching on holiness will never be anything but ‘hamster-in-a- wheel news.’ Living in and toward holiness (which must always remain connected to living in and toward Jesus, as He is the Holy One) is actually freedom from non-holiness (‘bad’ness) and for goodness, which is great news! But we will need the forgiveness, grace, and Presence of the Lord with every breath, so we must keep the gospel as the starting and ending point for any teaching we do on holiness- otherwise it can seem an endpoint in and of itself. Goodness, Himself (Jesus) is the endpoint we need to remain connected to in everything we do.

Teens, Grace, and the Pursuit of Holiness

2011-01-31T11:49:00.002-06:00

Some of you may have picked up on the cyber banter currently going on about the age-old charge of "Antinomian" against Reformation-minded theologians and preachers. The debate comes back to one question: "How are lives changed?", a question we see as central to our role as "grace-driven" student ministers. To catch you up:

It all started with Jason Hood's article published last Monday on Christianity Today which charged followers of Martyn Lloyd-Jones, who claimed "there was 'no better test' of gospel fidelity than an accusation of antinomianism", of falling into the beguiles of a law-allergic culture.

Next came the rebuttal by Dane Ortlund on The Gospel Coalition blog. Ortlund moves straight to "the real crux" of the debate, which is "how this radical obedience and personal holiness are to be encouraged". Ortlund's answer follows: "The solution to immorality is the free grace of God—grace so free that it will be (mis)heard by some as a license to sin with impunity. The route by which the New Testament exhorts radical obedience is not by tempering grace but by driving it home all the more deeply."

It doesn't end there. Hood responded Friday with a defense and his own response to Ortlund's proposed question. Hood argues that as New Creations, we now have the power to work alongside God as he sanctifies us, and that preaching should reflect that newfound power: "Let’s preach with Paul that believers in Christ have a new life, and new Holy Spirit power. They are graciously given a new identity and new capacity for good works, holiness, and righteousness (Eph 4:24ff). Then let’s preach lots of other radical indicatives and lots of radical imperatives, imitating Galatians, Ephesians, and Romans. Maybe even James!"

Ortlund came back yesterday with what seems to be the peace treaty, concluding, "You [Hood] want to call people to holiness, as the new creatures they are, and bring them into a deep awareness the gospel of grace. I want to call people to holiness, as the new creatures they are, by bringing them into deeper and deeper awareness of the gospel of grace. You believe “effort and action [are] central to sanctification.” I believe the gospel is central to sanctification, and that effort and action are neither central nor optional (optional = antinomianism) but integral."

What then? How do we, as grace-centered student ministers, respond to this? How do walk the fine line? How do we call our students to holiness without falling into the heresy of antinomianism or the heresy of legalism?

Stay tuned as we address these issues in our next series, "Teens, Grace, and the Pursuit of Holiness".

Teaching to the Victim

2011-01-25T11:12:00.001-06:00

Today was one of those days where I finished teaching Sunday School completely baffled at how grateful I am for the honor it is to share the grace of Jesus with students.

One of my dearest friends works for a sexual assault resource agency, and she and I have regular discussions about speaking to kids and relating to trauma with them. One of the things her organization teaches their staff is to always treat a group they are addressing as if there is at least one victim present. This helps them to be sensitive to how they share and convey information as well as present themselves (for they want to be approachable).

In a similar manner, the need for the regular presentation of the gospel to our kids cannot be overemphasized; for there could always be an unexpected struggle or trauma one of them is currently experiencing.

I’ve been to more than one sermon and far more than one lesson in churches where Jesus isn’t talked about. In asking why this is so, I have often received the response that it is assumed the congregation/group ‘already knows the gospel’, therefore, other issues in Christianity are addressed. I think we need to be seriously cautious about making these assumptions, and I don’t think there is a person alive who doesn’t regularly need the Word of Life (Jesus) offered to them. As youth workers, we have the incredible honor of being able to do that, and my experience today was a sobering reminder.

After concluding the lesson, I sat down to talk with a new student* who hadn’t been to Sunday School before, as I noticed that he looked a little downcast. He proceeded to show me his bandaged wrist and tell me a little about the debilitating depression which had led to him being sent home from boarding school just a few days prior. He had attempted suicide and they ‘didn’t know what to do with him.’

There are few times when I have been as grateful to have just shared the gospel of Jesus with a group of people. Five years ago, my teaching would have included much more of the ‘What it means to live as a Christian’ sorts of topics, and I’m not sure my lesson would have offered this kid anything of real Hope (which is found in Jesus alone). Praise God, I believe He can and does use anything for His purposes and our good; therefore, He may have used whatever I taught. But I never again want to overlook the opportunity to focus on sharing the reality of our Living God, Jesus. We need the Word every day, and there are endless angles from which to approach the gospel. This is not to say we never address the other issues of Christianity; but please, let us keep Jesus at the center. He is our Hope- the Way, the Truth, the Life. We can’t ever fully know where our kids are coming from.

*the details of this child have been changed to protect privacy