Ministry

Its not about you…why I dont do worship time in Youth group. The Body of Christ needs more!

/ youthguysteve / 2 Comments

11133942_465215150311741_663531651424318360_oI am a full time Youth Minister.  I serve a Church in Big Rapids Michigan and  I a believe one of the most important things I can teach my young people whom I serve is Church isn’t all about them.  Church is about the body of Christ coming together.  It is about being one body not just a youth church.  We get in trouble in ministry and a church when we say one group is more important than the other or I only care about one part of the body  who are like me.

I don’t do worship in youth group on purpose. For those who know me, they know I can’t sing.  In fact Sunday I left my mic on for the whole last hymn.  Needless to say their was some crying at the end of the service. I don’t do worship in youth group for a whole different reason. I do not believe youth groups should do worship regularly for Youth group time.  The reason is I don’t want our students thinking that YG is the same as being a part of the whole body of Christ.  I want are students in worship because it is where we see the whole body of Christ gather and share its need for forgiveness in confession and absolution, in the breaking of bread, and fellowship.

Many of my students and even their parents can forget this fact about the body.  We seem to think all to often that Church is about me and my group of peers. I have had parents and students say “They aren’t going to Church but they are going to be at Youth group which I the same thing.” I cry a little when that happens.  Being a part of the body of Christ is all about being with the whole body.  The body needs those who are 95 and crusty, it needs the 5 year old with snot running down his nose, it needs the teenager who is uncomfortable with her body, the single mom, the dad who is struggling with self worth, It needs all of it because it is all the body trying to come together to follow the head who is Jesus. It is these moments when we learn to walk together through our mess and see Jesus clean it up.

The whole body in needed to function properly is doesn’t mean we don’t have groups who meet together who are alike, it just means that shouldn’t be the end goal. Our end goal should be the whole body gathered together. So how are you intentionally gathering together with those in your Church who are not like you? How are you helping grow the whole body of Christ?

 There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call—  one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Ephesians 4:4-7 ESV

Rinse, Lather, Repeat…Discipleship

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20150413_205916My body wash reminded me of something this morning. Every so often in the morning I want to stay in the shower. Sometimes because it is warm, but mostly because it gives men a few minutes to get my head on straight before I have to deal with the world of two young people and a teenager.  Oh my kids aren’t that bad.  They have their cranky moments and they act like all little sinners some times but I wouldn’t expect anything less. Their dad’s theme song is often chief of sinners though I be. Today I was in the shower and happened to be reading the back of my body wash.  I know I am weird but like I said I like to take a few minutes.  I was blown away as I read the bottle.  Rinse lather and repeat as necessary, it says. As a guy I have never really thought about doing it twice.  Most of the time if I have done it twice it is because I got so little sleep the night before that I forgot I did it in the first place.

When we talk about sharing our faith with our kids, families and for me Youth group, I forget that I need to rinse and repeat more often than not.  I sometimes forget the importance of this process in making disciples of Jesus.  I often think of Jesus and how he taught the same thing over and over again just so he could give them the holy spirit and then they would finally understand. We are a stubborn people in need of constant reminder.  We like the Israelites, disciples, and really everyone else in the Bible have seen God work in great and amazing ways yet we constantly have to be reminded of the things God has done in our lives.

So maybe today you are struggling with teaching your family, your youth group, your Church, your friend or yourself.  Remember we need to hear it over and over again.  Like shower time it isn’t is a one time thing.  The really tough stuff might even take multiple times in one attempt to get it clean. So lets all remember to keep bathing in God’s Word! Rinse, lather, repeat.

And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Deuteronomy 6:6-9

Reading the Bible in a year as family…so awkward, yet so amazing.

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WP_20141230_004This year my family and I have decided for family devotions we are going to try and read the whole bible in a year.  We grabbed my 12 and 10 year old their own one year bibles and grabbed the ones my wife and I had gotten a few years ago and started reading.  My six year old also got her first bible this year.  So far it has been interesting to say the least. It has been a struggle, humorous, and at times just plain awkward. I think it is funny how being in God’s word this way has opened up some great family time. We ask each kid to read a section from the bible, either the old testament, new testament, or Psalm section.  It also brought some guilt when the kids missed the month of March because we just go busy and I didn’t make them read.  My wife and I had to read an number of days to catch up but now we started as a family again just a few days ago in April.

