Tag: youthwork

Spiritual formation: a family matter

In his article “Spiritual formation: a family matter,” C. Ellis Nelson writes about spiritual formation in light of Shemá.

Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.  Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. (Deut 6.4-9)

Nelson emphasizes that if God is not part of an upbringing in a household, “children will, under ordinary circumstances, either fashion a private idea of God, become unaware of God’s existence, or consider God unimportant.” Direct teaching by some kind of religious institution or authority can not substitute for the family in this regard. Nelson claims:

Direct teachings about God are important but what is taught can get split off from the events of daily life. If this happens, then the children may begin to develop a legalistic, obey-the-rules type of relation to God or a dogmatic, I-know the-truth style of religion.

Relational Youth Ministry

Andrew Root’s article “Reexamining Relational Youth Ministry: Implications from the Theology of Bonhoeffer” is an excellent reminder that youth ministry should not be about creating a place of influence but a place of sharing. The question the church must ask according to Root is:

Will we seek to hire young, magnetic individuals who can use relationships as a means to an end, or will we, all of us (youth workers, volunteers, and congregation members), bravely take the initiative to walk into the center of adolescents’ deepest sufferings and joys, standing with and for them, sharing their place? In this way relationships are an end, the concrete presence of Christ in the world.

Word & World –  Summer 2006.

Plagiarism

In an interview, she said the idea of an author whose singular effort creates an original work is rooted in Enlightenment ideas of the individual. It is buttressed by the Western concept of intellectual property rights as secured by copyright law. But both traditions are being challenged.

from Lines on Plagiarism Blur for Students in the Digital Age – NYTimes.com via Hamma Library.

Effective Youth and Family Ministry

On the website of the ELCA Youth Ministry Network (Warning: it has sound), one can find various resources for youth and family ministry. On of them is “Definition of Effective Youth and Family Ministry: A Working Document (ver. 1.2).

The document as based on ten words that should describe Youth and Family Ministry, and what those words should entail.

The Document can be accessed via ELCA YMNET -> Resources -> More Resources … .

Religious Life

In her article “Creating a Spiritual World for Children to Inhabit,” Karen-Marie Yust talks about children’s formation and the role of practices, rituals, and ideas. She addresses especially how repetition enforces learning. She takes a helpful example.

An African American toddler boy who repeatedly watches cartoon videos in which the “good guys” with light-colored skin always beat the “bad guys” with dark-colored skin concludes from this observation that light-skinned people are good and dark-skinned people are bad. (A Caucasian child comes to a similar conclusion.) When he is four or five and becomes aware of his own skin color, he will likely experience a tension between his sense of himself as good and his cultural observation that dark-colored skin belongs to bad guys. His white peers will also be more likely to label him as bad when trouble erupts on the playground.

This also applies to gender-images. As part of the childhood culture those experiences that they see in “the adult world” are then “played out” or “tried on.” And here comes the connection to the Religious Life.

When adults act as if religious education is mainly a tool for children’s moral development, children quickly catch on to the irrelevance of religious culture for the grown-up world. They have no incentive for committing themselves to a particular spiritual identity on adolescence if faith is portrayed by adults as something one shed with childhood.

(The Article appeared in Family Ministry, Vol. 18, No. 4, Winter 2004)

Stories We Tell

In the 1930s an anthropologist Morris Olper recorded that among an Apache group of southern New Mexico, a person who had not acted ethically would be asked, “How could you do that? Didn’t you have a grandfather to tell you stories?” The spiritual and religious life depends on the stories you choose to write and tell and those we do not.

Sandy Sasso writes about her books and the importance of storytelling in an article called “The Role of Narrative in the Spiritual Formation of Children” in Family Ministry vol. 19, no. 2, Summer 2005.

Search Institute

Search Institute® is an independent, nonprofit, nonsectarian organization committed to helping create healthy communities for every young person. Because we believe that “all kids are our kids,” we create books and other materials that welcome and respect people of all races, ethnicities, cultures, genders, religions, economic backgrounds, sexual orientations, and abilities. Our Mission: To provide leadership, knowledge, and resources to promote healthy children, youth, and communities.

Search Institute: 50 Years of Discovering What Kids Need to Succeed | Search Institute.

Of special interest at Search Institute are the well known “Developmental Assets.” The Developmental Assets are 40 “qualities essential to raising successful young people.”

Developmental Disability Ministry

Friendship Ministries is a not-for-profit organization that exists to help churches and organizations around the world share God’s love with people who have intellectual disabilities.

Friendship Ministries.

