Young People don’t need Elisha – A plea from all youth workers.

Have you got what we are looking for?

There is this great story in the OT about Elisha really early on in his ministry. Elisha is on a journey up to Bethel and on route a bunch of rowdy young people highlighting his distinct lack of hair suggests that he should, for lack of a better phrasing “disappear”. ‘Get out of here, baldy!’ they keep shouting no doubt with a lot of laughing and pointing at the reflective surface.

But Elisha’s response is, well a little bit harsh to be fair. I imagine him looking up at the lads (who I presume have high ground to be able to see the shiny surface so clearly) and with a grumpy face shouting something like ‘you think you’re funny do you? Huh? Well lets see who has the last laugh…’ and then as the Bears start chasing down the youth I imagine him saying ‘I may not have any hair left, but those Bears I’m commanding look pretty hairy…’

As we all know this story ends badly for the young people and what does Elisha do? He just keeps on walking. Cue the bad boy music and a slow motion gangster walk.

Clearly I have an active mind! But as someone with a similar fate seemingly coming their way, I often find myself wondering how I will respond to young people when that dreaded day finally arrives and I begin to wear hats in the summer. Let’s be honest, the hairs already migrating and the hats are being brought so the question is:

How do you respond to young people being cheeky, or challenging or just fairly random at times?

I ask this because there are many young people needing good role models and we need people who have got what it takes to work with them.

We need those who can commit time to our young people, to encourage, support, work with, invest in and champion them and we need those people now!

This is not a request for everybody, I would not have Elisha in my youth team, no matter how many axe heads he could float. This is an opportunity for those, not of a certain age, or stage in life but who love the Lord, love young people and want to work hard to provide them with the best opportunities to grow in faith, in self and in life!

If that is you, go talk to the Youth Pastor and get involved.

Persecution should not be ignored

Picture the scene. The first Roman church gathers to read a letter from Pastor Paul. This church, a people who once called the Emperor their ruler, now live under the rule of another, a crucified Jewish prophet who claimed to have defeated death. The way they do life has changed: friends begin to see them as enemies; their discreet gatherings gradually become secret; their hope for a new tomorrow seems somewhat futile under the cruel Emperor Nero, who used Christians as human torches to light his garden parties. It’s into this reality Paul writes these words:

‘…we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.’ – Romans 5: 1-4

As Paul’s words were uttered into the ears of the first persecuted church I wonder how they felt hearing ‘glory in our sufferings.’ I honestly cannot begin to imagine.

I wonder sometimes if I, a Christian brought up in a Britain where my right to religious freedom is mostly protected, will ever read the words of Paul and truly understand how the first church received this promise of hope. For them suffering was real and persecution a tangible reality that went hand in hand with choosing to follow Jesus. The concept of a persecution-free life doesn’t seem to be present in their story. Yet the truth is, for those of us who chose to follow Jesus today the story hasn’t changed.

I’ve been sitting on this fact for a while now. Uncomfortable with the noise of persecution and yet the silence of the church. Unable to ignore the insanely unjust realities people have been living, most recently in Syria and Iraq; and the incredibly comfortable place I’ve been reading about it from. It makes sense that in this place of conflicting feelings and aparent powerlessness about whether I am doing enough, that I would be asked to write about how to respond and draw the young people into the discussion and make use of the events and resources of projects like International Day of Prayer (IDOP) to do so.

My response is covered in the article written for ‘Threads’  and I invite you to read it. (You can read the article here)

But if you’ve had enough of reading my brain on paper let me leave you with this thought.

You are powerful, you have a voice, it may be quiet but it’s not alone. You are (most likely) safe and free to follow Jesus if you are reading this blog, so take advantage of that freedom and speak up for our Brothers and Sisters. Don’t feel guilty about how much you do, just do something.

Here are some quality charities and resources to get you started…

IDOP (International Day of Prayer)

Open Doors Youth

Barnabas Fund

The Voice of the Martyrs 

 

 

Spotting real tangible growth

God and the Young People

“I can’t stand your religious meetings.
I’m fed up with your conferences and conventions.
I want nothing to do with your religion projects,
your pretentious slogans and goals.
I’m sick of your fund-raising schemes,
your public relations and image making.
I’ve had all I can take of your noisy ego-music.
When was the last time you sang to me?
Do you know what I want?
I want justice—oceans of it.
I want fairness—rivers of it.
That’s what I want. That’s all I want.
Amos 5:21-24

Ouch. Sometimes when we read scripture we just have to stop and re-think how we are doing this Christianity thing. I love Church, I love festivals and cool God slogans (one of my all time favs -‘GSUS, more then a chord’) and I must confess that noisy music with some ambient lights and some profound lyrics like ‘oooh oooh oooh’ really excite me and make me feel great about being a Christian. But is all that stuff what following Jesus is all about?
According to Amos, God just isn’t interested in that stuff as much as we are. Sure we can glorify God through that stuff, but it is a very small part in Gods plan. What excites Father Gods heart is to see his people being little Christ’s where it really matters- in our ‘living it’.

This is what has been on my heart as the youth worker. Father God, let the young people know what it is to be a true follower of Jesus, if the traditions are getting in the way, scrap them. When I first started at Cairns I would always worry about numbers on a Sunday morning and began thinking through how to get young people into the doors. I thought, ‘maybe if I preached more or enticed them with sweets and maybe even money that will do it and then as soon as they get through the door BAM, God will reveal himself and they will love Church and come every Sunday’. Seriously, I really thought that! and I must confess I did try coaxing some young people in with the sweets thing, but realised as time went on that my perspective was all wrong. God reminded me that if I really wanted young people to meet him, then I had to truly show them His heart and not just parrot the same old ‘right answers’.

We over complicate things really. What is on Gods heart is simple, he wants his people back and he wants them to look like Jesus in the everyday. To be more concerned about their neighbour’s welfare then whether or not they should go to church on sunday. To put scripture into practice and not just into memory. So what should we do? Scrap Sundays? of course not, it’s the body gathered. Change it so that it doesn’t look like the contemporary culture from the 80’s, yeh maybe someday…But its not even about that. It is simply about getting our hands dirty again. Doing the stuff we so often talk about on sundays–being the light God has called us to be (Matt 5).

Now we have arrived at the reason for my rant.
I’m excited! Because God is moving in the young people I work with and they are growing into mighty fine followers of Jesus and action has been the catalyst. From what I have seen the young people understand what following Jesus looks like when they clean up some single mums garden they don’t know from Adam, but knowing it just might making a difference to her life. They get it when they spend a week serving in orphanages and the most powerful message is not a ‘God slot’ preached but simply holding a little boy that even in Europe seems to have been abandoned by government and worthless in society. They get it when they can fight for the things that are on Gods heart, like justice and fairness, equality…you know the kingdom stuff.

So if, like me, you have been worried about how much the young people are growing when they seem so disengaged with traditional Sunday morning ‘church’, then ask them what they are doing instead and if they are getting their hands dirty with God. Why not ask them what they think is on Gods heart. I think, you’ll find something is happening and its spot on… And when you find that out, give thanks!