Church in Mission

Wednesday reflection for week 10

Tyler — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 15:43:20 +0000

This was an enjoyable class. From beginning to end, I felt like i was learning. On Wednesday, it was good for us to be able to re-cap and react to what we had written down at the beginning of the class and compare it to what we had put at the end of the class. It was interesting, because the major themes of my answers were very similar, but I was using different language and I felt that I had more concrete avenues to express my ideas the second time around. I feel like I have done a lot of growing throughout this class. thanks for a great quarter!

Wenesday Reflection for Week 9

Tyler — Mon, 05 Mar 2007 12:52:11 +0000

We talked about action steps for our case study context. It was good for me to think about the ideas of drawing vision and awareness from within the group as they begin to understand a need. The concept of beginning to form a core group of people that is sympathetic to the ideas of change and then beginning to experiment was also good for me to hear because it gave some concrete ideas for beginning to start some of these ideas. It was also good for me to hear some more feedback for my paper. I got some good advice to try to make section 2 and 3 corespond together a little better, so hopefully that will be helpful.

Monday Reflection for Week 9

Tyler — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 11:50:16 +0000

The most interesting thing for me on Monday was the idea of a people movement for missions. It seems like this is clearly the simplest way the Gospel can be spread effectively. Believer’s lives should be different to the extent that those who don’t believe want to know what makes a person tick. “Why do you live that way?” is the easiest and most natural segway for sharing your faith. The audience is already captivated and the Spirit is working. It seems to make a lot of sense in my context of youth ministry to pursue this sort of sharing Christ through lifestyle type of evangelism. Especially in todays youth culture, it seems like a person living for Christ would truely be a light in a dark place. And its the least stressful and least confrontational for young believers who do not have all the answers or perfect arguments.

Wednesday Reflection for Week 8

Tyler — Mon, 26 Feb 2007 21:25:36 +0000

On Wenesday we discussed The Great Giveaway, by Fitch. The thing that stuck with me the most was the idea of moral education using biblical principles as opposed to character education in the public schools. I think that it is true that much of the ways that we attempt to educate in the church is modeled by teaching strategies that are used in public schools. The way that Jesus taught was by discipleship, or simply put, through modeling. The disciples were able to live along side of Jesus as he did his ministry and as he lived life and that is how they learned to live. Our educational system however teaches by lecturing. We are to sit and learn from someone who has mastered what is being taught and this is how we are to learn. Living for Christ is not something that is ever “mastered.” It seems like we should be using biblical principles in our teaching through discipleship as opposed to lecturing.

Case Study, 2nd Draft

Tyler — Mon, 26 Feb 2007 01:06:26 +0000

It seems that we live in a culture in which church is often viewed as an event which is attended (or endured) once a week (maybe) on Sundays. Christianity is often viewed in the context of “going to church.” It is impossible however to open up the Bible and read the words of Jesus or the early church and leave with such a simplified religious view of faith or those who believe. It is the purpose of this paper to explore the ideas of community and the mission of God within our contemporary culture.

Case Study Context

The case study in which I will be exploring these ideas, is the context of my church youth group. I attend the Vineyard church of Glendora, California and my wife and I have recently been given the leadership of our youth group. Currently we have an average of 12 students attending each week. These twelve students represent four different high schools and two who are home schooled. Because of this, they do not see each other on a daily basis and so it is difficult to create community or to give one another support which is needed in today’s youth culture.

The most interesting dynamic concerning our group is the lack of parental support for their faith. Out of our group, only two students (from the same family) have parents that fully support their faith and attend church regularly. A couple of our students drag their parents to church sometimes, but other beyond that the parents are either non-believers or believers only by mouth.

In some instances parents have even expressed hostility toward the faith of their students. Due to this, it is clear that certain circumstances, parents have played a role of domination in the lives of these young adults. However, it is clear that God has begun to chip away at the barriers and hostility of these parents. A few months ago, one of my students dad made a confession of faith in Christ and has begun to attend our church irregularly. Only two weeks ago, two mothers of my students attended a worship service and received prayer for physical and inner healing which has greatly encouraged their children. Amazingly enough, even in the midst of these circumstances, God is beginning to use the faith of these students to invade their families.

This lack of support has lead to these students having a faith that is of their own will, which has cut down on nominal faith to a great degree. There is however, a lack of mentoring and support for these young believers. As is seen above, the spiritual (and often emotional) maturity of these students often greatly exceeds that of their parents. Discipleship and initiation as complete members of our worshiping body needs to occur in order for continued growth to take place. This same initiation also needs to be emphasized for these parents whose lives are changing as they see the love of Christ in their children.