LDM equips the Church to minister with persons who are mentally impaired. Through innovative programs, we evangelize, develop relationships, model servanthood, and disciple leaders

LDM began as an independent ministry serving the Lutheran Church. However, we understand that the mission of LDM is much larger than any single denomination. We are available to assist any Christian congregation to start intentional programs for people that are mentally impaired. Our programs teach the basics of the Christian faith as revealed in God’s Holy Scripture. As Christians, we are saved by God’s grace through Jesus Christ.

LDM.

Fermingarstörf þjóðkirkjunnar

Helstu niðurstöður rannsóknarinnar eru þær að draga þarf úr trúarlegri áherslu starfanna og leggja í staðinn meiri áherslu á ungmennin sjálf, byggja störfin frekar á þeirra eigin forsendum en á forsendum kirkjunnar. Einnig kalla aðstæður í samfélaginu í dag á stóraukna umfjöllun um siðferðileg gildi. Auk þess þarf að fjölga fræðslustundum, koma á fót fermingarstarfahópi og fá söfnuðina til að gera verklýsingar fyrir fermingarstörfin sem og safnaðarnámskrár. Á þeim forsendum lagði ég fram drög að nýrri námskrá fermingarstarfanna.

via Skemman: Fermingarstörf þjóðkirkjunnar: Námsefnis- og námskrárgerð.

Meistaraverkefni Torfa Hjaltalín Stefánssonar er allrar athygli vert. Reyndar tek ég ekki undir að það þurfi að draga úr trúarlegri áherslu starfanna, enda er að mínu viti marklaust að leggja áherslu á aukna fræðslu “um guðshugtakið, um heilagan anda, um þrenningarlærdóm kirkjunnar og sögu hennar” (bls. 167) ef einhvers konar trúariðkun fylgir ekki.

Hins vegar tek ég undir með Torfa að nauðsynlegt er að fræðslan fari fram á forsendum ungmennanna en ekki á einhverjum óljósum forsendum kirkjunnar (lesist prestanna).

Confirmation in ELCA

Few resources from ELCA about confirmation and confirmation studies.

There is no one right way to do confirmation ministry in your congregation! In fact, a quick review of present confirmation practices in the ELCA reveals there is incredible, refreshing diversity across this church. Congregations serious about effectively discipling their youth and adults shape their confirmation ministry offerings in ways that work best for their people, context and particular circumstances.

via Confirmation more than just business as usual.

While it is true that confirmation is a practice not mentioned in Scripture (although it is grounded in Baptism, as we shall see), it was created by the church as a valuable tool for growth in faith. Because of its work through the centuries in helping to shape a Christian’s faith, confirmation ministry remains important to Lutheran congregations today. Its changing form and function over the years is an attempt to address better the needs of the young people of the day.

via The Confirmation Ministry Task Force Report.

Protecting Children and Youth

The Episcopal Church has developed a great resource about children’s protection in church context. It is called “Model policies for the protection of children and youth from abuse” and can be found here (PDF).

ELCA has gathered information on a one place on their website. The informations are at http://www.elca.org/Who-We-Are/Our-Three-Expressions/Churchwide-Organization/Office-of-the-Secretary/Congregation-Administration/Legal-Issues-for-Congregations/Questions-About-Protecting-Children-and-Adults-from-Abuse.aspx.

In Ohio there are few Revised Code sections that deal with this issue: 109.574, 109.575, 109.576, 109.577, 121.401, and 121.402).

Triangle Foundation

When I attended a course in Detroit in 2008, we meet with representatives from various groups that are trying to change the life of individuals and communities for the better. An example of that:

It is the mission of Triangle Foundation to promote equality and to secure freedom from violence, intimidation and discrimination for LGBT persons throughout Michigan.

We visited a community center in Detroit that had no markings on the outside do to intimidation towards LGBTQ. We heard about Ruth Ellis Center and their work with homeless LGBTQ teenagers and young adults.

There we were introduced to the “Heterosexual Questionnaire” that is a very helpful tool to address issues about sexuality. The questionnaire is found in various forms. Examples are 1, 2, 3 and 4.

More about Triangle Foundation can be found at www.tri.org.

idealist.org

Idealist is a project of Action Without Borders, a nonprofit organization founded in 1995 with offices in the United States and Argentina. Idealist is an interactive site where people and organizations can exchange resources and ideas, locate opportunities and supporters, and take steps toward building a world where all people can lead free and dignified lives.

via idealist.org – Welcome to Idealist.org – Imagine. Connect. Act..