My favorite family moment so far this year is when my son was reading out loud and got to the story of Lots girls sleeping with dad and instead of saying laid with dad he inserted hubida-hubida.  We all laughed so hard at his dead pan and the awkwardness of the moment that it took some time to have our bodies be able to adjust to the lack of oxygen. We have had countless other funny moments and laughter but that one probably was the greatest.

So why do I bring this story up. I think sharing Jesus and the bible with your kids is the single greatest responsibility we are given as disciples of Jesus.  I for one have failed in a lot of ways passing on faith with my kids. This year of being in the word every night as a family and laughing at some of the weird stories in the Bible has brought us greater opportunities for faith conversation and how God is working through history.  Any family who can read through the books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy together without falling asleep will be stronger I am sure of it. We have had some great a-hah moments as we struggled through some of the texts together. I got to answer some great questions and help my kids see the bigger picture of God’s faithfulness. My wife also enjoyed watching me try to explain some crazy stories in the Old Testament to a 6 year old.

So what is the point? Well my point is I wish I had done this years ago with the kids. I wish I had taken the time to get through the scriptures together so we could explore this thing called faith more and more together. Start today, start tomorrow, but start reading together, it will change your life.

You can’t swim alone…Faith is something lived out in community.

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DSC00958American Christianity is way too focused on individuality.  I constantly here from people “faith is personal, and none of your business.” Faith is a me and God thing leave me alone.  That is hog wash.  This Christian walk is not about being alone.  It is about walking together with others.  It is not just a you and God thing.God’s kingdom here on earth is not just about you.

So for all of you who are mad and screaming at your screen calm down. Stop screaming at the screen it is weird when someone is screaming at a screen.  Second our faith is lived out in community.  Yes your faith is between you and God but it is lived out in community.

Regular worship attendance in a Church is less than once a month.  People who are coming to worship are coming and running back out the door.  Many seem do to it when they have nothing else going on. This is a sad thing.  This is a work of the devil to get us isolated so we can be picked off.  So he can drown us in our own sin.

The early Christian Church thought of the sanctuary as a nave or ship.  They talked about it as the place people came to be together in faith.  Where they could lift each other up.  My comment to people who say they don’t need to come together for worship is “You can swim in the ocean for a long time but without a ship you will die.”  As disciples in Christ we are called lift each other up. We are called to

This week is Holy week.  I pray for my brothers and sisters in Christ that they would come and gather with us to hear about what Christ has done for us.  That we may look at each other this weekend reminding each other of our sin, and the work Christ did for us so we could experience forgiveness from God.   We live this faith out in community and that is what we need to encourage each other to do.

And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. Hebrews 10:24-25 ESV

Mountains and valleys…some days life and ministry are hard

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Some days ministry I hard. Some days you have ups and downs. You have that event you have been planning for months fall flat, you have that relationship you work so hard at fall apart, you think you are doing it right and it falls apart. It can be a place of awful valleys.

Some days you have the right words, some days you feel like you changed a life for the better. In ministry I find my ups and downs can even happen in the sane day. I don’t want to live a life that doesn’t have these ups and downs. I can’t live in the middle I have to journey in the peaks and valleys. But how do we survive the journey in ministry and life?

I remind myself of the highs. I pull up the stories of joy, hope and changed lives. I have to be reminded of these because by nature Satan wants me to focus on the mistakes, the pain and the failures. He doesn’t want me to see and remember the changed lives or mountain top moments or remember the right words at the right time. He wants me to focus on the valleys.

Today as we sit down to pray let’s think about the mountain tops and not the valleys. Lets hold up the times God has chosen to show us lives changed. Lets hold on to them so we don’t fall but cling to Jesus who gave us these moments so we could follow him and trust in him as we walk alongside so many people He has placed in our lives.

Psalm 23 ESV
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.