Imagine What the Kingdom of God Might Look Like

There is much room for growth and for the kingdom and mission of God to become a reality for our group. First, I believe there needs to be an emphasis on the community aspects of the mission of God in which the trinity could be a symbol of learning for us. In this aspect, our group could learn much from the Eastern Orthodox Church. These students are not receiving support from their schools or our culture or their parents to strengthen their faith, and so this support must come from the church and from within our group. Community must be emphasized and a new vision of what community is needs to be cultivated. Even within our diversity as individual people living incredibly messy lives in our particular circumstances, we need to understand the reality that we are unified in Christ just as God the Father, the Son and the Spirit are one even in their diversity. (Karkkainen, 21)

There needs to be a realization that youth group can be viewed as a legitimate form of church. I am part of the Vineyard church which places a high emphasis on church planting. There is a belief within our church that small groups are where the real church activities take place. Accountability, discipleship, teaching, authentic relationships, and service are all things that are fostered within a small group. This is also a place where participation is highly stressed. As these groups grow and these qualities of church grow more and more, the question is often raised about whether or not a church could be planted from this group. The question is also raised as to why communion could not be served within this context. (Boff, 62) The answer is that it could. I am not arguing that youth group and church should be divided and the youth group entirely independent from the church. These young adults need to guidance and direction that comes from more mature Christians, but I believe and argument can be made that when we come together to worship in our youth group that church is taking place. We need to take this seriously and realize the depth of support we should have for each other as we walk out our daily lives.

Another way in which the kingdom of God can be displayed within our group is by becoming a contrast society. As young adults, these students are being bombarded by the numerous ways that society tells them are acceptable to live in this world. They are taught that seeking after money will satisfy them; that if they attain a certain amount of material affluence then they will be accepted and respected. Unfortunately, the economic situation of our churches does not always contradict this as we seek what is bigger or better constantly. They are taught that seeking immediate pleasure is a legitimate way to feel good about themselves. I envision youth group to be a place that demonstrates that these forms of self seeking does not satisfy, but that the principles of service love and faith will bring satisfaction.

At school, these kids have an opportunity to be an amazing witness to their peers by living differently, by having meaningful and authentic relationships, and by serving instead of seeking after selfish desires. At home, these students have already become a light to their families, but this should be fostered more and more. I dream about a group of believers that live out their faith in the midst of their daily circumstances, being a light that cannot be hidden because their lives stand out as different.

Concrete and Specific Embodiment of the Kingdom

My wife and I have recently taken on one of the seniors in our group as an intern. We have set a goal for the next three months to begin having more regular opportunities for meeting together. I have recently begun bringing one of our young men to the men’s fellowship group that I attend and I have a goal to continue to open up this group for more young men to learn and be discipled by the older men in our church. My wife is also looking into the possibility for setting up opportunities for older women in our church to begin to disciple some of our youth group girls. Along side these opportunities, it is also our goal for our intern (with my wife’s help) to begin a youth women’s small group that would meet weekly. A future goal, if my men’s group becomes to large, would be to split the group off in order to continue growth and mentoring for the young men or to possibly create a group specifically for these students (although I would prefer the former).

Secondly, our group needs to explode out of the walls and boundaries of church. I think we should start meeting at the local skate park regularly. Playing some live music or simply having a presence in the area might give us an opportunity to create relationships with those outside of our group and open our group up for growth. I have a goal to begin meeting at some of the student’s schools if it is possible. This would be a concrete way to begin offering ourselves as a light to so many who do not know Christ.

And we also need to continue to persevere in our love for each others families. Family relationships are an issue that affects each one of these students, whether their parents are believers or not. It is difficult for them to continue in faithfulness to Christ, when they are receiving little guidance or support from their parents. This is something that I believe the church as a whole needs to become involved in. We need to continue to intentionally make opportunities available for the parents of these kids to be included and comfortable in our church environment. The most recent one was a church wide pot luck in which I mentioned above two mothers came and received prayer. Parents will never understand what has changed their children’s lives if they are unable to experience it personally. Hopefully we can continue to minister to families through the faith and lives of their children.

Conclusion

Church does not have to be a Sunday event. It should be lived out daily in our relationships with each other and with God. We need to continue to pursue faithfulness in living as an authentic community and as a light set apart in our culture if we expect to continue to carry on the mission of Christ in our youth group. It should be exciting to see how we can reach outside of our boundaries to touch the lives of those around us.

