The Grove Is On Fire

Shepherding a Child's Heart Conference Media

The Resurgence (a Mars Hill Seattle thing) ran a conference on Shepherding A Child's Heart recently. All the audio (and video) is up now so you can download it. This link breaks one of the fundamental rules of The Grove Is On Fire, in that I've haven't watched or read it all before I link to it, so if it's rubbish, apologies. It almost certainly won't be though, because The Resurgence generally doesn't do rubbish.

Your EMA Might Still Not Work

Hot on the failings to roll out the Educational Maintenance Allowance to enough people in time last year, they might attempt to do the same thing this year. If your young people haven't got their magic EMA entitlement form back already, well they probably will just a few weeks late. They might have to spend less for a few weeks, or you know, get a job or something.

The Youth Bible

After months of furtive conversations with strangers in between unilluminated musty bookshelves at the back of second-hand antique shops, hours spent searching through the darkest realms of the internet hoping for some new information, and years of savings ploughed into what should have been a lost cause, I finally got hold of it; the holy grail of youth work blogging research.

Alright, so I asked for it in my Facebook status and I got a couple of responses in the next hour, but still, who cares how I got hold of it, the important thing is that I got hold of it.

What's so magical about this Bible? If you either weren't a youth worker or a church going teenager during the 90's you may never have seen it, but if you were, you've seen it and you fear it's return. This is a bible that while seemingly quite normal inside its pages there contains not only the very words of God, but also helpful footnotes and pop-out boxes explaining certain things it also contains things called "Life Notes". These pop-out boxes tell the story of someone inevitably called John or Hannah, as they decide to do something that might vaguely relate to the passage at hand. These stories are inevitably riveting and exciting, often far more so than the talk, bible study, or prayer time currently going on. And once one story is over, the next is only a short few page turns away. You can read through all of Jeremiah in the space of a ten minute sermon if you don't actually read Jeremiah. For this reason alone; they're dreadful dreadful things

But actually, reading back through them. they're not as weak content-wise as perhaps memory told me. Okay, some of them are, and some of them are even worse, but some are even quite good. Here's an example of a reasonably bad one (see the photo above). Taking the simplest possible application from the passage, with no reference to wider salvation history or Christ, it slaps the application down on badly imagined real world situation, and barely skirts just plain moralising (kids! don't get impatient! That's bad!). If it wasn't for the "consider actively trusting in God next time..." at the bottom of the box it'd be no different from Islam¹, and even so, it's barely...

Oh, and also fact fans; Steve Chalke's face appears on the back cover. That's right, Steve Chalke is on the "about the author" part of the bible!

¹ Here's a good test I stole from someone I can't remember (possibly Mike Reeves in a podcast) to see if you're a teaching the Old Testament in a moralistic legalistic way. If what you're teaching could be taught in a synagogue with out an eye-lid being batted, you're teaching wrong.

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The Advent of Humility

Tim Keller writes about humility.

And so we vow not to talk or act like that. If we then notice "a humble turn of mind" in ourselves, we immediately become smug--but that is pride in our humility. If we catch ourselves doing that we will be particularly impressed with how nuanced and subtle we have become. Humility is so shy. If you begin talking about it, it leaves. To even ask the question, "Am I humble?" is to not be so. Examining your own heart, even for pride, often leads to being proud about your diligence and circumspection.

So let us preach grace till humility just starts to grow in us.

(via)

Follow the Star

The BBC has a list of the current top four suggestions for what the Christmas star actually was. Comets are out, stars aligning are in. I'm holding out for the last one, because it sounds the coolest, but you know, whatever.

Time Off

Last week, in an unprecedented move, we shifted the boys bible study group from Monday night to Sunday night. I, in an unusual situation, don't work at all on the weekends unless we're going away with the young people. I don't do any paid employment on Sunday, I even get to attend the church that has ownership over the community centre I work for out of my own choice, not as part of my contract. Sunday for me, is a day off of work.

Which brings us to today's subject; the magic time off that you're supposed to take to keep yourself fresh and not burnt out. The logic goes something like that, as a youth minister you should take at least one entire day off a week where you don't worry about the youth; other wise you'll explode. You probably still will die unless you take two days off a week. And if you don't switch your phone off you'll have a heart attack right this minute.

Obviously, the root of this advice is pretty sound. Screw up how you work, and how you think about work and you'll screw yourself up. This isn't a good idea, and you should protect yourself from this. But some of it seems a bit misguided, and sometimes down-right sinful when you compare this to the advice of Jesus that says "The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life" (John 12:25).

Here's a thought, your ministry can only be done in the power of the Holy Spirit, therefore if you occasionally go "oh gosh, I can't do this, I'm going to die", then you're probably doing it right. Or to put it the other way around; if your work is such that by taking regular days off and keeping track of your hours you can avoid all the pain and heartache of ministry, you're definitely doing it wrong.

Now, that's only a start point on how we, as youth ministers should go around balancing their hours, but it's probably a fairly good place to start. Days off and time out won't keep you sane and healthy in youth work, they can't replace the Holy Spirit.

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Icebreakers

"Icebreakers are there to break ice"

Nate - in the pub, while discussing why books for youth groups who know each other really well always contain lots of ice-breakers.

"It Doesn't Matter Which You Heard": the Curious Cultural Journey of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah"

A history of the popular sport of covering the song Hallelujah by Jeff Buckley Leonard Cohen. Essentially, all bands are covering Buckley's version, not the original. Read the article, amaze your friends in the pub, despair at the British music industry (or don't actually, there's loads of great stuff out, it's just not getting to number one soon).

And, aside, you should probably download Jeff Buckley's cover of Halleljuah because it's currently number 3 in the iTunes chart, and what could be a better number one than that?

Partnering With Parents

Good article on how parents are the chief method that God uses to grow Christian kids. It's worth reading for the content itself, but also to flag up this line "we youth pastors sit around for hours discussing why it is we see so many of our students dropping off upon graduation". If I find a blog that I respect talking about youth ministry as a whole as something that's working, I shall fall off my chair.

Parental Responsibility

Random, random little bit of information that you might need to be aware of as youth workers. Until 2003 (in England and Wales, later in the other home nations) a child born outside of marriage had, in legal terms, only the mother as their responsible parent. So fathers who weren't married to the mother wouldn't have any parental responsibilities for the child, unless they apply for it in court, or get married to the mother later. I think this works out slightly differently when it comes to custody and all that stuff, but it means that sometimes the dad cannot give full consent to medical treatment. If a child was born after 2003 then both their parents will have parental responsibility, married or not.

All this is a bit odd, and worth bearing in mind when you get consent forms done, but the whole consent form thing is a bit odd when it comes to medical treatment, as anyone who is looking after the child (presumably with the parent's knowledge) can do "what is reasonable in all the circumstances of the case for the purpose of safeguarding or promoting the child's welfare"¹. Sometimes I wonder if every form we do should be filed under "saving our asses" as opposed to "legally required". In short, when getting parental consent forms, the mother is the winner if the parents are unmarried and certainly getting her contact details as well as the dad's are fairly important, but I wouldn't stress about it too much.

¹ The British Medical Association Website has a lot more details on this , but from very much a doctor's perspective.

Where Are They Now?

Interesting question; Ian is curious as am I as to what has happened to the people who trained and went into youth ministry and then dropped out of it. What caused them to drop out, why did they quit and all that stuff. You can express early interest in the research over on his website.

Real Advice Hurts

On the subject of overdosing on tips and websites and lists

But, it's time to stop pretending that practical expertise at anything can take place in an RSS reader.

Next time you find yourself staring at another re-packaged post about all the "resources" for becoming great at whatever you're theoretically excited about, ask yourself for specific evidence -- things you can point to that you've done or made -- that reflect the improvement all those thousands of tips and resources brought you.

Things I've learnt lately: it's easier to pretend you can do something than to actually do it.

Little Known Traits Of A Great Youth Worker

We all love lists and this is as good as any; 9 little known traits of a great youth worker.

Get A New Bible

The BBC News magazine speaks out about the market for new ways of presenting the bible, including running down five of the slightly odder. The Manga Bible is genuinely pretty cool, and I'm not sure I know a youth worker who hasn't used the Brick Testament at some point.

There's a quote I can't find anywhere that goes something like, "the surest sign of the bible being read less is the growth in the amount of editions it is published in", which is probably the most pertinent comment about this whole business.

100 Broken Windows

The long standing common sense that a place that looks trashy will lead to more trash has unsurprisingly been proved correct.

A few broken windows in an empty building quickly lead to more smashed panes, more vandalism and eventually to break-ins. The tendency for people to behave in a particular way can be strengthened or weakened depending on what they observe others to be doing. This does not necessarily mean that people will copy bad behaviour exactly, reaching for a spray can when they see graffiti. Rather, says Dr Keizer, it can foster the "violation" of other norms of behaviour.

I'm fairly certain the application from this is quite obvious.