Monday Reflection for Week 8

Tyler — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 11:11:24 +0000

It was good on Monday to get some feedback from my group about my final paper. The consensus seemed to be that we all felt that it was incredibly difficult to expand our ideas in only 500 words, but the foundations for a paper have been laid. I was encouraged by their reactions to my paper, and I was challenged to continue to work out the kinks. It was good to hear especially from the other person in my group whose case study is a youth group. It is encourageing that he is struggling with similar issues in his group and to see his different perspective and how he has been able to apply the concepts that he has learned from the class. I felt like we were able to teach each other from a different perspective. Beyond that, Monday was Presidents day, and I was bummed that we had class because my wife had the day off… just a personal gripe.

Wednesday Reflection for Week 7

Tyler — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 01:00:36 +0000

We talked about kingdom perspectives for mission, which seem to be a little easier for me to understand because, this is language that is often used in the Bible, as opposed to “trinity” which has to be drawn out from the Bible to form any sort of theology. I feel that while the trinity is believed in my tradition, the

kingdom of
God is something that is stressed a little more when it comes to doing the work of Jesus. God brought about his kingdom through Jesus, and we are called to continue this work through the Spirit we have been given. What I especially like from this view of mission is that there is a faith for doing all of the things Jesus did, including acts of liberation and healing.

Case Study: Final – 1st Draft

Tyler — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 23:46:45 +0000

Church is often viewed as an event which is attended (or endured) once a week (maybe) on Sundays. Christianity is often viewed in the context of “going to church.”It is the purpose of this paper to explore the ideas of community and the mission of God within our contemporary culture.

The case study in which I will be exploring these ideas, is the context of my church youth group. I attend the Vineyard
church of Glendora, California and my wife and I have recently been given the leadership of our youth group. Currently we have an average of 12 students attending each week. The interesting thing with our group is the lack of parental support for their faith. Out of our group, only two students (from the same family) have parents that fully support their faith and attend church regularly. A couple of our students drag their parents to church sometimes, but other beyond that the parents are either non-believers or believers only by mouth.

This lack of support has lead to these students having a faith that is of their own will, which has cut down on nominal faith to a great degree. There is however, a lack of mentoring and support for these young believers. Discipleship and initiation as complete members of our worshiping body needs to occur in order for continued growth to take place.

There is much room for growth and for the kingdom and mission of God to become a reality for our group. First, I believe their needs to be an emphasis on the community aspects of the mission of God in which the trinity could be a symbol of learning for us. These students are not receiving support from their schools or our culture or their parents to strengthen their faith, and so this support must come from the church and from within our group.

Another way in which the kingdom of God can be displayed within our group is by becoming a contrast society. As young adults, these students are being bombarded by the numerous ways that society tells them are acceptable to live in this world. At school, these kids can be an amazing witness by living differently, by having meaningful and authentic relationships, and by serving instead of seeking after selfish desires. At home, these students have already become a light to their families, but this should be fostered more and more.

In concrete terms, our community needs to begin meeting together more regularly that on Friday nights and Sunday mornings. When we do meet together we need to be more intentional about keeping up on what is happening in each others lives. We need to be accountable to each other and minister to each other and spur one another on. We need to begin acting like the community we feel that we are in our hearts. Secondly, we need to explode out of the walls and boundaries of church. I think we should start meeting at the local skate park regularly. We should meet at school if it is possible. And we also need to continue in perseverance our love for each others families.

Church does not have to be a Sunday event. It should be lived out daily in our relationships with each other and with God. It should be exciting to see how we can reach outside of our boundaries to touch the lives of those around us.

Monday Reflection for Week 7

Tyler — Wed, 14 Feb 2007 11:54:35 +0000

We began to take a look at the missional Church movement and the shift to viewing the church as participating in the mission of God to the World. The mission is manifested in Jesus through the Father and the power of the Spirit, and we are to continue in the mission that Jesus began. We also discussed in our groups, how we might put into practice the ideas of the emerging church in our own ministry context. I believe the most difficult part for me is the aspects of participation and creativity. This will require the students to take ownership of the ministry and this may be a challenge.

Wednesday Reflection for week 6

Tyler — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 12:30:11 +0000

We spent the class time on Wednesday in a lecture and discussion of the 9 aspects that are commonly shared in emerging church communities. I think the most difficult concept for me about the emerging churches are the ideas that everyone creates and leads and participates in worship. I feel like this is a very biblical concept, but that it is incredibly difficult to actually do. To have this as a priority would mean to change almost every aspect of church. It seems like it would mean no more pastor, but many pastors and creators. At the same time, I struggle with the idea that it seems like there must be leaders that direct and teach. Maybe I struggle with this mainly because I feel like I have been called to be one who teaches and directs in one of God’s churches. Where is the place of bible teaching and instruction in an emerging church? Where is the place of theological education? It seems like an ideal to believe that all would have equal say and authority in a church, but then where does vision come from? I dont know, I just feel like some of these things need to be ironed out a little better next class.